"Drifting, Through the Capitals of Tin..."

Ok, so I have been a huge U2 fan since I was about 12. I have also been a huge Johnny Cash fan for about the same length of time.
Bono once quipped that Johnny Cash had "the most male voice in Christendom."
Which is true, and everyone knows it.

My gosh! He's almost smiling!

What you might not know is that on the U2 album Zooropa (1993!), U2 recorded a song with JC himself (Johnny, not Jesus). Entitled "The Wanderer" it's pretty much the only Cash song I know of that has no guitar, no harmonica, no traditional country stylins. It has pretty much only a beat and a synthesized bass. It's awesome. Bono lends only a croony-sort-of-yowl towards the end (around 4:15 or so).

"Your hair is a bird, your yowl is invalid."

Anyhoo, so here is the link to today's GOOD SONG: The Wanderer.

The lyrics are interesting, sort of the Apocalyptic journeyings of a man carrying "a Bible and a gun," searching for something, someone. Lots of people I know hear parallels between the setting of this song and the world today. I think it depends on how pessimistic you are. My favorite bits:  

"I went out there
In search of experience
To taste and to touch
And to feel as much
As a man can
Before he repents."

and


"I stopped outside a church house
Where the citizens like to sit
They say they want the kingdom
But they don't want God in it."


The combination of his uber-distinctive voice with the chorus in the background at the end is nothing short of genius.


If you like this song, you might also like the rest of Zooropa ("Numb" is a great one-- also sans Bono vocals). I'm not even gonna bother trying to tell you what you should check out if you like Johnny Cash and U2. Their legacy is too huge.


And I'm hungry!


Over and out,
Anna


P.S. Download the song here!