All language subtitles for June.2023.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC5.1-[YTS.MX]

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[rhythmic clapping]

- Yeah.

- That's exactly
what you're doing.

- It is.
- The airplane shot me down.

- Yeah?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- Go around the back
and through the passage way.

[cheering]

- Helen, June and Anita,
the Carter Family.

[cheering]

- It's very nifty to be able
to entertain you

a little bit today,

and I don't know
what you're expecting,

since we're all girls, and...
[laughter]

Since we're the only girls
on the show,

but I've got one announcement
to make before we do our part.

This is as sexy
as I'm gonna get.

[laughter]

- [whistles]

- No, this is
our little family,

and we sing the songs mostly
of the old Carter family,

and, well, we've been around
these parts for a long time,

and we're proud to be part
of The Johnny Cash Show.

We're gonna sing some new ones
and some old ones.

So sit back, relax,
take your hands out

of each other's pockets, and--

[laughter]

We'll sing a few little songs
for you,

and then you'll see
who you've come to see.

Old Golden Throat
will be right out.

[laughter]

[Johnny Cash and June Carter's
"Jackson"]

- * Look out, Jackson town *

* Well, go on down to Jackson *

* Go ahead
and wreck your health *

* Go play your hand,
you big talking man *

* And make a big fool
of yourself *

* Yeah, go to Jackson *

- I think for most people,
when they think about

June Carter Cash,
they're probably thinking

about Reese Witherspoon.

- Will you marry me?

- Because that film,
"Walk the Line,"

was really
June's mass exposure,

I think, to a lot of people.

- * Well, now we got married *

- Johnny Cash and June Carter.

Johnny and June.

"Walk the Line"
was the fairy tale.

- The movie is about
a period of time about this big

in a life so large.

- * And that's a fact *

- It was probably gonna be
as much, if not more,

of June involved
in the equation than John.

And I'll get shot
and killed here

in Nashville for saying that.

- What would you like
to talk about?

- It really doesn't matter.

I thought you might ask me
where Johnny was.

- Where is Johnny?
- He's not here, is he?

[laughter]

["Hello Stranger"]

* Well, hello stranger *

- If you only know
June Carter Cash,

you're missing
a whole lot of things.

- She was born
with one of the most

famous names in country music.

- A remarkable
show business career.

- Well, June Carter
was an incredible artist

in her own right.

- She's one
of the most charming

and talented women
in country music today.

- A singer,
a comedienne, actress.

- * Let a working man
lay down *

* Yeah, I get a frown *

- Who is June Carter Cash
to me?

Well, she's a badass bitch,
first off.

- You couldn't deny her.
she had that spark, the "it."

You can't overdub the "it."

- * But I see you *

- But she's been married
so long to one man.

- No, no.
I had two before him.

I put all mine together,
and I'm still

not nearly caught up with you.

[laughter]

- * When your troubles
are like mine *

- There was so much
about my mother

that may have been
misunderstood.

- Underrated
and underappreciated.

***

- * So get up, rounder *

- I think at the heart of it,
June's story hasn't been told.

- Would you welcome
June Carter Cash?

- June Carter Cash.
- June Carter Cash.

- June Carter Cash.

[cheers and applause]

[birds chirping]

- Hi.
- Everybody's here but Marty.

- Oh, they are?

Well, you might know
Marty'd be late.

It's part of what he does.

Once you get to be a big star,
you're really late.

I'm late because of Johnny.

- Good morning.
- Hi, Miss June.

- Good morning.
- Hi.

Lord, look at everybody.

It feels like old times.
- It does.

- It does, doesn't it?
How are you?

[soft acoustic music]

***

- Well, here we are.

- Hi, June.
- Come on in.

I'm excited, everybody.

I often wondered
how I'd ever do an album.

And then I met
this really wonderful girl

named Vicky Hamilton,
who was mostly

in the world of rock and roll.

- There was an urgency
that she wanted

to make this record.

So I had shopped it around

to all
the major record companies,

and everybody passed.
I, like, couldn't believe it.

There's no way
we're putting out

a record with a 70-year-old
woman, you know?

- Four, five.

- I was kind of incensed.

This is, like,
country music royalty.

How can you pass?

So I decided, OK, I'm gonna
start my own record company

and raise the money
to make this record.

- I think I've changed
her whole life.

So I'm hoping to make some
history again this morning.

***

- That day,
we just gathered around

to sing the songs
of her family,

my mom's family and things

that she'd written down
through the years.

- I was looking for some
other good Carter family songs

to sing on this album,
and "Diamonds in the Rough"

is probably one
of my favorites, Marty.

So why don't you and I sing it?

- You got it.

["Diamonds in the Rough"]

***

- My mother
was like a kid again.

She was eager.

It was as if she was ready

to go get on a roller coaster.

- * The day will soon be over *

* And the digging
will be done *

* No more gems be gathered *

* So let us all press on *

- I don't think
I've ever really known

a life that's any different
than show business.

My mother was Maybelle Carter,
who was a part

of the original Carter family.

- This is my mama Maybelle,

and then my aunt and my uncle,
Sara Carter, AP Carter.

***

* The diamonds
will be shining *

* No longer in the rough *

***

- At the time
that my mother was born,

Maybelle had been recording
for a couple of years

with the
original Carter family.

