Johnny Cash Is Bigger Than Elvis

Thirty six years ago, when Elvis Presley, 'the King' died, it was hard to imagine a bigger star. His charisma, his songs and his good looks put him a different category than any other singer. Yet today, while there is acceptance of the worth of much of his music, he is something of a joke figure, with his outlandish garb and his pelvic thrust.
For a start, Elvis did not write his own songs, and was a manufactured star, promoted by the media and corporate interests in a way that was a little too obvious.
On the other hand, ten years after his death, Johnny Cash is still regarded as a major star, though back in 1977, the year of Elvis's death, Cash was very much yesterday's man. After some fine recordings in his final years and an ongoing interest in the poor and fallen, especially prisoners, an essentially Christian worldview, in spite of his divorce and drug use, his stage persona spoke of sincerity, not glamour.
Today, young people indoctrinated in Political Correctness find refreshing a music that is at times naïve, yet is exotic to modern ears as it speaks of crime, regrets, sorrow and suffering, values that rise above modern self pity and grievance taking and hedonism.
The simplicity of his music is part of Johnny Cash's charm. He is an ordinary man like you and me he tells us, a man who sees the world not as a tourist seeking pleasure wherever he may find it, but as a pilgrim waiting to be called home.