Day 17: heroes

Heroes come in many shapes and sizes and mean different things to different people. I have had a few in my life. When I was little I would fight to the death if ANYONE dared to suggest that Superman could possibly be less cool than Batman... I mean, come on... is there really a contest between the son of Krypton, and a really rich guy with cool toys and a neat utility belt... ok - he had a cool car too. But Superman was the bomb-diggity of all super heroes. Conversations would get heated back when I was 10 or so. Superman was my first hero. Others would follow - there was my dad, who was so big and strong when I was a wee little one, and got so much smarter as the years rolled on. By the time I was a father of my own two children, my dad had achieved genius status.
I am sparing with my hero worship - not many applicants make it into my personal hall of heroes.

Having said that, however, I have recently installed one other honoree... Johnny Cash. And this was a result of a couple of conversations with students this last several weeks. Isn't it a bit of a hoot that I get paid to teach, and then get educated by my students? That seems to happen so often.
I am teaching a class on the impact a few artists have had on Pop music in the 20th century. In one of the classes, we discussed Johnny Cash - within the context of a discussion of how truly great songs seem to transcend genres. Case in point - so many Beatles tunes have been performed by Ska bands, Reggae bands, symphonic orchestras etc. In fact, I am currently working up some Beatles tunes as jazz guitar solos. As part of the discussion, I had them listen to a song from Johnny Cash's last album... a song called Hurt. This is a song that Mr Cash covered by a band called Nine Inch Nails. We listened to the NIN version, and then listened to Johnny Cash's version. I asked them for their input, and as usual, got some very insightful comments. One of them mentioned that in the NIN version, you got a real sense of the evil power addiction has (the song is about drug addiction). NIN use alot of ambient effects and some real dissonant accompaniment - their performance of the song really does give you the creeps. Then we listened to the Johnny Cash version...Johnny's version has his voice, an acoustic guitar, a piano and a violin.... compared to NIN, this is a really stripped down version. But the impact that Johnny Cash gave to it was powerful. After his version was done, someone said something to the effect that where NIN's version gave you the sense of the pure evil of drug addiction, Johnny Cash's version gave a real sense of the despair from an addicts point of view...NIN's version seems to show the power of the drug, and Johnny Cash gives the tragedy from the addicts point of view....  using the same lyrics. This led to a conversation that went down several paths - one where one student asked "Why was Johnny Cash - a country star - listening to a Nine Inch Nails tune?"Great question... one of the things I try to get across to my students is that great musicians listen to EVERYTHING. Country stars don't just listen to country music. Metal musicians don't just listen to Metal music. Real musicians listen to everything. That thought was driven home to that one student when he asked that first question. That led another student to mention that it was pretty neat that someone like Johnny Cash would respect an artist like Nine Inch Nails who was so different from him. That led someone else to say that it was pretty brave for an established country star to step so far outside his genre to get a tune to record.
I proceeded to tell them some of what I knew about the life of Johnny Cash. How he fought drug addiction his entire life - even as a Christian. I told them that this was the last album he recorded before he died. I asked them if it were possible that he knew his time was close, and if he had given thought to what would be something important to say if it were indeed the last thing he WOULD say. Of course I don't know for sure if that was the case.... but for someone who never completely won the battle against addiction, I can certainly see why the message of the song "HURT" would be an important one to him. Here are the lyrics:

"Hurt"

I hurt myself today 

To see if I still feel 

I focus on the pain 

The only thing that's real 

The needle tears a hole

The old familiar sting 

Try to kill it all away 

But I remember everything 

[Chorus:]

What have I become 

My sweetest friend 

Everyone I know goes away 

In the end 

And you could have it all 

My empire of dirt 

I will let you down 

I will make you hurt 

I wear this crown of thorns 

Upon my liar's chair 

Full of broken thoughts 

I cannot repair 

Beneath the stains of time 

The feelings disappear 

You are someone else 

I am still right here 

[Chorus:]

What have I become 

My sweetest friend 

Everyone I know goes away 

In the end 

And you could have it all 

My empire of dirt 

I will let you down 

I will make you hurt 

If I could start again 

A million miles away 

I would keep myself 
I would find a way

The more I thought about it, the more my already considerable admiration for Johnny Cash grew.

So - Johnny Cash has earned a place in my personal pantheon of heroes.

As a Christian man (which I believe he was) he never quit. He fell, got up and kept swinging. He sang about what he believed, and he didn't let himself become conformed by the world he lived in. He was always known as a bit of a rebel in Nashville, and he was so NOT perfect. But in truth none of my heroes are perfect - what's there to be heroic about if it all comes easy? Being heroic is all about facing unimaginable odds and finding a way to persevere and perhaps even to conquer. Johnny Cash was just doing his best to emulate Jesus, Who is the greatest Hero of all. And yes - Jesus is in my Hall of Heroes. Just in case you were wondering.


Mr G