[The Carter Family's
"Wildwood Flower"]

***

- One day, we found a man
that wanted us

to come up and make a record.

So we went up to Bristol
and made our first record,

and it's been going
ever since.

* Oh,
I'll twine with my mingles *

* And waving black hair *

- The Carters, I mean,
they were the beginning.

That was like the spontaneous
combustion of country music.

And June traces
right into that.

- They had
so many tunes that formed

a basis for our country
and western music

as we know it today.

And when people didn't know
what kind of a melody to use,

they just went back
and grabbed

an old Carter family melody

and hung on to that.

- * I will dance *

* I will sing *

* And my love shall be gay *

* I will charm every heart *

* And in his crown,
I will sway *

- I just thought everybody had

a Mother Maybelle Carter
that picked

a "Wildwood Flower"
on the guitar.

I didn't really know
she was different.

***

- Mother Maybelle was one
of the early

female guitar players
that actually slayed at guitar.

Like,
she could straight up play.

[rapid guitar playing]

***

- My little fingers
were so calloused learning

to play the "Wildwood Flower."

That was one of the first songs
I think

that most country kids--
boys or girls--

you want to play.
You know...

* I will dance, I will sing *

* And I'll play
the wildwood flower *

***

- And my father was
instrumental in this, too--

Ezra Carter.

- Daddy was a wonderful
influence in our life.

Daddy was a brilliant man.

[engine revving]

***

- She was very close to him.

She'd ride
his motorcycle with him.

She saw herself kind of
as a real rough and tumble

little kid, holding onto Daddy
as he drove his motorcycle

through that area.

- I think probably the lesson
that my father taught,

the most important one,
was that we be ourselves.

You develop what you have.

You do that as a person.

* Don't be a dirty miner
like me *

- When you grow up like that,
loving that place

and knowing
that's who you are--

when you just
become part of the woods

and the bees and the birds,
and you're just

a bunch of country little kids
running around

and that's your place,
when you have to move away

in order to do
what you need to do,

you carry that with you.

***

- I'm sure you're enjoying
these good old songs

as only the Carter Family
can sing them.

Now here's the three
little Carter sisters,

Helen, June, and Anita.

And what's it gonna be?

[together]
"In the Highway."

- "In the Highway."

- * In the highways,
in the hedges *

- My sisters Helen and Anita
and I went with my mother

to the Texas border stations.

- [speaking Spanish]

- That was the end
of the world away

from southwestern Virginia.

- Well, here's something
that's mighty good.

And that's a solo by June.
What's it going to be, June?

- I'm going to sing
"Engine 143."

["Engine 143"]

- * Along came the FFV *

* The swiftest on the line *

* Running o'er the C&O *

- Well, we get
right on the stage,

and mother Maybelle Carter,
I guarantee you,

if she could hear us
out of tune,

she would just pop up
and let us know about it.

- You're on holy ground when
you're playing those songs.

They'll live forever
and ever and ever.

- Yeah, they do.
- But we're all family.

- Oh, why don't we sing
that one that we just tried?

- Which one was it?

- * You have heard of
little Moses in the bulrush *

* You have heard of fearless
David and his sling *

* You have heard the story
told of dreaming Joseph *

- Time for the Carter sisters
and Mother Maybelle...

- We left those Texas
border stations,

and we worked a lot of shows,
Helen and Anita and I,

with my mother--
just the four of us.

- They drove
for hours and hours

and then did
four shows a day sometimes.

And it was relentless
and sometimes brutal work.

- * At that meeting
in the air *

- * The meeting in the air *

- Well, I hope you folks
liked that one there.

I'm gonna give you
a little jolt, now.

I'm gonna sing one
that's awful corny

here for you.
It's gonna be loud.

I reckon
I'm Mommy's loudest young'un,

and that's all I can
figure out for myself here.

***

* Well, I might
have gone fishing *

* I got to think it over *

* The road to the river *

* Is a mighty long way *

- She was not
the greatest singer

in the whole Carter family,

but her personality
and her emotion

made her part actually,
sometimes,

even more interesting,
because she just

would get in there
very much like I do

and just sing right
from the gut and the heart.

- Maybelle
just turned Mama loose

and let her just be
as zany and crazy

and a kid as she could be.

It's like she would do
anything for a laugh.

- I think I tried to be funny
when I couldn't think

of what else to do.

When you didn't know
what else to do,

you just talked,
and so I rattled away,

boogity, boogity, boogity.

***

[somber guitar music]

- There was no way that June

was not gonna be
front and center.

It's hard for her
to stand still

and not interject.
[laughs]

***

- We had come to Nashville,
and we got a call to appear.

And so we went down and went

to work at
"the Grand Ole Opry."

***

- * The Grand Ole Opry,
the Grand Ole Opry time *

[upbeat country music]

***

- * Do-si-do,
don't let them go *

- If you were
going to Nashville,

your dream was to be
on "The Grand Ole Opry,"

because everybody
all over the country

listened to it
if you loved country music.

***

- We've got the girl here who
can put an awful lot of humor

in any program.

Let's make welcome
Miss June Carter.

[cheers and applause]

- I'm gonna sing
if I can swaller

before I get started 'cause

this song ain't got
no swallerin' place.

- Let's try it.

