I Walk The Line
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"I Walk the Line" is a song written and recorded in 1956 by
Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...
. After moderate chart success, it soon became Cash's first #1 hit on the ''Billboard'' country chart, and eventually crossed over to the pop charts, reaching #19 on the Billboard "Top 100" (later renamed "Hot 100"). The song remained on the charts for over 43 weeks, and sold over two million copies. It has also been used on many LPs released from Sun Records, such as '' Johnny Cash with His Hot and Blue Guitar!'', '' Johnny Cash Sings the Songs That Made Him Famous'', and '' Johnny Cash Sings Hank Williams''. It was the title song for a 1970 film starring
Gregory Peck Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, 12th-greatest male ...
and a 2005 biopic of Cash starring Joaquin Phoenix. The song captures Johnny Cash's "boom-chicka-boom" sound by Cash putting a dollar bill in the neck of his guitar.


Background of the song

The unique
chord progression In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural, or simply changes) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from ...
for "I Walk the Line" was inspired by the backwards playback of guitar runs on Cash's tape recorder while he was stationed in Germany as a member of the
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
. Later in a telephone interview, Cash stated, "I wrote the song backstage one night in 1956 in Gladewater, Texas. I was newly married at the time, and I suppose I was laying out my pledge of devotion." After writing the song, Cash had a discussion with fellow performer
Carl Perkins Carl Lee Perkins (April 9, 1932 – January 19, 1998)#nytimesobit, Pareles. was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rockabilly great and pioneer of rock and roll, he began his recording career at the Sun Studio, in Memphis, Tennes ...
, who encouraged him to adopt "I Walk the Line" as the song title. Cash originally intended the song to be a slow ballad, but producer Sam Phillips preferred a faster arrangement; in the end, Cash agreed to the change, and the uptempo recording met with success. On one occasion, while performing "I Walk the Line" on his TV show, Cash explained to the audience the reason for his humming during the song: "People ask me why I always hum whenever I sing this song. It's to get my pitch." The humming was necessary since the song required Cash to change keys several times while singing it. The song's lyrics discuss resisting temptation, being accountable, and remaining faithful to Vivian Liberto during his first marriage. However, Johnny and Vivian divorced, and he married June Carter. Liberto would write a book called ''I Walked the Line'' about her time with Cash. "I Walk the Line" was originally recorded at Sun Studio on April 2, 1956, and was released around May 5th. It spent six weeks at the top spot on the U.S. country Juke Box charts that summer, one week on the C&W Jockey charts and number two on the C&W Best Seller charts. Besides the showing in Billboard's "Top 100," Johnny's Sun single also reached #17 on the Billboard "Best Sellers in Stores" chart. The track was cut with the Tennessee Two, Marshall Grant on bass and Luther Perkins on lead guitar, originally two mechanics introduced to Cash by his older brother Roy after Cash was discharged from the Air Force. Cash and his wife Vivian were living in Memphis, Tennessee, at the time. Cash became the frontman for the group and precipitated their introduction to Sam Phillips of Sun Records. In 1955, they began recording under the Sun label. It was re-recorded four times during Cash's career: in 1964 for the '' I Walk the Line'' album, again in 1969 for the '' At San Quentin'' album (a live performance), in 1970 for the ''I Walk the Line'' soundtrack, and finally in 1988 for the '' Classic Cash: Hall of Fame Series'' album. Additional live performances have been released since Cash's death, along with a demo version recorded prior to the formal 1956 recording session that was released on ''Bootleg Vol. II: From Memphis to Hollywood'' (Columbia/Legacy) in 2011.


Writing and composition

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, a reprise of the first, is sung a full octave lower than the first verse, the root note lowered from F3 down to F2. When performing this song in recording, and in later live and television appearances, Cash would place a piece of paper under the strings of his guitar towards the tuning end. As he explained during a 1990s appearance on The Nashville Network, he did this in order to simulate the sound of a
snare drum The snare drum (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often u ...
, an instrument to which he did not have access during the original Sun session.


Legacy

The song is included in "The 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll", a permanent exhibit at the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), also simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and the ...
. In 2004, '' Rolling Stone magazine'' ranked the song at  30 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. and also ranked it #1 on its list of the 100 greatest country songs of all time in June 2014. In many countries like
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
, the song was recycled to reopen closed railway lines. In 1998, the 1956 recording of the song on Sun Records was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.


Covers

* Jaye P. Morgan covered the song in 1960, the single charting at No. 66. *The Everly Brothers covered the song on their 1963 album '' The Everly Brothers Sing Great Country Hits''. *Cash's former son-in-law Rodney Crowell adapted the song to a new melody and in 1998 recorded his version as a duet with Cash. This version was titled " I Walk the Line Revisited" and peaked at No. 61 on the country music charts. The song later appeared on Crowell's 2001 album '' The Houston Kid''. The cover does not utilize the original melody of the song; instead lyrics from the song, sung by Cash to a different melody, are incorporated into a new song by Crowell. *In 2014, Craig Wayne Boyd covered this song during season 7 of '' The Voice''. The cover reached the Top 15 on the iTunes US Country charts. * Tapio Rautavaara made a Finnish-language version of the song, called "Yölinjalla" ('On the night line'). The Finnish lyrics tell about the hard life of
truck driver A truck driver (commonly referred to as a trucker, teamster or driver in the United States and Canada; a truckie in Australia and New Zealand; an HGV driver in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the European Union, a lorry driver, or driver in ...
s, who often had to drive through the night. The melody was originally credited as Rautavaara's own composition, but this was revised in 2008. * Halsey recorded a cover that appeared on the deluxe version of her 2015 album '' Badlands'' as well as the trailer for the 2017 film ''
Power Rangers ''Power Rangers'' is an American media franchise created by Haim Saban, Shuki Levy and Shotaro Ishinomori built around a live-action superhero television series, based on the Japanese tokusatsu franchise ''Super Sentai''. It is currently ow ...
''.


Chart positions


Certifications and sales


Laurent Wolf version

The song was covered by French
house music House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground ...
DJ and producer Laurent Wolf and released in August 2009 as ''Walk the Line Remix''.


Track listing


Charts


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:I Walk The Line 1956 singles 1998 singles Johnny Cash songs The Everly Brothers songs Glen Campbell songs Rodney Crowell songs Burl Ives songs Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients Songs written by Johnny Cash Live (band) songs Brother Clyde songs Song recordings produced by Sam Phillips Sun Records singles Columbia Records singles 1956 songs