I actually liked the speech, especially when I found out they were the liner notes of Folsom Prison. I still recite it to this day. Great performance by Johnny Cash. Should have lived to 100.

I'm 22 and Autistic, and he was music therapy for me via his recordings. If it weren't for his music I would still be low functioning. I love Johnny too, and always will.

Every time I watch this .....he turns to the crowd and says.... “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash”.... It makes me cry.

Johnny The first time I heard Ring of Fire I was 5 years old riding in my parents 1959 chevy. I remember I was mesmerized by the sound of your voice and I have been a fan of yours ever since. You left a positive mark on this world and you did "carry off a little darkness on your back" God bless you and June.

I don't know if you were watching this when it was first aired but there was more reason to get goosebumps than some may think! There was NO MENTION that Cash was going to perform on this special. He had been very sick, hospitalized, and as far as the world knew Johnny was headed downhill fast... so to see him take the stage this night was a real thrill... Cash belting his signature tunes as if he were immortal or something! He was a strong man because he lived another 4 years after this!!

We'll miss you Johnny Boy, you've brought an infinite joy to all peoples with your music and style, we will never forget you. Your music will live forever.

I'm 15 years old and listening to the country legend himself in 2020,😍

I have loved "The Man in Black" since I was a little tyke, in 1975. He will truly be missed. He was a legend when I first knew of him...and will continue to be! If he doesn't make a "Hall of Fame"...nobody should!

Johnny Cash, Marshall Grant, and Bob Wootton! In the literal sense, an absolute unit!

what a legend! Gotta love Johnny Cash and I love how he says praise God there, excellent!

I want you all to know that the passage tim robbins says is from the original liner notes from the At Folsom Prison record that Johnny Cash wrote himself.

Great to see Marshall Grant and Johnny resolving their differences to perform together once more.

Everyone was standing.Very touching to the MAN IN BLACK

Many thanks for posting this! I remember the surprise in watching this as he stepped to the mic and said that simple introduction he'd first started using to the audience-starting with a roomful of men back at Folsom Prison in 1968: "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash". It is impossible to put Mr. Cash in one style of music as he would sing everything from 30s era Carter Family songs to early pop/r &b vocal harmony group The Ink Spots to Mountain music songs & folk/gospel/field songs that go back way before he was even born. But for me what ultimately sets this Giant of American Music apart from all the other many greats of 'Country Music' is the fact that he made a point of adding social commentary to his music -rather his core audience wanted to hear it or not. I mean who else but Mr. Cash would take out an ad in the early 60s to the Country Radio Programmers who refused to play his new concept album "Bitter Tears-Ballads Of The American Indian" asking them-'Where Are Your Guts'? It's very interesting that even in 2019, when the conversation turns to great songwriters of Country Music Mr. JR Cash's name doesn't come up as regular by the experts. Well depending on his intent, his lyrics were just as lyrical & moving as any by Hank, Dolly, Kris, Merle, Loretta, & Willie. "I Still Miss Someone" is one of my many favorites and that one can get to you. Watching his daughter Rosanne tilt her head back with her eyes closed and sing it like she wrote it on this year's "Country Music " concert- did get to me. But what I liked most about his songwriting-was that straight no chaser quality about them. He didn't write in riddles and thus there was no guess work in what he was trying to convey in the song. The song "The Man In Black" perfectly explains to us who he is & exactly what he stands for- in lyrics so perfect that anyone from 8 to 80 can comprehend where he's coming from. About 35 years after that ad to Country Music Radio concerning their refusal to play "Bitter Tears", he & the only person willing to record him after he was dropped by Columbia Records after all those years- Rick Rubin- who I remembered as the co-founder of the best Hip Hop label in the mid-80s & best producer at that time as well. Rubin provided a recording home for the Man In Black by going back to how it all started for him: the basics of that great voice & his guitar and his knowledge of the best old songs & putting his special touch on the new songs. Despite Country Radio refusal to play the "Unchained" album, it won the Grammy for Best Country Album. And Cash being Cash took out another ad: "American Recordings And Johnny Cash Would Like To Acknowledge The Nashville Music Establishment And Country Radio For Your Support" with that famous pic of JC giving the finger at his San Quentin concert serving as the perfect photo to his statement. I remember people would talk about rock stars being badass & cool. Guys like the Man In Black & Miles Davis remain badasses & cool forever. R.I.P. JC. The music lives on.

