BestOf(2024)_Johnny Cash: True To His Own Voice

What It Takes®

Academy of Achievement

Film, Politics, Arts, Self-help, Sports, Society & Culture, Success, Literature, Humanitarian, Military, Social Justice, Technology, Podcast, Achievement, Music, Science

4.6 • 943 Ratings

🗓️ 28 September 2024

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Johnny Cash had a voice that could make a mountain quake. And his impact on the world of music is so legendary that this week a new 11 feet tall bronze statue of the singer, guitarist and humanitarian was unveiled at the United States Capitol Visitor's Center. It was donated by the state of Arkansas and it is the first-ever statue of a musician in the collection. To celebrate, we invite you to take a new listen to the very first episode of What It Takes. You'll hear the deeply introspective Cash near the end of his career (1993). He reflects on how he overcame considerable personal obstacles and turned his failures into the stepping stones to success. He also talks about the first music he remembers, the voice teacher who advised him to stop taking lessons, and the source of his creativity.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, this is Alice. Welcome back to what it takes.
0:04.0	This week something extraordinary happened on Capitol Hill here in Washington,
0:12.0	and the first extraordinary thing about it perhaps
0:15.9	was that it didn't involve partisan politics. The state of Arkansas donated a bronze statue of one of its most famous sons to the U.S.
0:26.7	Capital Visitor Center, Johnny Cash.
0:30.6	The statue which stands 11 feet tall is a testament to Cassius stature as a towering figure in American music and culture.
0:40.0	It's the first statue of any musician in the Visitor Center collection in Emancipation Hall.
0:47.0	The artist, Kevin Cress, chose to portray Johnny Cash standing with a Bible in his hand and a guitar slung over his shoulder.
0:56.6	He gazes downward in a gesture of humility or maybe determination or both.
1:03.0	And the pedestal is inscribed with a quote from Cash.
1:07.0	All your life you will be faced with a choice.
1:11.0	You can choose love or hate. I choose love. The statue, by the way, replaced one depicting
1:18.8	Arkansas's former senator, a white supremacist named James Clark. At the unveiling of the new statue, there were
1:27.4	hundreds of lawmakers from both parties and a hundred members of the Cash family.
1:33.0	One of Johnny's children, the singer Roseanne Cash, said that of all the honors her father received in his life,
1:40.0	he would certainly have considered this the ultimate. So what does the story have to do with our
1:47.3	podcast? Well when we started what it takes almost 10 years ago, we chose Johnny Cash as the subject of our first episode.
1:57.8	And given that the man in black now stands tall in a hall hall of the nation's capital.
2:04.0	We thought it was a good time to repost the episode
2:08.0	and let you take another listen. And I heard him, this child is gifted.
2:13.0	If you have a child is gifted.
2:15.0	And I heard that enough that I started to believe it.
	...

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