- * I got a song *

* It's a pretty good song *

* Only one thing wrong
with the pretty good song *

* 'Cause a pretty good song
goes along and along *

- Back in those days,
Saturday night,

you'd turn on WSM Nashville
and listen

to "The Grand Ole Opry."

- * Get along and along
and along and along *

* Gonna get me
red in the face *

- June Carter was
an all-around entertainer.

- * 'Cause it ain't got
no swallerin place *

- June Carter, here we are.

[cheers and applause]

- [screams]

- What did I do?
- What did you do?

You can quit throwing
that there--

- Well, if it ain't
June Carter.

[applause]

- Of all
the knot-headed people,

you are the knotty-headed
of knot-headed--

well, bless his heart.

It's Carl, that's who it is.

Hello, Carl.
- Hello, June.

- How you doing, old buddy?
- Pretty doggone good.

***

* I thought I had seen
pretty girls in my time *

* But that was
before I met you *

* I never saw one that I *

- Carl Smith
was the preeminent

honky tonk singer of the day.

- He was a hot hunk,
one of the handsomest men

in country music.

- I heard what you
was saying out here.

- What'd I say?
- You said--

- I didn't think you heard me.

- You said
you knowed me quite well.

I just want you to know,
Carl,

that I know you
quite well, too.

- Oh.
- And I don't like--

I don't like what I know.

[laughter]

No, I didn't--

- Hush, you're on television.
Look.

[laughter]

* April and spring
is in the air *

- And June Carter
landed the star.

***

Of all the women
that wanted Carl,

June is the one that got him.

- * I saw a little mugwump
sitting in a tree *

* Until he saw a female *

- They were the storybook
romance of the "Opry."

They were like,
oh, June Carter

of the famous Carter family,
and Carl Smith,

the biggest hit-maker
of the day.

And you're like, "Wow."

Perfect chemistry,
perfect timing,

perfect everything--
they were, like, the couple.

***

- There was a lot of joy,
a lot of laughter.

It sure had a beautiful outcome
with my sister Carlene.

***

- * I'd let you know, June *

- See, Mama and Daddy looked
like they belonged together,

too, because they had
a very similar sense of humor,

and they got a kick
out of each other.

- I'm kind of interested
in you, Carl Smith.

You're quite a ladies man.
And I'm kind of--

- Is that right?
Well, all right.

[laughter]

- I've got to--

close your big mouth.

Hey, no kidding.
I really am--

- You close yours.
I'm liable to fall in.

- Well, your big old ears
would hold you out.

[laughter]

***

]cheers and applause]

- I'm gonna do it,
and I just need you to know--

- The character you did,
was it you? Or was it--

- No, it wasn't me.
I created her.

She would do almost anything
to get a laugh,

and did, and I don't think
it was sincerely me.

No, it's just
a crazy little girl I played.

I just get up, and then
take the time to lay down.

Life gets tedious, don't it?

- Because she could
do it so well,

people believed
that June Carter

really was this uncouth hick.

She made it seem effortless.

It was not effortless.

She had thick binders
that had jokes

and songs and routines

that she had honed
over decades.

- Miss June Carter.

[cheers and applause]

- Nashville at the time
was stuck in this image

of the little homemaker.

The "Opry" was insistent
that women should dress

in those kind of
gingham checks

and be very conservative.

- I'm getting
a cold in my nose.

Life gets tedious, don't it?

[applause]

[light guitar music]

- There was a difficult time
in my life

and I wasn't very happy.

It was during the time when
I was in my first marriage.

I was married to Carl Smith.

- My mother was working,
and she was going on the road.

And I think that Carl
had a different vision

of what a marriage was
than my mom did.

- He wanted her to stay home
and be more of a mom,

and she could still
go play the "Opry,"

but he didn't think
she'd be out on the road.

And Mama always said
that she was covered up

with ambition,
that she was absolutely

filled with ambition.

She had all these things
she wanted to do.

I think she wanted to be--

I think she just wanted
to be a superstar.

***

- I detected a little sarcasm
in that voice

when I heard you
putting me on.

I said, "What's the matter
with you, anyway?"

- Well, you know what
you've done to me, don't you?

- I don't know
what you're talking about.

Do you mean this morning?
- Tell 'em what you done to me.

- I was helping you, Carl.
I haven't--

- Yeah, you was helping me.

Tell them what you done.

- I was just
helping you, old buddy.

You was in bad shape,

and I was just giving you
a little, well--

I tell you what.
I tell you what.

He had a bad cold in his head.
- Yeah.

- It's not something that you
really did in the mid-1950s.

You really
didn't get divorced.

But by 1955,

and we're talking
less than three years,

they've already decided
they're going

their separate ways...
- Right, I--

- You may be a good old girl,
but you don't look too good.

- Oh, is that right?
- No, you don't.

You ought to put some lipstick
on and bring your lips--

- But they
still worked together...

- Around your eyes...

- Where June and Carl
are on stage doing banter...

- Bring your hair out
a little, you know?

- Well, why don't you try
to sneeze and nod your head

and bring
your teeth out a little?

[laughter]

I like that ol' Carl Smith.

I got his picture at home.
Yeah, I just--

- About all that's left.
[laughter]

- You are--whee!

You wouldn't know, honey.

You ain't been there
in a long enough time to see.

