European Tree of the Year

From Father Brian D’Arcy, a Catholic Passionist priest:

One of my favourite recordings is Johnny Cash’s version of Trent Reznor’s song Hurt. “I hurt myself today to see if I still feel,” it begins. “I wear a crown of thorns / Upon my liar’s chair/ Full of broken thoughts/ I cannot repair” - a stark description indeed of an addict’s despair.

 Johnny had this major hit towards the end of a life – a life which was at times dogged by his own demons.

I met Johnny Cash countless times when he and his wife June Carter toured here to spread the good news of country music. He was a sincere man who always asked me to pray with him before he went on stage. He knew his gifts came from a higher power. “The Master of Life’s been good to me” he told me, “so it’s good to have faith in something bigger than yourself.”

He got his music and his faith from his mother. When he was 12 years old, she asked him to hand his life over to the Lord. “Whenever I did what she advised,” he recalled, the last time we chatted, “I had peace in my soul. But whenever I relied on my own strength I travelled the road to self-destruction.”

To many fans, his prison ministry was his most successful period. He understood the down trodden. To highlight the prisoners’ plight, he planned to record a live album inside a prison. His record company objected: ”Your fans are good Christian people and they don’t want you making life easier for rapists and murderers,” they told him.

 “If they don’t want me helping prisoners, then they are not good Christians,” he insisted. The result was the legendary “Hello I’m Johnny Cash” album from Folsom Prison.

Johnny Cash is one of the few artists to become a member of The Gospel, the Country, and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Halls of Fame. But I remember him as a talented, vulnerable, friend whose rules of life were simple – Find the positive in everything; find someone to love; and use your failures as stepping stones to success. Do that and you’ll Walk the Line!