Rare Johnny Cash ‘I Walk the Line’ Gold Record Unveiled at Museum
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“This is a piece we had to acquire – at any price – and return to its proper place, which is the
“I Walk the Line” was Cash’s first Number One single, topping the country chart for six weeks and crossing over to the pop survey where it peaked in the Top Twenty. It has become one of a handful of the Man in Black’s signature songs, providing the title for the 2005 Oscar-winning film based on his remarkable life. During his stint in the air Force in Germany, Cash was inspired to write the melody of the song after hearing a reel-to-reel tape record what he thought were interesting chord changes. The reel, however, had inadvertently been turned around, causing the chords to be played backwards. Inspired by the haunting chords, Cash would write the song backstage before a show in
“‘I Walk the Line’ is the essence of who Johnny Cash is,” the late singer’s sister Joanne Cash-Yates told the crowd at Monday’s event, which was also attended by her brother Tommy Cash and Sam Phillips’ son, Jerry Phillips. “The song is recognized by anybody, most anybody, in the world. I don’t even remember, actually, any people that don’t understand or have not heard ‘I Walk the Line.’ That is my brother, Johnny Cash.”
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