Cowboy in Black

Geno Lawrenzi 08:54 Oct 28th, 2020 Books

here are interviews and there are interviews. This is one that

will never leave me and it was the key to Johnny Cash's life and

faith as a Christian balladeer.

Today I am spending some time at the old yellow brick high school where I graduated a few decades ago. It sits on a hill in Herminie, a small non-descript town once peopled by coal miners and steel mill workers.

Today most of the coal mines in the area are shut down. My high school is now a public library. The library is in the basement of the school where my basic education was taught to me by teachers whose names and faces will never leave me -- Annie Mitchell, Miss Smith (the red-haired English teacher with the gorgeous legs), John Bruno, Earl Decker, and so many more.

I am reading the concluding pages of a book by Johnny Cash. It's his spiritual autobiography and the title is MAN IN BLACK. You should find a copy of it and read it. It's a powerful book.

I interviewed Cash in Phoenix, AZ. when he came to town and filled the Arizona Coliseum. I remember the interview like it happened yesterday and, in God's eyes, that is pretty close to accurate since time is meaningless.

As a young journalist, I had a habit of researching the lives of people I wanted to interview. I did that with Cash and he complimented at the end of the interview by remarking to his road agent: "Hey, Sol, this guy knows more about me than you do."

During the interview…

…I asked him questions about his older brother Jack who died tragically at the age of 12. He was just two years older than Johnny when a chainsaw he was operating flew back and struck his stomach. He lingered on for a couple of days before dying. On his death bed he told his parents, the pastor, the doctor and his soon to be famous brother that he could hear the angels singing and there was no reason for them to be sorry.

Johnny Cash went on to become the best-known name in country music. He also became a pill-popping drug addict and alcoholic who would stay awake for days at a time while bennies and other pills.

He was fortunate to meet and fall in love with June Carter, a Christian country western singer who helped him kick his habit. Cash made his book MAN IN BLACK a tribute to his Christian faith and gave credit for his recovery to his faith in God and June's prayers.

While his brother lingered between life and death, Johnny and his parents stayed in the hospital at his side. When the time came, his dad summoned him.

"J.R.," his dad said quietly, "You better come on in Jack's room. He's dying."

Cash writes:

"I went in there and my mother was sitting on his bed holding his hand. This unemotional doctor, who had seen hundreds of people come and go, was kneeling on the floor beside the bed praying, 'Lord, I've done everything a doctor can do. Only you, the great physician, can save him. It's out of my hands.'

Johnny continued:

"Jack's stomach was horribly swollen. He was laid back on his pillow, his face gray and ashen, and he was gasping for breath. My mother and daddy were on their knees. He woke up and opened his eyes and looked around and said: "Why is everybody crying over me. Mama, don't cry over me. Did you see the river?"

His mother said: "No, I didn't, son." And he said: "Well, I thought I was going toward the fire, but I'm headed in the other direction, now, mama. Can you hear the angels singing?"

That was how he died and that was how Johnny wrote it. His final words before he breathed his last was:

"What a beautiful city. And the angels singing. Oh, mama, I wish you could hear the angels singing."