AN AMERICAN HERO SIMPLE AS THAT.NEVER BE FORGOTTEN

Waylon Jennings said and sang: 'If I don't go down rocking, I won't go down at all.' They both went down rocking! R.I.P. Waylon and Johnny.

brilliant...johnny r.i.p.

Johnny Cash, the most original, powerful artist ever!

The Legend of Legend's. The most influential person in music ever.

Cash eres maravilloso juapo cantas hermoso ❤ para siempre tu te amoooo johnny

THE Number One Alpha Centaury Treasure Performance. Best LIVE Performance of all time! Love and peace and hope to all of you REAL music lovers! The Doc

Thanks, Dad. You made me listen to johnny, Hank and the other hillbilly rockers. I love them so.

A real Great Man!

miss johnny cash so much he was a ledgend love the song folsom prison blues especially rip gone but not forgotten

Cash was sick at this point. What must it have been for him to sing about 'being in prison' to people who are 'free', for just about the last time? RIP The Man in Black

All written in Johnny's handwriting. I thought that was really cool how they added that in.

Johnny Cash ...r.i.p.

JOHNNY CASH TE BEST

johnny cash writes songs or writes anything its always top class ....... his own compositions were always the best

This was AWESOME!!!

You're right about that, Peter. And he also supported Jimmy Carter... they were very close. He did have a great friendship with Billy Graham, who was a democrat. I don't see the point in arguing, because Cash ascended politics. But I will try to keep his legacy close to the truth.

Sometimes life spoils us!

THE MAN IN BLACK...a true legend forever!

Amen!

This is the best version, thanks for posting.

GOD BLESS JR AND JUNE

One of the BEST!!!! Free Huggs from Texas rundoetx

Hat's off...

you are johnny cash , and I say you the man

im 28 and love this man

The line up you see here Johnny Cash,Marshall Grant,W.S Holland,and Bob Wootton is the same line up that in 1969 recorded Live at San Quentin

tadatatada...wow....

We Salute you Mr. Cash.

sadley missed but never forgotten .... live on john live on

I'm sad Johnny is gone. We always love you. As far as this video, please spare us the liberal speech.

AN AMERICAN HERO

I LOVE YOU Mr. CASH !

This video clip is a GEM. It was the last time the great Johnny Cash played to a large audience and most significantly, Marshall Grant plays the bass for the first time (and the last time) since 1980 when there was a falling out between the two. Grant was one of the originals who worked hard with June to keep Johnny alive. Grant passed in 2011, but wrote a book about his years with Johnny. See how Johnny goes over to Grant during this clip. Beautiful!!

@OaktownUSA A quote from JC from a 1969 interview: "Prison is hell. The torture that prisoners go through can't possibly do them any good". He advocated total prison reform, and ironically, it was Richard Nixon who gave Cash the most ear of all the Presidents he knew.

1999.

EVERY PERSON THERE WAS STANDING AND APPLAUDING

Great... R.I.P. Mr Cash

It was not until 2013 I started listening to Johnny before this I was a hard core pop and hard rock listener but Johnny cash soothed up all my blues and I went the next day to school as a seventh grader I wore all black black shoes shirt pants ext. and everyone thought I turned gothic and they said and I shit you not they said "Jesus Christ I looks like you're getting ready to go to a funeral" and my answer was I just might be. And they said holy shit you discover Johnny cash huh I said yass I did !!!

God Rest Johnny

@jlabomb which Johnny Cash wrote of course...

The speech comes from the liner notes of the Folsom Prison Album.

I expected this to be rated at a five star.

Cash was [ is ] the man. Vote 5 stars for this video, ignore the long intro speech.

johnnr R.I.P

And now it's 2016 and it's been a 3 year long run since my younger cousin died at age of five of a fatal pitbull attack in baker city Oregon .

Johnny is GOD

@moproducer - I have read them all,in fact I even met Johnny Cash, as well as his brother Tommy.As I stated before, I admit he had some liberal values, but he had some insanely conservative values as well. He was for Guns, God and Country- vowed to shoot people who burned the flag- supported Ronald Reagans 1980 bid for the whitehouse, toured with Billy Graham- these days that makes you a conservative. Like I said before, he was just Johnny Cash- you can't say he was a liberal or a conservative

he died september 12th 2003 he was 71

Cash was worried he wouldn't have the stamina for that song. That old alpha had plenty left in him.

He may be over 70, but still sounds like he did 50 years ago

Well, I love them too, but it's a little too late to pray for them...they're gone.