- Her divorce from Carl Smith
was a scandal.

Nowadays,
nobody would bat an eye.

But back then, it was a thing.
- I'll see you, old knothead.

- In the conservative
Nashville,

she still bore
a scarlet letter.

You were like used goods.

["He Don't Love Me Anymore"]

- * He don't love me anymore *

* My eyes
are filled with tears *

- I think that she had
an existential crisis.

I think that the divorce
put her in a tailspin.

- * Tell me
where I go from here *

- She didn't think
that anybody was ever

gonna love her
who, at the same time,

would let her just be able
to do what she wanted to do,

because she just
couldn't give it up.

***

- * And it's hard to *

- Later on in his life,
right before he passed away,

I said, "So what happened
with you and Mom?"

Mom always says
she loved you so deeply

and was so heartbroken.
- * Spring is in the air *

- And Daddy says,
"Your mama never loved me."

And I said, "What?"

And he said,
"She loved the idea of me."

And I kind of understood that
to a certain degree.

The idea of him was,
her idea was that

they would just keep doing
what they were doing.

[bright acoustic music]

***

- All right, you all sound
like you're really honking.

- Sounds great.

- Yeah, you're just pressing
right along.

***

- There it goes.

- Just let me know
when you're ready.

- OK, John Carter.

- OK.

- This song explains itself
in a way because

I look back on the days when
I was living in New York City,

and for a while in my life,
I was part of

the rock and roll bunch,

so this goes back
to those years.

OK, here we go.

- * Well, the place
was New York City *

* And the hour
was growing late *

* Had walked from streets
in Harlem *

* To the
Greenwich Village gate *

* We were young and foolish *

* And trying out for fame *

- This was the time
in her life

when she was
absolutely heartbroken.

- She was sort of asserting
her independence.

You know,
like she always said,

she wasn't the best singer
or the best player,

but she had something,
and she needed to find that,

and I think that that was
partly why she ran away.

She went to New York.

- * Well, I used
to be somebody, Lord *

* I used to have a friend *

* I'd like
to be somebody again *

- And so I went to New York.

And I just took my little girl
and went to New York,

took Carlene with me,
and moved into an apartment,

and I studied there.

- June and my sister Rosemary

were studying
with Sandy Meisner

at the Neighborhood Playhouse.

She wanted to be an actress.

And the greatest teacher
of all was Sandy Meisner.

- If you think about it,

women just didn't do that
at the time.

Being this person on the road
who lived this life,

that was very unorthodox,
especially for women

at that time who had children.

- It was almost impossible,

but June did it.

***

She had this dual role
that she was playing.

She was still coming home
on the weekends

to work on the "Opry"
on Saturday nights,

and she would leave on Sunday
and go to New York City

and study all week,
and then come back home.

- She was flying
back and forth

on propeller planes, people.

There were no jets.

***

- And she was also
working constantly then,

filming television shows.

- I did several shows
back during that time.

- Well, there's $100 in there.

I want you to take it
down to the jail

and see what you can do
for the Countess.

- I worked wherever I could.

I just picked up
what parts I could.

- I'll kill him!

You hear me, Kate?
I'll kill him!

- I heard you.

- She got on an episode
of "Gunsmoke."

- Arkansas River.

- That big whiskey-guzzling
no-good nothing.

I hope I die just so
he'll hang for what he done.

- She's the dance hall girl,

and she goes,
"He shot me, Marshal Dillon!"

[laughs]

- * When I held the rose
that he gave me *

- She loved it.
It was the time of her life.

I mean,
she met a lot of people.

- Jimmy Dean, Brando.
- Tennessee Williams.

- She was also
traveling back and forth

opening for Elvis at the time.

[cheers and applause]

- My mom would always
get a twinkle in her eye

when she talked about Elvis.

- You were a friend
of Elvis Presley's.

- Yes.
- Were you--

- [laughs]
[coughs]

- That's all I mean.
- Oh, boy.

- I didn't know.

- Yes, we were friends,
a long time ago.

- Yeah, many times, I said,

"Mama, come on, tell me.

You slept with Elvis, right?"

[laughs]

She would giggle
and she would blush a little,

but she said, "No, Elvis
was just a nice young man

when I knew him."
[laughs]

- A lot of women
loved Elvis Presley.

* Well, I went
with Elvis Presley

to see Brando from afar *

- She told me
that during that time,

Elvis knew Mama
was heartbroken,

and so he would come
to New York,

and he was apparently
pushing me around

Central Park
in a baby carriage.

- My Mama had a sheet music
that she had on the road.

It was Carl Smith's
sheet music,

and Elvis put a mustache
on him and said,

"Painting by Presley,"
and signed it.

And my mother tucked
that away all those years.

- * That was back
in my rock and roll years *

- I think that was
when she was emerging

as a person on her own,

and she was just
becoming someone.

And all of these people
were also

just becoming someone.
She was one of them.

She was accepted
as an actress, as a singer.

She was June Carter,

and she was making it
on her own.

- * Again *

* I used to be somebody *

* Good Lord,
where have I been *

* I ain't never
gonna see Elvis again *

***

- She came that close.
She was there.

She was on the cusp.

She was standing
at the Greenwich Village gate.

[soft dramatic music]

And then it slipped away.

[bombastic orchestral music]

***

- And here he is again to sing
our closing inspirational,

the Tennessee Warbler.

