Thursday
15Oct2009
Johnny Cash's "On the Banks of the Ohio"
Thursday, October 15, 2009 at 11:19 AM Johnny Cash, in his version of “On the Banks of the Ohio,” expresses the lyrics in a somber, slow, constant tone. Cash has the same tone when describing his love for a women, whom he wished to marry, as he does when describing, in some detail, how he murdered her for rejecting his proposal. i think that the lyrics of the song do have a sense of remores or atleast acknowledgment of doing something wrong. The expression of those lyrics though was a constant tone which didnt distinguish between happy and sad part of the lyrics.
Reader Comments (1)
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!