'Man in Black' mourned at funeral

Johnny Cash was remembered at his funeral as a man who kept his dignity while struggling with demons, and made it a habit to help others.

“He was so modest and humble, and so willing to live with his pain and not make anybody else pay for it,” said daughter Rosanne during the two-and-a-half hour service yesterday.

The private event for the music legend at First Baptist Church in Hendersonville, Tennessee will be followed by a public memorial still being planned. A service for Cash’s wife June Carter Cash was held at the same church after her death in May.

Cash, 71, died on Friday of respiratory failure caused by complications from diabetes. His death followed years of precarious health.

More than 1,000 mourners listened to tributes from Rosanne Cash, Kris Kristofferson, preacher Franklin Graham, former Vice President Al Gore, and other family members and friends.

Emmylou Harris and Sheryl Crow performed two songs, The Old Rugged Cross and Bob Dylan’s Every Grain of Sand.

Kristofferson called Cash “Abraham Lincoln with a wild side”. It was a nod to the singer’s dual reputations as a champion of the poor, prisoners, and other underdogs, and decades-long battle with drug addiction.

“Cowboy” Jack Clement, an engineer and producer who had been friends with Cash since the 1950s, read a poem about Cash that said in part: “It takes a good man to take success, and not misplace his soul.”

Cash’s career stretched from rockabilly hits like Cry, Cry, Cry and Get Rhythm in the 1950s to his renditions of rock songs in recent years like Hurt, by Nine Inch Nails. In between, he was one of country music’s biggest stars, scoring dozens of hits like A Boy Named Sue, Man in Black and It Ain’t Me Babe, a duet with Carter Cash on a Dylan song.

“There was something about Johnny Cash that went beyond the music,” Mr Gore said. “There were hundreds of millions all over the world who felt a connection with Johnny Cash. ... He felt deeply for people, those who didn’t have jobs or were suffering in any way.”

Cash, known as “The Man in Black” for his preferred attire, said in a hit song that he wore the colour in honour of the poor and oppressed.

Famous and not-so-famous members of the Cash and Carter clans wept, with Cash’s body set in a black coffin at the front of the church.

Many musicians who owed their start to Cash attended, including the Statler Brothers, Larry Gatlin and the Oak Ridge Boys. Also paying their respects were Vince Gill, Hank Williams Jr, Travis Tritt, Dwight Yoakam, George Jones, Ricky Skaggs, Ronnie Dunn and actress Jane Seymour.

As the service came to end, country singer Gatlin addressed his own son, Joshua Cash Gatlin, from the pulpit: ”Son, this man fed your mama and me when we couldn’t afford food. He paid rent for us when we couldn’t pay rent.”

After the death of Carter Cash, Cash spent most of his time recording, leaving more than 30 songs yet to be released. He had planned to attend the MTV Video Music Awards shortly before his death, but couldn’t because of illness. His video for Hurt won an award for cinematography at that show, and he has four nominations at the Country Music Association Awards in November.