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I Walk the Line
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the 1964 album, see I Walk the Line (album). For the 1970 soundtrack album, see I Walk the Line (soundtrack album).
"I Walk the Line" is a song written by Johnny Cash and recorded in 1956. A 1970 movie of the same name, starring Gregory Peck, featured a soundtrack of Johnny Cash songs including the title song. In 2005 Walk the Line was produced starring Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash and Reese Witherspoon as June Carter, directed by James Mangold.
The song is about Cash staying faithful to his wife at the time, Vivian while on the road: I find it very, very easy to be true/I find myself alone when each day is through/Yes, I'll admit that I'm a fool for you/Because you're mine/I walk the line.
Cash scored his first number one hit with the song and it is the source of the title of the 2005 biopic Walk the Line (as well as the non-biographical 1970 movie mentioned above).
- "I Walk the Line" excerpt (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- From the album With His Hot and Blue Guitar (1957)
- Problems listening to the file? See media help.
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 is sung a full octave lower than the first verse.
The unique chord progression for the song was inspired by an accidental backwards playback on Cash's tape recorder while he was in the Air Force. Later, he wrote the lyrics in a backstage dressing room in Gladewater, Texas in 1955, after a discussion with fellow performer Carl Perkins encouraged him to adopt "I Walk the Line" as the song title. Cash originally intended the song as a slow ballad, but producer Sam Phillips preferred a faster arrangement, which Cash grew to like as the uptempo recording met with success.
The song was originially recorded at the Sun studio on April 2, 1956, and was released on May 1. It spent six weeks at the top spot on the U.S. country charts that summer, and also reached number 19 on the pop music charts. In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked the song at #30 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
In 2006 Levi Strauss & Co. created three advertisements using the song, featuring cover versions by Megan Wyler and Adem Ilhan. Indie rock band Murder by Death released the song "Sometimes the Line Walks You" in 2006 as an homage both in name and style to Cash's work.
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