- Thank you.
- You know, your life changes.

You take a different course.

- You know, Vernon,
I got a lot of hand-holding

to make up for.

- I don't think she ever
gave up her ambition.

I think life enters,
intervened.

- She came home one weekend,

if you will,
and found herself pregnant,

and that was the end
of her movie career.

***

- So I called him Daddy Rip,

and he was the daddy
of my little sister, Rosie.

- June and Rip Nicks
were married

very, very quickly.

- He had nothing
to do with show business.

- He raced speedboats.

His daddy owned a garage,

so he was always, like,
building motors and hot rods,

and he wanted to go fast.

***

- And now she had
two daughters,

both of whom were
under three years old,

and so something had to give.

[soft acoustic music]

***

- Come on, Rose.

- I'll go sit down.

- Your whole
singing bunch is today.

- Go, do it.

- OK, I'm gonna talk
a little bit.

Ready.
- You're kidding.

- No.
[laughter]

- Rosie and I
wrote this song together,

and this is my daughter Rosie.

It's a tough story
after you've been living

in New York a long time,
and you're just worn out.

OK, babies, here we go.
Thump, thump, thump.

- [laughs]

- Come on, thumper.

["Gatsby's Restaurant"]

* I got tired
of New York City *

* With its sidewalk
and its heat *

* So I got myself
a great big horse *

* And I rode him
down the street *

* And then I hollered,
hi, ho, Silver *

* And get 'em up, scout *

I think it was about 1956.

[applause]

I was just coming home
on the weekends

to do that "Grand Ole Opry"
on Saturday nights.

- June Carter
and Garden Perry.

- I was backstage.

I was just coming
across backstage,

and this big, tall guy stops me

and said,
"Hello, I'm Johnny Cash."

- Hello, I'm Johnny Cash.

***

- And I knew
who Johnny Cash was.

I'd had listened
to Johnny Cash a lot

for the past two
or three months before that

because I had been traveling
with Elvis Presley,

and Elvis was
a real Johnny Cash nut.

He would always play John
on the jukebox.

He liked the song,
"Cry, Cry, Cry."

"Cry, Cry, Cry,"
was one that Elvis

used to tune his guitar by.

Or I would tune Elvis's guitar

when he would
break the strings.

Only way he could tune
his guitar would go...

* Everybody knows where you go
when the sun goes down *

And Elvis would try
to get the tune that way.

So he told me an awful lot
about Johnny Cash,

and I kept saying,
"If I ever meet this fella,

"I want to see
what he looks like.

What does he look like?"

Well, he did walk up to me
backstage and just said that.

And I said,
"Well, I'm June Carter."

And he said, "I know.

You know, I know who you are."

- I met her in '56.

She was a performer
on "The Grand Ole Opry"

at the time,
and I was doing

my first
guest appearance there.

- He told me that I was
his favorite entertainer

at that time from the show.

- You have to put yourself
in Johnny Cash's shoes.

I mean,
he was a very, very poor

son of the soil from Arkansas,

and he has grown up
hearing June on his radio.

- * Running o'er
the C&O road *

- She's been performing
since she was six years old.

She was with him
down on those Mexican stations

when she was a little girl.

- * I saw
through his disguise *

* When I looked into his eyes *

- I remember
on my senior trip in 1950,

we went to
"The Grand Ole Opry,"

and I was sitting
way up in the balcony,

and there was June Carter
down on the stage,

and I said,
"One of these days,

I'm gonna get her autograph."

***

- This feller's good-looking,
isn't he?

- Oh, he's handsome.

- And I imagine
he sings pretty good, too.

- So good that he's one
of the biggest new stars

in country music today.
- Is that so?

- Yes, sir.

Come on over and meet him,
Johnny Cash.

["So Doggone Lonesome"]

***

- * Time stands still
when you're waiting *

* Sometimes I think
my heart is stopping, too *

- At that time, our life
took us somewhere else.

- * One lonely hour
seems forever *

- I was living in Memphis,

and I just didn't see her
for about five more years.

* But I guess I'll keep
waiting till you're with me *

- He went his direction,
and I went mine.

- * So doggone lonesome *

- How about that?

- By the late '50s,
her options are not

as wide open
as they may have been

just a couple of years before.

[soft acoustic music]

She's got the girls.

- Now, Mom worked.

And my step-daddy Rip
did not always have

a 9:00 to 5:00 job.

She used to write commercials
for the "Opry"

to make extra money.

She'd say to me and Rosie,
she'd say,

"You listen tonight,

"Because that
little commercial

"I wrote and made
50 extra dollars,

it's gonna be
on there tonight."

- June Carter, Junebug.

- I'd like to sing
old Carter family songs

because I think
I know them a little better.

- She always said,
used to say to me, she'd say,

"Money ain't everything,
but it sure as hell helps."

- June was working
opening drugstores.

June was playing
in the milk aisle

of the grocery store.

- * If I was on
some foggy mountain top *

* I'd sail away to the West *

- She became known
as somebody who was reliable,

and when they would need
the girl singer,

that was always
what the promoters

were looking for--
the girl singer.

- * He's caused me
to leave my home *

- That's where June came in.

- * Oh, the lonesome pines
and good old times *

* I'm on my way back home *

* If I was
on some old mountaintop *

- So just as it happened...

- Johnny Cash
& The Tennessee Two!

- Johnny Cash had an opening.

[country music]

- Got invited to go
on a thing with him.

First, I think
it was Dallas, Texas.

- June Carter.

[bright acoustic music]

***

- And there was a magic when
they got on stage together.

There was something
that was unique that happened.

- Thank you very much.

Right now, we'd like
to bring out the flower

of Clinch Mountain,
Miss June Carter.

Come here, June.
Hi.

Hey, will you do
a song for us?

- So when they got to doing
more and more dates together,

John offered her a job
as to be in his band.

- Goes, "Love is just
a thing of beauty,

and beauty is a blossom."

- If you want
to get your finger bit,

poke it at a possum.
- No.

- Sing one.

* Well, it takes
a worried man *

* To sing a worried song *

* It takes a worried man *

* To sing a worried song *

- By the time Johnny
puts together his road show,

he's a superstar.
- Hi, folks.

This is Johnny Cash.

And we're gonna tear
the place up.

Y'all stick around late.

* And I lay down to sleep *

- He's this man in black,
this iconic figure

who commanded a stage.

- * I had shackles
on my feet *

- When Johnny Cash came out,
he just had that magnetism.

It was--I don't know.

There was just
some kind of a magic.

- * People gonna
stoop and bow *

* All 'em women
gonna make me *

* Teach 'em
what they don't know how *

* I'm going to Jackson *

- It just got to me, you know?

And I got
the biggest crush on him.

You would not believe it.

I even thought about him
when I was at home,

and you know, when I was
in sleeping or whatever,

I'd think about Johnny Cash.

- * Yeah,
I'm going to Jackson *

- His name is Johnny Cash.

He and June Carter,
they've been touring

around the world.
- Oh, she's very good, Pete.

Very proud of her.
We went all over the Far East.

And she was so homesick,
I guess,

that she asked me to go up
to see her old home place

up at Macy Springs, Virginia.

- [laughs]
- Golly.

- All right.

* Oh, I'm thinking tonight
of my blue-eyes *

* Who is sailing
far over the sea *

* Yes, I'm thinking
tonight of him only *

* And I wonder
if he ever thinks of me *

- This was a time
I woke up one morning,

and I came to the realization
that I thought,

"Oh, my goodness,
I think I'm falling in love

with Johnny Cash."

* For the pleasures
we've both seen together *

Scared
the daylights out of me.

It was not an opportune time.

I thought,
"This is not gonna work

"because we had two lives
of our own

going in other directions."

And it wasn't convenient.
It just wasn't.

- She was married,

and he was married.

He had four girls.

- My mom was truly
in love with my dad,

and they made a life together,

and my dad
was gone all the time.

June was there.

They had this thing about
being on the road

in their blood,
this constant motion,

this striving.
They were both artists.

- * Won't you come, dear,
and shed just one tear *

* And say *

- Everything was wrong.
Everything was crazy.

He was off
on another planet somewhere.

- You were singing one
back there in the dressing room

about the family.
That's what I understood.

That within three years--
be back in a second.

- Ooh, pardon.
- There we go.

- Your lighter, I assume.

- * Sometimes,
it causes me to tremble *

* Tremble, tremble,
tremble, tremble *

- By the time he and June

were falling in love
and she was traveling

with him,
he was a full-blown addict.

- I tried to encourage him
to get clean.

He would try.

And I wouldn't see him
for a long time.

He had come back on the road,
and he'd be using again.

- * When they nailed him
to the cross *

- It was a terrible cycle
that he was in.

- Rosie and I would say
our prayers every night,

and Mama would always say,
"Don't forget tonight,

pray for Johnny Cash,
because he's a good man."

So these little girls
are praying for Johnny Cash,

who's not their daddy.
[laughs]

- * Tremble, tremble, tremble,
tremble, tremble, tremble *

- I didn't want
to fall in love with him,

didn't mean
to fall in love with him,

was scared to death of him.

So I did a lot of just running
and trying to sit in a corner

by myself because I
wouldn't even admit it

to myself for a long time.

[cheers and applause]

- Johnny Cash
& The Tennessee Three!

- I didn't want
to hurt anybody.

I didn't want to do anything
that would hurt him

or his family
or me or my family,

and I'd always been raised
a real religious girl.

- June was
a good Christian girl.

I mean, you didn't go to bed
with somebody

unless you were married.

- And I had never in my life

meant to be married
more than once.

[cheers and applause]

- Mr. Johnny Cash.

[soft acoustic music]

And yet,
she was deeply, deeply,

fiercely in love with John.

***

So there was a real conflict
going on there.

***

- I tell you,
you can kill people like me

when something
like this happens.

***

One night, I know I woke up
in the middle of the night,

and I was crying
when I woke up,

and I thought,
"I can't do this. I can't.

This is driving me crazy."

Because all I could feel
was pain.

And I'd been writing songs
with a guy

named Merle Kilgore,
a great songwriter,

and he had encouraged me
to write.

- OK, we ready?

Give me a minute.

- The next morning,
Kilgore came in,

and I said, "We've got
to hone a little bit on this,

but I really think
I've written a great song."

- Here we go.
Now--

- All right,
we're just pressing on.

- I'm gonna sing
this song for you,

and I'd like
to try my version,

the way it was written
in the beginning.

["Ring of Fire"]

* Love is a burning thing *

* And it makes a fiery ring *

* Bound by wild desire *

* I fell into a ring of fire *

- You know, I don't know
if a lot of people

know that she wrote
"Ring of Fire."

I feel like people
say to me all the time,

Johnny Cash
wrote "Ring of Fire."

But June wrote "Ring of Fire."
- She wrote "Ring of Fire," OK?

- * And the flames
went higher *

* And it burns, burns, burns *

* The ring of fire *

- My father heard
this beautiful song.

- And the story goes,
he had a dream

that he heard Mexicali trumpets
on the "Ring of Fire."

***

- * Love is a burning thing *

***

* And it makes a fiery ring *

***

* Bound by wild desire *

- There's no country song
better-known

than "Ring of Fire,"
I don't think.

- * I fell
into a ring of fire *

- It's a song
that is everlasting.

- I mean, "Ring of Fire,"
when Johnny recorded it,

you're talking about
this thing that came

from this really deep,
like, I'm going to hell.

I'm in a ring of fire.

I'm gonna burn in hell
because of what I feel.

And then you have
this angelic chorus

of these Carter girls up there.

- [harmonizing]

- * The ring of fire,
the ring of fire *

- The Juxtaposition of it,

there are just so many things
that shouldn't work,

and yet it works
because it is unusual.

That's the wonderful thing
about music.

Sometimes those things
that seem like they don't fit

are what make
the magic of the music.

- * I fell into
a burning ring of fire *

* I went down, down, down *

* And the flames went higher *

* And it burns, burns, burns *

* The ring of fire,
the ring of fire *

***

- She felt like the world
was just gonna swallow her up

during that time period.

***

- So many religious people
think, well, you stay married,

is what you do.

And I'm thankful to them
if they can manage to do that,

but that time came in my life

when I couldn't
manage to do it.

[soft acoustic music]

- She took me and Rosie
to New York

to see the World's Fair,
and she told us

that when we went home,
that Daddy Rip

wouldn't be there anymore,
that he was gonna be

living somewhere else.

- I got a divorce,

and I got it so quietly
that I didn't tell John

or any of them
that I was divorced

for about two or three months.
They didn't know it.

I was very ashamed of it.

- She was following her heart,
having the courage,

when back then,
I'm sure people thought

she was a whore, you know?

- I understand him.

We understand each other.

I understand his pain.

- Well, she had fought
that pill habit that I had.

She had fought it
with everything she knew,

that demon in me.

I thank God
for people like her

that still believed that there
was a little good in me.

- I flushed
things down the commode.

I flushed down
his amphetamines

and his barbiturates.
I did everything that I could.

And I did things that I would
have never done ordinarily,

but I think I did it
only because

I didn't know what else to do.
I thought he would die.

***

- There were people
that said to me

that the only person
in the 1960s

who believed in Johnny Cash
was June Carter.

***

That there was no one else,

that no one saw any light

at the end of Cash tunnel,

except for June.

June believed.

***

- I just never did let go.

I think if you really feel
that way about somebody,

you just cannot leave them.

How can you leave them?

You don't care if it hurts.

You go on through it,
from my point of view,

because I loved him.

- And I told him, if he could
stay clean for six months,

then I would consider
marrying him.

- When my father
turned his life around

in the late 1960s,
he went to the Carters

for help because
they had so much love to lend.

- * Oh, have you seen *

- He loved my grandma
and grandfather.

He stayed at grandma
and granddaddy's house.

He had his own room there,

and they were just trying
to get him straight

and keep him straight.

- My mother and father
and a couple of other friends,

we did a lot of praying
and fought a lot of demons.

* The storms
are on the ocean *

- During that time,
her deep faith

was something
that she communicated

a lot to Johnny.

- In my troubles in my sorrows
and in my confusions in life,

I've looked to that
higher spiritual plane.

- * The world may lose
its motion, love *

* If I prove false to thee *

- I'm the luckiest man alive.

I don't think there would be
another man alive

that's as lucky as I am
to come through.

[applause]

- I would like
to introduce to you

a family
that I am very close to,

and they are very dear to me.

Let's make welcome
Mother Maybelle,

Helen, June, and Anita--
the Carter family.

Hi, Mother.
Hi, how are you doing?

Hi, girls.

- I was standing
with my family

in front of about 7,000 people
in London, Ontario, Canada.

- * Keep on the sunny side,
always on the sunny side *

- And he walked up
to the microphone

and said, "Will you marry me?"
Just like that, on the stage.

- What did you say?
- I choked.

I said, "You've got
to be kidding," you know?

I said, "Quit.
This is not happening to me.

Shut up. Hush."

You know, I wanted to answer
with some kind of glamour,

but there's no glamour to it.

It's yes or no.

So the show must go on,
and I said yes.

* Clouds and storms
will, in time, pass away *

* And the sun again
will shine bright and clear *

* keep on the sunny side,
always on the sunny side *

- Well, I got married
in March the 1st, 1968.

- Here's your lovely wife,
June Carter.

- * It will guide you
all the way *

* If we keep
on the sunny side of life *

[applause]

- June, you've been
a guiding light and inspiration

in John's life.

- I had the two daughters,
Carlene and Rosie,

and we took our suitcases,

and we went out
to live with John.

- June's daughters,
Carlene and Rosie.

- When Mom
and John got married,

Rosie and I were grooving.

We were really excited
about having some sisters.

We were gonna have
four sisters.

It was like, "Yeah."

And God love them,
they were not that thrilled,

and I don't blame them.

- I remember at 12
when that happened.

It broke my mother's heart.

In some ways, I think
it broke my dad's heart.

It was giving up
a certain idea of his life.

I think
there's times in your life

where you know that this is
the fork you're gonna take

and that you have to take.

It doesn't mean there's not
grief for what you lose.

- Your four daughters
are in school in California,

and they wanted to say hello
to their daddy.

- The family
is really important to me,

all of the girls.
- Hi, Daddy.

We love you very much,

and we hope
you have a wonderful day.

- Roseanne and Kathy and Cindy
and Tara are all John's girls.

- So long for now, Daddy.

- It took a little time
for us all to become family,

and it was kind of decided
amongst everyone

that it was too complicated
to say this is my step-sister.

It was just,
"This is my sister."

So it seemed like
the most normal thing.

- On the far end
is our daughter Rosie,

over there,
then our daughter Carlene,

our daughter Roseanne--

- Because people want to ask,
"Well, whose kid is that?"

[applause]

- Miss June Carter.
Yeah!

[cheers and applause]

["Keep on the Sunny Side"]

* There's a dark
and a troubled side of life *

* There's a bright
and a sunny side too *

- * And though we meet
with the darkness and strife *

* The sunny side
we also may view *

- My mother was told that she
could not have another baby.

But by 1969,
she's 40 years old,

and she's pregnant.

- * It will brighten
all the way *

* If we'll keep
on the sunny side of life *

- And they saw that
as a miracle in itself,

that I was able
to come into the world.

- * If we'll keep
on the sunny side of life *

- Your and June's son,
John Carter Cash.

- Hey, Johnny Carter.
Hi, sir.

- There's your son, John.
- Hi, sir.

- John Carter.
- How you doing?

- All of us felt like
we were having that baby too.

It was like, "oh,
John and June

"are having a baby together.

This is so wonderful."

Because it was like
the icing on the cake somehow.

- Thank you.
- Thank you, girls.

- I'll sing to you.

And I think
that I'm the best.

- You had so many things
going for your career

when you and John got married.

And I realized your career
has gone on in its own right,

but do you ever think
that perhaps,

if you hadn't
married John Cash,

you might be
a bigger star individually?

- Well, I think I had
to make a decision

when it came to John,
and when I decided

that I wanted to marry John,

that that's
what I wanted to do,

I did make a decision
that where he goes,

I will go,
and what he does, I will do.

[applause]

- Thank you.

* If I were a carpenter *

* And you were a lady *

* Would you marry me anyway? *

* Would you have my baby? *

- * If you were a carpenter *

* And I were a lady *

* I'd marry you anyway *

* I'd have your baby *

- * If a tinker was my trade *

* Would I still find you? *

- * I'd be carrying
the pot you made *

* Following behind you *

* Save your love
through loneliness *

* Save your love
through sorrow *

- Would you folks
here at Opryland

join me in welcoming
Mr. and Mrs. Johnny Cash

to "Pop! Goes the Country"?

- During the time
she was married to Carl Smith,

she didn't take on the name
June Carter Smith.

The same
when she married Rip Nix.

She did not take on
Rip's last name.

- * And your
soft shoe shining? *

* Save your love
through loneliness *

- She becomes officially
and commercially

and makes a statement
to the world

that I am June Carter Cash.

[applause]

- I'm very pleased to be
any place that my husband is

because I've been
completely totally happy,

and I guess the word
is liberated,

since I've been married
to Johnny Cash.

- * And you were a lady *

- She felt that when
she gave up her independence,

things were different then.

I mean, she even, like,
would change her voice.

- Since I've become
Mrs. Johnny Cash...

I've been
happy since I've come

to that conclusion in my life.

I used to have great ambition,

and I used to want to be
this or want to be that,

and now I'm just happy
being Johnny Cash's wife.

- She would say,
"I just pal around

after Johnny now."
And it's like, "What? No."

- * Well,
go on down to Jackson *

- * Go on down to Jackson *

- * Go ahead
and wreck your health *

* Go play your hand,
you big talkin' man *

* And make a big fool
of yourself *

* Yeah, go to Jackson *

And I'm not gonna feel bad
about the situation at all

because by the time
I came into his life,

he had so many miles on him,
there's no way

I'll ever catch up with him.
- Whoa! Whoa!

- June understood
that she was very important

to holding him up
and that Johnny Cash

was not Johnny Cash
without June Carter.

- I think
she was his lifeline,

and he knew it.

- * I'm going to Jackson *

* You turn-a loose-a my coat *

* Honey,
I'm going to Jackson *

- When I was born,

my father was at
the very top of his career.

- * Well, they'll laugh
at you in Jackson *

- They had
the live television show.

- Hello, I'm Johnny Cash.

- They were on the tongue tip
of everyone in America.

And Dad could also go
to Germany, England, Ireland,

Australia and sell out
many, many tickets.

- At one time, he was
the fifth most recognizable

human on this planet.

- * