I Walk the Line
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"I Walk the Line" is a song written by Johnny Cash and recorded in 1956. UK goth/industrial band Alien Sex Fiend released a track of the same name in 1986. A 1970 [movie] starring Gregory Peck and featured a soundtrack of Johnny Cash songs including the title song. In 2005 Walk the Line was produced starring Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash and Reese Witherspoon as June Carter, directed by James Mangold.
Song
The song is about Cash staying faithful to his wife at the time, Vivian while on the road: I find it very, very easy to be true/I find myself alone when each day is through/Yes, I'll admit that I'm a fool for you/Because you're mine/I walk the line.Cash scored his first number one hit with the song and it is the source of the title of the 2005 biopic Walk the Line (as well as the non-biographical 1970 movie mentioned above).
The song is very simple and like most Cash songs, the lyrics tell more of a story than the music conveys. (You've got a way to keep me on your side/You give me cause for love that I can't hide/For you I know I'd even try to turn the tide).
It is based upon the "boom-chicka-boom" or "freight train" rhythm common in many of Cash's songs. In the original recording of the song, there is a key change between each of the five verses, and Cash hums the new root note before singing each verse. The final verse is sung a full octave lower than the first verse, in the deep bass range that Cash (and relatively few others) could hit with ease. In the film Walk the Line, Joaquin Phoenix went as low as his own voice range would allow, nearly hitting Cash's low notes level.
The unique chord progression for the song was inspired by an accidental backwards playback on Cash's tape recorder while he was in the Air Force. Later, he wrote the lyrics in a backstage dressing room in Gladewater, Texas, after a discussion with fellow performer Carl Perkins encouraged him to adopt "I walk the line" as the song title. Cash originally intended the song as a slow ballad, but producer Sam Phillips preferred a faster arrangement, which Cash grew to like as the uptempo recording met with success.
External links
- [Lyrics]
- [Download sample audio] of Cash's definitive recording of this song
- [}}}] at YouTube performed by Cash in 1956
- [}}}] at YouTube performed by Cash late in career
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