Johnny Cash who dominated music for over 5 decades is one of my great listening pleasures. I only got into him in the nineties. Many people have a slightly skew idea of who he is and what he does. I had a girlfriend who thought he was John Wayne. In my mind Johnny Cash did his best work in the last years of his life. Together with Rick Ruben an American rap producer. They produced music of such depth and intensity that there is nothing quite like it.

Of course I am sure that he is equally well known for his contributions in the other  four decades. There are so many situations where his music is suitable . I remember eating turkey at Christmas while having some of his earlier songs playing in the background. He has done many wonderful versions of different songs. The one below is a song written by Nick Lowe for Johnny, a song that he managed to transform. Of course there is lot of Christian imagery but it goes much deeper than that. Music and Art lend themselves to our own interpretations and projections. Which is probably why they are so powerful. Redemption is from the an american recording Cd. If you are not familiar with it I recommend it. Although anything from the american recordings collection should suffice. There is a live version below of this song too.

From the hands it came down
From the side it came down
From the feet it came down
And ran to the ground
Between heaven and hell
A teardrop fell In the deep crimson dew
The tree of life grew

And the blood gave life
To the branches of the tree
And the blood was the price
That set the captives free
And the numbers that came
Through the fire and the flood
Clung to the tree
And were redeemed by the blood

From the tree streamed a light
That started the fight
‘Round the tree grew a vine
On whose fruit I could dine
My old friend Lucifer came
Fought to keep me in chains
But I saw through the tricks
Of six-sixty-six

And the blood gave life
To the branches of the tree
And the blood was the price
That set the captives free
And the numbers that came
Through the fire and the flood
Clung to the tree
And were redeemed by the blood

From his hands it came down
From his side it came down
From his feet it came down
And ran to the ground
And a small inner voice
Said “You do have a choice.”
The vine engrafted me
And I clung to the tree