@walkingoneggshells .....its cash's own words from the album live at at folsom so shhhhhhhhhhhh and listen

Hello my name is Thumbs up guitars. Lindert Guitars.

HE WAS 67 IN THIS VIDEO

hey thats the guy from ShawShank Redempttion

Too bad that the video doesn't capture how the place exploded when he appeared. I am not sure why they didn't show the part where the crowd just leapt to their feet....I knew his death was near and I was in tears...

Johnny Cash is the reason I became a musician. I will always love this man, and the way he stood up for prison reform, a system that is truly broke. My video response reflects the same. And if you find my website and click on the "About Me" link, the first thing you will see as a picture of Johnny Cash, and my words to the "Man In Black" in my Bio. God Bless You Cash!!! David Hope "singeroflove" on You Tube.

Please do NoT judge!!

Je ne parle pas assez bien l'anglais désolé : Quelqu'un pourrait me traduire le discours de Tim Robins ? Merci d'avance

I have never been arrested or incarcerated. Know why, because I don't want to be, so I don't break the law!!! Those people in prison made choices just like I do. We all know what the law is (don't rob,kill,con etc). They chose not to follow the law, therefore, I have NO sympathy. The sickest thing is those that break the law have all the rights!!Oh, and I love the man in black.

xomo se llama esa cancion que canta ahi??

what the hell is tim robbins talkin aobut the man in black for?

lol

I loved Cash's performance. Could have lived without the sob liberal speech!

@walkingoneggshells Johnny was the "liberal" who wrote that "speech". Do you still miss him now?

@KLUNKET Here are some books you need to read: "Cash: The Autobiography" (1998 J.Cash, Harper) . JC about his liberalism, support for Clinton, etc.; & "The Man Called Cash" (2004 S. Turner, Thomas Nelson) JC's liberal views on welfare, prison reform & US treatment of Native Americans. These books may require adult supervision. According to daughter Roseanne Cash, he flatly did not support George W. Bush as president & "vehemently opposed" the Iraq War. These days, that'll make you a liberal.

@KLUNKET Neither of us can claim that Cash was anything. But I can say that association with Billy Graham, for the past 20 years, has labeled one as anything but conservative among conservatives (he is regularly castigated - even shunned - for his position on theological universalism). Cash's outspokenness about the later Bush admin and the Iraq war denotes self-changes that he readily admitted to in his bio. As far as flag-burning, God, Guns & Country - I'm there, and am a liberal myself.

Anyone knows when this was recorded?

@dukes103 yeah... do you think your speacking good right know. cause i beth he wont like it :P

@moproducer -LOL, you obviously know nothing about Johnny Cash. Cash was NOT a liberal. Cash was NOT a conservative. He stood obviously left on some things, and far to the right on many of his beliefs. Johnny Cash had strong values, but to classify him as a conservative, or a liberal is just silly. He stood for what HE believed in, and had the guts to sing about it even when it was unpopular. Right or Left, right or wrong, Johnny Cash was simply Johnny Cash. You can't put the man in a category.

awesome video...i just made a cover of this..check it out.

@rickswar Hmmm...another "I Know Johnny Cash Was Just Like Me" person. This is coming from a KZfaqr who never met the man, read any of his books, talked to any of his friends...for that matter, can barely write a line that even makes sense. I'm not putting you down...but please learn to go by facts and not by "says me". Ask your parents to help you with some of the books by and about Johnny Cash that I mentioned in another posting here.

@moproducer - lol, being against George Bush and the Iraq does not make one a liberal... Many republicans despise Bush- I am registered as an idependant, lean toward the right a little, yet I voted against Bush TWICE. There are democrats that voted FOR Bush. I also know some HARDCORE conservatives that HATE the Iraq war as much as I do- or worse. Why are you trying so hard to put a label on Johnny Cash?

This performance would be a lot more poignant were it not for the well-suppressed fact that Johnny stole the lyrics for Folsom Prison Blues from Gordon Jenkins' Crescent City Blues. Kinda puts my opinion of the man down in the toilet.

@rickswar Here we go again...another "Liberals Hate America" diatribe from another unfortunate illiterate. I agree that Cash probably loved America (face it, neither you nor I knew him personally), but I can tell you that in his book "Cash" he clearly made it known that he was both liberal and conservative, and not aligned perfectly to either side. I know that you desperately wish to believe that Johnny Cash was just like you, but you'll have to live your life accepting otherwise.