He Walks The Line

August 9, 2006

Elijah is a Johnny Cash fan. I know that sounds pretentious, but it's true. He's rejected a lot of other music I've played for him, but The Man In Black can do no wrong.

We imprinted the cult of Cash upon him from an early age, by putting a Hatch Print Shop poster in his room that shows Johnny Cash, in triplicate, holding a guitar. One of Elijah's first ten words was "Ja Ca," and by age two, he was saying "Good night, Johnny Cash," before he went to sleep.

So when Columbia House released The Johnny Cash Children's Album earlier this year, I had to buy it for the boy. It immediately became the top disc in our car rotation. Elijah particularly loves the first two tracks, "Nasty Dan" and "One And One Makes Two." But every Johnny Cash song, no matter how great, gets tired after 100 listens. It was time to introduce Elijah to "Dirty Old Egg-Sucking Dog."

One day, I pulled one of my many Johnny Cash CDs from my aging library and popped it in the car stereo. Elijah intitally protested, screeching that he wanted "Nasty Dan," but from the first notes, he was entranced. What boy wouldn't be?

Well he's not very handsome to look at
Oh he's shaggy and he eats like a hog
And he's always killin' my chickens
That dirty old egg-suckin' dog

Egg-suckin' dog
I'm gonna stomp your head in the ground
If you don't stay out of my hen house
You dirty old egg-suckin' hound

From there, the disc didn't stop surprising the boy. Our next tune was "Orange Blossom Special," which is full of awesome train sounds, and then "Ring Of Fire," which may be somewhat thematically inappropriate for a four-year-old, but Elijah loved the trumpets. Also, the chorus is catchy and easily memorizable. I felt deep pride the day I put on the album and I heard Elijah singing, clearly, from the back seat:

I fell into a burning ring of fire
I went down, down, down
And the flames went higher

And It burns, burns, burns
The ring of fire
The ring of fire

"Daddy," he asked. "What's this song about?"

"Um," I said. "A ring of fire?"

"OK," he said. "Is Understand Your Man next?"

"Yes it is."

"I like Understand Your Man, daddy."

"Good."

"Understand Your Clam."

"Understand Your Ham," I replied.

"Munderstand Your Wham."

"Whatever."

Posted by at 12:26 PM | Permalink

Comments

That totally takes me back. My parents, and therefore I, listened to a lot of Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson pretty much from birth 10 or so. Cash is perfect music for kids, it's got that dig, digga-dig, digga-dig, digga-dig, dig-dig, digga dig rhythm going and the songs are all stories. I was a big fan of A Boy Named Sue. I also listened to Steve Martin 8-tracks constantly and used to go around the house at age 6 or 7 singing, "grandpaaaaaaa, bought a rubber!"

Posted by: Tim | August 9, 2006 3:28 PM

My boy is a big Cash fan too, although Boy Named Sue used to freak him out, what with the dad leaving and all the fighting and the fighting with the dad . . . I was bummed that it disturbed him, but I was pleased that he'd been listening to the narrative.

And I still get a thrill of happiness and pride when I hear the boy playing in his room, whistling the trumpets' refrain from Ring of Fire. Take THAT, Kidz Bop!

Posted by: gina | August 9, 2006 5:02 PM

Johnny Cash has a children's album?! We've been listening to his stuff for years, but lately my kids, 2 and 4, have started to act like they hate the Man in Black. It's like they're closet Johnny Cash fans. They love to listen to this greatest hits cd we have ("I've Been Everywhere" is a favorite), but when they're friends are around they throw fits - "Johnny Cash is stupid!" My wife and I try to explain that Johnny Cash is cool, a legend. But they insist on some god-forsaken crap they got from Bible Camp or Disney Princess songs.

Is this a sign of worse things to come? In 10 years am i going to be hearing "god, the white stripes are so lame?"

Posted by: marcus | August 10, 2006 9:17 AM

My daughter likes Frank Zappa's reggae cover of "Ring of Fire" from the Best Band You've Never Heard recording. Johnny said he'd show at the concert, but then he didn't. The band played the tune anyway, though the singer knew only the first verse, which he kept repeating ("It's another way of learning English!"). She also likes Ike Willis's random background comments re: Anusol. Now that's what "Ring of Fire" is about.

Posted by: Bepah Benoweh | August 10, 2006 9:44 AM

I, too, have a son who is a Johnny Cash fan. While pregnant, my husband & I went to see "Walk the Line" at the theater. The baby went nuts kicking & moving during the songs.

He still loves Mr. Cash. I downloaded the children's album before he was born. We listen to it often.

I yearn for the day when he sings them while sitting in the back seat of the car.

Posted by: Pamplemousse's Mom | August 10, 2006 10:23 AM

I liked your column on baseball GMs from last year (linked on Slate). You were pretty much spot on.

Posted by: GM | August 11, 2006 6:37 AM

I can only pray any future children of mine have the sophisticated music taste of young Elijah.

Posted by: Sean | August 14, 2006 12:04 AM

<a href=http://erosive-esophagitis.net>erosive esophagitis</a> all about

Posted by: erosive-esophagitis | September 3, 2006 6:34 AM

diazepam

Posted by: generic diazepam | September 14, 2006 7:18 AM

ionolsen24 May we exchange links with your site?