I Walk the Line
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.
UK goth/
industrial band
Alien Sex Fiend released a track of the same name in
1986. A
1970 movie starring
Gregory Peck and 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).
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, in the deep bass range that Cash (and relatively few others) could hit with ease. In the film
Walk the Line, Joaquin Phoenix went as low as his own voice range would allow, nearly hitting Cash's low notes level.
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, 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.
*
Lyrics*
Download sample audio of Cash's definitive recording of this song
* performed by Cash in 1956
* performed by Cash late in career
*
Johnny Cash Sun discography*
Johnny Cash discography
