Johnny Cash
Sunday, October 11, 2009 at 8:00 PM In this song, I noticed that the speaker regrets killing his girlfriend. He simply decided to kill her without having to think about it because she did not say anything when he asked her to marry him. I can easily identify this because of the way he sang this song. He sang in a slow and depressing way which shows me that he still misses her a lot and he probably realized that he had made a real mistake. He chose to use a high pitched voice in order to get the message out to his listeners. If his voice was low and happy, then his message will go out the wrong way and it will not be as effective.
I also noticed that the rhythm and the way he sang in each stanza is the same throughout the whole entire song. I did not see him have a change of voice anywhere in the song. It goes A, B, A, B, A, B, A, B, and so on. However, in the end of the song, his voice just cut off immediately after he sang the last word to the song.
ValerieLew
Although the tone and feeling of this song makes the listener feel a bit sorrowful, I don’t get the feel from Cash’s version of “In the Banks of Ohio” that he regretted killing his lover. His tone was unvarying and he didn’t change his tone to give off feelings of emotion when he sang about the stabbing or throwing her into the river. I also feel like his voice was not high pitched, but rather level throughout.
Reader Comments (4)
Wendy-
I agree with some of your ideas, but there are certain lines in the lyrics that demonstrate that Cash is happy. You can find this in the first verse where Cash is excited to talk about the weeding day with his young love, but then there is a change in the third verse. Overall, I think you did a good job with the rhythm of the song.
I also agree and disagree with certain parts of your post. Although the whole song was sang in a very monotoned manner that intends to tell a story to the audience rather than singing a song that excite the listener, i noticed that the first few verses of the song was not intended to be sorrowful, the fact being that the man had no harmful intentions towards anyone but that he was getting ready to ask the woman he loves to marry him. Also, i dont think i heard him use any high pitched sounds through out that song, whereas the entire song had the same low-pitched rhythm and melody.
It seemed to me that the way Cash keeps the same monotonous tone the whole time, along with a the same rhyme scheme, that his last verse is almost sarcastic in a way. He sings the song in such a dry way that it makes me feel like he doesn't really care that much about killing the love his life, or at least about the consequences. I don't know if this will help, but its just something to think about if you decide to write a paper on the topic.
In Johnny Cash’s rendition of On the Banks, many of you commented that Cash’s vocals, instrumentation, and rhythm were monotonous and so interpreted the song as numb and unemotional towards the subject matter of the song. Also, many of your posts related Cash’s steady instrumentation/vocals with surprisingly dark disturbing lyrics to Professor Carson’s definition of folk music as having tension between melody and idea.
Though Cash’s monotony of the song is clear, there are some varied opinions among your posts as to whether or not it contains emotion. Do you think that Cash is expressing a different emotion through his monotony, or is he completely unmoved/unemotional by the female subject and his murder? Perhaps his low monotonous tone ironically serves to greater emphasize his depression, or his inability to cope with what he has done, resulting in a repressing numbness in his tone. Think deeply about Cash’s purpose for his vocal tone and instrumentation manner. Why do you think he chose to sing the way he did? What might he have wanted to convey to his listeners? If he sang with more melodic variation, what effect would this have on the song? Would it feel more/less authentic? Consider a few of your peers’ posts on these issues:
http://benleedscarson.com/by-banks-in-pines/author/hunterswanson
http://benleedscarson.com/by-banks-in-pines/author/navidramirez
http://benleedscarson.com/by-banks-in-pines/author/christopherwichmann
Please do not feel that you have to answer all or be limited to these questions. Comment to each other what you find interesting or how you feel about any of these issues raised. Even if this topic is not relevant to your original post, try to get involved with discussion anyway! I encourage you all to express your opinions to each other, and please, don’t be afraid of a little dispute!