He knew he had it comin'

In a letter to the editor of the Tennessean on the 27th of November:

I hear that freedom of speech is an issue. Well, I feel if freedom of
speech is killing our children at the rate that is reported, someone needs to
get to the root of the problem, and I am telling you what that problem is.

In yesterday’s Tennesseean, Mark Forrester has a letter to the editor in response.


In some kind of quasi-defence of rap music, he writes:

Years ago, one of our most beloved country music icons, Johnny Cash, sang
with a snarl in his deep, baritone voice, "I shot a man in Reno just to watch
him die." To have scorned the Man in Black because he pointed out the darkness
of the human condition would have been a ridiculous denial of the pathos his art
so ably conveyed.

C'mon, man, don't go after the Man in Black

I first saw Cash lyrics used for this purpose, though in a far less balanced way, in Michael Moore’s book Stupid White Men. Moore selected a few of the fluffier lines from rap music to show how “positive” it could be – and then went on to lambaste Johnny for singing “I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die.” VolBro had bought the book in Florentine bookshop and spluttered and ranted and read the section aloud to me in our Italian hotel room (without a view) so I could splutter and rant, too. He wanted to pitch out the book there and then, but it was the only one he had in English.

As for any work of art, literature, song, etc. You can’t look at a single line to determine the meaning of the piece. Yes, the character in Folsom Prison Blues is sorry example of humanity, but he expresses regret, if not remorse, in the lines:

When I was just a baby, my mama told me, "Son,
Always be a good boy; don't ever play with guns."
But I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die.
When I hear that whistle blowin' I hang my head and cry.

Followed in the next verse by:

I know I had it comin, I know I can’t be free

Within the context, you know that the character is a bad man, not someone whose actions are to be emulated.

I don’t listen to rap music if I can help it, and there may well be examples of songs which both describe and condemn violence. However, it’s my impression that much of it glorifies and condones violence, criminal activity and promiscuity. I would never suggest that these works be censored or outlawed, but I can’t see anything wrong with avoiding them and encouraging others to do the same.

And if you do want to defend that stuff, for goodness sake, don't go after Johnny in the process.