This album is dedicated to my late brother, Jack D. Cash:
Dear Jack,
We lost you one sad day in May 1944. I was twelve years old. Some of these songs were the songs that we sang at your funeral. As you were dying, you gave us a description of heaven and singing angels. Could these be some of the songs that the angles were singing? See you later.
- your little brother, J. R. -
I watched him sitting there on that stool, much as I had once sat on a cold steel bunk on Death Row. He was dressed in black as he always is, as if he wanted to be in the proper attire for Jesus to take him home at any given moment, coughing now and then as if to remind himself that he once misused his vocal cord with pills and cigarette smoke. His hands twitched convulsively in nervousness missing the guitar he usually clutches tightly or slings over his back with the nonchalant determination of a man that wants you to be sure to get the impact of every word he has to tell you about his life, his loves and his Savior.
Precious Memories echoes through the studio with sincerity and an angelic loveliness that seems almost impossible for this hulking giant of a man to institute.
It's been said that he has never been in prison, but I find myself looking at him as if he has done more time than I have. Perhaps his prisons weren't the same as mine, but I know his prisons have left their mark on him as surely as the twenty years I spent left more marks on me than the tattoos that cover my body.
I'm free know and so is he. There's no doubt in my mind that his love for Jesus has set him free. It's hard to be around him and not feel the presence of the Lord. Kristofferson once told me that he was inspired to go to church and later wrote "Why Me Lord" because of the influence of this man's eternal; vibrations. Yet, he's not a preacher. He only sings his songs and lets you see the Savior through his every movement. He's influenced us all.
I find myself singing more about the Lord and trying to live a Christian life, but I've got a long way to go. He's there now. There was a time that I wouldn't admit I was an ex-convict, but this man who cared enough to go to prisons throughout the country and let the convicts knew someone cared about them gave me the courage to stand up and face the truth about my past. Thanks to him, I'm proud to say I'm an ex-convict.
Maybe someday I'll be able to thank him for showing me how to be a Christian.
This man called Johnny Cash.
- just a friend, David Allan Coe, ex-Convict -
JOHNNY CASH
PRECIOUS MEMORIES
Columbia C-33087January/1975
Produced and conducted by Bill Walker
1.
PRECIOUS MEMORIES
(W.B. Stevens - Jesse R. Baxter)« © '25 Bridge Building Music, BMI »
(Precious mem'ries)
Precious mem'ries unseen angel sent from somewhere to my soul
How they linger ever near me and the sacred past unfolds
Precious mem'ries how they linger how they ever flood my soul
In the stillness of the midnight precious sacred scenes unfold
[ piano ] Precious father loving mother fly across the lonely years
And old home scenes from my childhood in fond memory appear
Precious mem'ries how they linger...
Precious mem'ries flood my soul
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2.
ROCK OF AGES
(Brantley C. George - Bill Walker)« © '56 Word Music, ASCAP / Lilac Tree Music, BMI »
Rock of ages cleft for me let me hide myself in Thee
Let the water and the blood from Thy wounded side which flowed
Be of sin the double cure save from wrath and make me pure
[ strings ] Let me hide myself in Thee
[ strings ] In my hand no prize I bring simply to Thy cross I cling
[ strings ] While I draw this pleading breath when my eyes shall close in death
Lord when I rise to worlds unknown and behold Thee on Thy throne
Rock of ages cleft for me let me hime myself in Thee
Let me hide myself in Thee
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3.
OLD RUGGED CROSS
(George Bernard)« © '13 Word Music, ASCAP »
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross
The emblem of suffering and shame
And I love that old cross where the dearest and best
For a word of lost sinners was slain
So I'll cherish the old rugged cross
Till my trophies at last I lay down
I will cling to the old rugged cross
And exchange it some day for a crown
To the old rugged cross I will ever be true
It's shame it's reproach gladly bear
Then he'll call me some day to my home far away
Where his glory forever I'll share
So I'll cherish the old rugged cross...
And exchange it some day for a crown
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4.
SOFTLY AND TENDERLY
(Will L. Thompson - Eugene Clark)« © '49 Good News Broadcasting, BMI »
Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling calling for you and for me
See on the portals he's waiting and watching watching for you and for me
Come home come home ye who are weary come home
Earnestly tenderly Jesus is calling calling oh sinner come home
[ horns ] Oh for the wonderful love he has promised promised for you and for me
Though we have sinned he has mercy and pardon pardon for you and for me
Come home come home ye who are weary come home...
