Listen to the Lists

I have a new hero and her name is Cash, Rosanne Cash.

It wouldn’t surprise me if you’ve seen or heard her on TV, print or radio lately so if you’re on Cash overload, my apologies. But I can’t get enough. Rosanne Cash is promoting her new album, “The List,” which consists of 13 songs she has recorded from the true, hand written list of 100 essential American songs her dad, Johnny Cash gave her when she was 18. The way the list came to be is a great story in and of itself. With miles to go before their next destination, the by then sober John Cash was able to spend time with his daughter for a summer before she went out on her own, perhaps their one big bonding moment before she left to form her own path. While on the road it became known to John that his daughter, a pop music fan at the time and huge Beatles follower, was unfamiliar with certain classic American folk and country songs.

It’s a beautiful idea, a parent imparting their knowledge within and vetting a lifetime of works to deliver an education. Now that’s home schooling at its best. Rather than “cash” in on this list, Rosanne did what most 18 year olds do, realize they are finally an “adult” and appreciate it, but then do their own thing and forget about it entirely; fold it up and tuck it away for another day, perhaps when you need it the most. Only she forgot about it altogether.

She found the list while cleaning out things in 2005 and took her time bringing a few songs to life. She is open and honest about her life, her emotions and philosophies, but not overly so. Rosanne appears to be fairly natural and real, has her own private life and seems to have found that balance between making art and doing what she loves doing, which is songwriting, and sometimes singing herself. She became a songwriter and singer for herself and has faced a great deal of adversity in the last decade: The loss of a father, a stepmother (whom she loved), and her own mother, Vivian. If that wasn’t enough she also lost her voice entirely to polyps on her vocal cords and had brain surgery…yes, brain surgery which left her speechless for a long while.

I really enjoyed one particular interview in which Terry Gross asked one question Cash had not been asked before about her years of loss and sickness: “What did you turn to, during this period-- some people turn to religion, some people turn to drugs or alcohol, some people have nothing to turn to…” Cash’s response: “I adhere to the religion of art and music.”

Art and Music, what a wonderful religion, I’ll have what she’s having.

This space will not go on to review her list, but I will say her voice and brain show no signs of impairment. By far my favorite song on the record is the sexiest, bad ass woman’s version of “Movin’ On.” The whole album does not sound like covers—it’s modern, sultry and to me, is sung with a pure voice with good intentions. This is a thoughtful woman who did her daddy proud.

But the list got me thinking about my own top 10 poems, maybe those  I’d recommend to a kid who had never experienced them.  Here’s my list, not in order of favorites, just how I would order them if they were an album:

1) “Dream Deferred” by Langston Hughes
2) “Lady Lazarus” (tied with) “Elm” by Sylvia Plath
3) “Burnt Norton” one of T.S. Eliot’s “Four Quartets”
4) “The Sound of the Trees” by Robert Frost
5) “On the Pulse of Morning” by Maya Angelou
6) “The Second Coming” by William Butler Yeats
7) “La United Fruit Co.” by Pablo Neruda
8) “Easter, 1916 by William Butler Yeats
9) “A Coney Island of the Mind by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
10) “Funeral Blues” by W.H. Auden

This is only ten and it’s the ten I would choose today, but I plan on reading all I can read and hopefully deciding on my 100 essential poems here at Treegap for the new year on January 1, 2010. I look forward to seeing if anyone has any favorite poems to add. Please help me on this quest.

For today, we celebrate the words of “Movin’ On,” lyrics old but altered as new along with the arrangement and sung anew by Rosanne Cash and her sweet kick-ass voice:

That big eight wheeler a rollin' down the track
Means your true lovin' daddy ain't comin' back
'Cause I'm movin' on, I'll soon be gone
You were flyin' too high for my little old sky
So I'm movin' on

That big loud whistle as it blew and blew
Said hello to the Southland, we're comin' to you
And we're movin' on, oh hear my song
You had the laugh on me, so I've set you free
And I'm movin' on

Mister Fireman, won't you please listen to me?
'Cause I got a pretty mama in Tennessee
Keep movin' me on, keep rollin' on
So shovel the coal, let this rattle a roll
And keep movin' me on

Mister Engineer take that throttle in hand
This rattler's the fastest in the southern land
To keep movin' me on, keep rollin' on
You're gonna ease my mind, put me there on time
And keep rollin' on

I warned you baby from time to time
But you just wouldn't listen or pay me no mind
Now I'm movin' on, I'm rollin' on
You have broken your vow and it's all over now
So I'm movin' on

You switched your engine now I ain't got time
For a triflin' woman on my main line
'Cause I'm movin' on, you done your daddy wrong
I've warned you twice, now you can settle the price
'Cause I'm movin' on

But someday baby when you've had your play
You're gonna want your daddy but your daddy will say
Keep movin' on, you stayed away too long
I'm through with you, too bad you're blue
Keep movin' on...