alpha and omega kingdom come
Last year, when American IV: The Man Comes Around came out, I think we all sensed it might be Johnny Cash's last album. He was still with the music, especially in the title track and the Nine Inch Nails cover that made all the kids sit up and take notice, but at the same time you could feel that he had turned his eyes upward and away. The liner notes in particular sounded like the words of a man who had settled accounts with the world and with his God. This summer June Carter passed and the last thread was cut.
Mr. Cash's 2000 recording of the traditional "Wayfaring Stranger" supersedes any further comment.
I'm just a poor wayfaring stranger
Traveling through this world below
There is no sickness nor toil nor danger
In that bright land to which I go
I'm going there to see my father
And all my loved ones who've gone home
I'm just going over Jordan
I'm just going over home
I know dark clouds will gather round me
I know my way is hard and steep
But beauteous fields arise before me
Where God's redeemed their vigils keep
I'm going there to see my mother
She said she'd meet me when I come
So I'm just going over Jordan
I'm just going over home
