His song “Redemption” is my favorite out of many, many, many songs of his. A beautiful song about the Atonement, and the Mystical Body of the Church.
Cash was famous for making covers (like “Hurt”) that surpass the originals, from “A Boy Named Sue” (originally by poet and cartoonist Shel Silverstein, author of “The Giving Tree”) to “The Mercy Seat” (originally by Nick Cave).
He did some of his best work in his later years, which isn’t an easy trick to pull off. After making the “American” series of CDs, which are truly amazing (after a time when he found it difficult to get contracts from traditional country labels - American Records was better known for hard rock and rap), he was invited to perform at the very hip, slick, and trendy Glastonbury Festival in 1994, an enormous rock festival where he was worried he would be out of place and his music wouldn’t be well received. Backstage, he began to hear the voices of thousands of young people chanting CASH! CASH CASH! as they waited to hear him perform, which moved him to tears. He gave a legendary performance.
I’m sorry that he’s gone, but glad that he was able to go out at the top of his game.
