Goines On: Man in Black

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The evening of the day Goines forgot his wallet, the Goineses watched the rest of the Johnny Cash TV Show DVD that a neighbor had lent them, so they could return it to him before he drove them to the airport again. The neighbor loved Johnny Cash; the times he drove them to the airport before, he played Johnny Cash CDs, and they wanted to return the DVD before they took off.
    Johnny had come out on one of his TV shows and announced that the live audience for the previous week’s show had inspired the song he was about to sing. He would be using cue cards, to make sure he sang the right lyrics, his fourth of fifth draft.

Well, you wonder why I always dress in black
Why you never see bright colors on my back

And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone

Well, there’s a reason for the things that I have on

I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down
Livin’ in the hopeless, hungry side of town

I wear it for the prisoner who is long paid for his crime

But is there because he’s a victim of the times

I wear the black for those who’ve never read
Or listened to the words that Jesus said

About the road to happiness through love and charity

Why, you’d think He’s talking straight to you and me

    Goines almost choked up watching Johnny Cash sing these lyrics, although he questioned whether Jesus ever preached a “road to happiness.” Maybe Johnny revised that line in a later draft.

    A big point the DVD production made, by way of Kris Kristofferson and others, was that Johnny could sing and say whatever he wanted on the show, and it was always all right, however he may have been cautioned beforehand not to include this or that line of lyric or whatever. Fifty years later, Johnny Cash still spoke to people.
    Early the next morning, Goines’ last two hours before time to get up felt like Johnny Cash’s wardrobe. Fearful thoughts and images he was glad he couldn’t remember when he got up had pervaded Goines’ semi-consciousness, and he wasn’t sure he was up to their trip to France, physically or mentally.
    Mrs. Goines seemed fully up to it mentally – her sharp mind doing all of the research, booking, scheduling, planning. And she really wanted to go. Goines resorted to reminding himself he was going to France for her.
    He thought of the historical Jesus of Nazareth – arrested, awaiting execution. Had the man actually believed that his “heavenly father” had sent him for sacrifice, and did that thought console him as he struggled up Golgotha? Goines felt sympathy for the man.

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