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5.
IN THE SWEET BY AND BY
(Joseph P. Webster - S. Fillmore Bennett - Bill Walker)« © '58 Lilac Tree Music, BMI »
There's a land that is fairer than day and by faith we can see it afar
For the father waits over the way to prepare us a dwelling place there
In the sweet by and by we shall meet on that beautiful shore
In the sweet by and by we shall meet on that beautiful shore
[ piano ] We shall sing on that beautiful shore the melodious songs of the blessed
And our spirits shall sorrow no more not a sigh for the blessing of rest
In the sweet by and by...
To our bountiful father above we will offer the tribute of praise
For the glorious gift of his love and the blessings that hallow our days
In the sweet by and by...
In the sweet by and by...
**********
6.
JUST AS I AM
(Charlotte Elliott - William Bradbury - Bill Walker)« © '60 Lilac Tree Music, BMI »
Just as I am without one plea but that Thy blood was shed for me
And that Thou bid'st me come to Thee oh lamb of God I come I come
[ strings ] Just as I am and waiting not to rid my soul of one dark blot
To Thee who's blood can cleanse each spot oh lamb of God I come I come
Just as I am Lord tho tossed about with many a conflict and many a doubt
Fightings and fears within and without oh lamb of God I come I come
Just as I am Thou wilt recieve wilt welcome pardon cleanse relieve
Because Thy promise I believe oh lamb of God I come I come
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7.
FARTHER ALONG
(W.B. Stevens - Jesse R. Baxter)« © '38 Bridge Building Music, BMI »
Tempted and tried we're oft made to wonder why it should be thus all the day long
While there are others living about us never molested though in the wrong
Farther along we'll know all about it farther along we'll understand why
Cheer up my brother live in the sunshine we'll understand it all by and by
[ strings ] When we see Jesus coming in glory when he comes from his home in the sky
Then we shall meet him in that bright mansion we'll understand it all by and by
Farther along we'll know all about it...
**********
8.
WHEN THE ROLL IS CALLED UP YONDER
(James M. Black)« © '56 Good News Broadcasting, BMI »
When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound and time shall be no more
And the morning breaks eternal bright and fair
When the saved of earth shall gather over on the other shore
And the roll is called up yonder I'll be there
When the roll is called up yonder when the roll is called up yonder
When the roll is called up yonder when the roll is called up yonder I'll be there
[ horns ] Let us labor for the Master from the dawn till setting sun
Let us talk of all his wonderous love and care
Then when all of life is over and our work on earth is done
And the roll is called up yonder I'll be there
When the roll is called up yonder...
(When the roll is called up yonder I'll be there)
**********
9.
AMAZING GRACE
(John Newton - Bill Walker)« © '52 Bridge Building Music, BMI »
Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now I'm found was blind but now I see
Twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relive
How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed
When we've been there ten thousand years bright shining as the sun
We've no less days to sing God's praise then when we first begun
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10.
AT THE CROSS
(Ralph C. Hudson - Isaac Watts)« © '16 Fly Away Music, BMI »
Alas and did my Saviour bleed and did my sov'reign die
Would he devote that sacred head for such a worm as I
At the cross at the cross where I first saw the light
And the burden of my heart rolled away
It was there by faith I received my sight
And now I am happy all the day
[ horns ] Was it for crimes that I have done he groaned upon the tree
Amazing pity grace unknown and love beyond degree
At the cross at the cross where I first saw the light...
[ horns ] But drops of grief cannot repay that debt of love I owe
Here Lord I give myself away it's all that I can do
At the cross at the cross where I first saw the light...
At the cross at the cross where I first saw the light...
**********
11.
HAVE THINE OWN WAY LORD
(George C. Stebbins - Adelaide A. Pollard - Bill Walker)« © '53 Hope Publishing, ASCAP »
Have Thine own way Lord have Thine own way Thou art the potter I am the clay
Mold me and make me after Thy will while I am waiting yielded and still
Have Thine own way Lord have Thine own way search me and try me Master today
Whiter than snow Lord wash me just now as in Thy presence humbly I bow
Have Thine own way Lord have Thine own way hold oe'r my being absolute sway
Filled with Thy spirit till all shall see Christ only always living in me
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