I Never Picked Cotton . . .

 . . . and understandably so.  I was the son of the offspring of Polish immigrants who came to Baltimore in the early 20th century to escape deplorable economic conditions and an unstable political climate. There are no cotton fields in Baltimore.  (Trust me.) But the song, I Never Picked Cotton, written by Bobby George and Charles Williams is the inspiration for this musing.

(from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Never_Picked_Cotton) ". . .The plot of "I Never Picked Cotton" is told in first-person, mostly in flashback from the perspective of a native of a poor sharecropping family in Oklahoma.

In the first verse, the song's protagonist — the youngest son of a coal miner who died working in the mines — bitterly recalls his family's past and upbringing. He recalls (as a young boy, too young to work on a cotton plantation) how his mother, brother, and sister all picked cotton to support the family, while his dad died in the coal mine. Seeing that this is not the type of life he wants to live, the boy resolves that when he is old enough to do so, he will leave the farm and his family.

One night, the protagonist makes good on his vow, stealing $10 and a pickup truck, and leaving the plantation, never to return. He then turns to a lifestyle of partying, "and I took it all with a gun". His criminal lifestyle ultimately leads to a fight with a local redneck on a Saturday night in Memphis, Tennessee; the redneck insults the protagonist's origins and is killed in return.

The protagonist, fingered as the killer, is found guilty of murder and sentenced to death by hanging. Just hours before he is sentenced to die, he reflects on his life and notes that "there ain't a hell of a lot, that I can look back on with pride" – except that he made good on his vow to "never pick cotton" like his family did. . ."

My earliest recollection of hearing this tune, which I then thought was one of the 'toughest' and now think one of the most clever and well-constructed country songs I've ever heard was from somewhere around 1970 or 71.  My parents undertook, on a regular (with occasional exceptions) an outing to our local 'Topps' retail outlet, to shop for . . . I'm not exactly sure WHAT. I thoroughly enjoyed accompanying them  to visit the record (vinyl LP) department, but in my later childhood years not so much.  On one particular Friday evening, after partaking of our regularly scheduled Catholic, Friday, fried fish dinners, I respectfully declined from participating in that evening's shopping event and instead offered to stay behind and wash the dinner dishes. When choosing to spend my Friday evening in such a manner, which I did numerous times, I would tune into WBMD-AM, our local country music station, on an old RCA combination phonograph/AM-FM radio in the dining room, turn it to a sufficient volume level to be able to hear it in the kitchen next door while washing dishes, and proceed with my post-dinner activity. Silly, trite, trivial - maybe.  But it's ALL MINE!

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The man. . .

in Black. . .

Johnny Cash was born in Kingsland, Arkansas, the fourth of seven children to Ray Cash (May 13, 1897, Kingsland, Arkansas – December 23, 1985, Hendersonville, Tennessee) and Carrie Cloveree Rivers (March 13, 1904, Rison, Arkansas – March 11, 1991, Hendersonville, Tennessee). Cash was named J. R. Cash because his parents couldn't think of a name. When Cash enlisted in the Air Force, they wouldn't let him use initials as his name, so he started to use the legal name John R. Cash. In 1955, when signing with Sun Records, he took Johnny Cash as his stage name.

The Cash children were, in order: Roy, Margaret Louise, Jack, J. R., Reba, Joanne and Tommy. His younger brother, Tommy Cash, also became a successful country artist.

In March 1935, when Cash was three years old, the family settled in Dyess, Arkansas. He started working in cotton fields at age five, singing along with his family simultaneously while working. The family farm was flooded on at least two occasions, which later inspired him to write the song "Five Feet High and Rising". His family's economic and personal struggles during the Great Depression inspired many of his songs, especially those about other people facing similar difficulties.

Cash was very close to his older brother, Jack. In May 1944, Jack was pulled into a whirling head saw in the mill where he worked and was almost cut in two. He suffered for over a week before he died on May 20, 1944, at age 15. Cash often spoke of the horrible guilt he felt over this incident. According to Cash: The Autobiography, his father was away that morning, but he and his mother, and Jack himself, all had premonitions or a sense of foreboding about that day, causing his mother to urge Jack to skip work and go fishing with his brother. Jack insisted on working, as the family needed the money. On his deathbed, Jack said he had visions of heaven and angels. Decades later, Cash spoke of looking forward to meeting his brother in heaven.

Cash's early memories were dominated by gospel music and radio. Taught by his mother and a childhood friend, Cash began playing guitar and writing songs as a young boy. In high school he sang on a local radio station; decades later he released an album of traditional gospel songs, called My Mother's Hymn Book. He was also significantly influenced by traditional Irish music that he heard performed weekly by Dennis Day on the Jack Benny radio program.

Cash enlisted in the United States Air Force on July 7, 1950. After basic training at Lackland Air Force Base and technical training at Brooks Air Force Base, both in San Antonio, Texas, Cash was assigned to a U.S. Air Force Security Service unit, assigned as a Morse Code Intercept Operator for Soviet Army transmissions at Landsberg, Germany "where he created his first band named The Landsberg Barbarians." He was the first radio operator to pick up the news of the death of Joseph Stalin.] After he was honorably discharged as a Staff Sergeant on July 3, 1954, he returned to Texas.

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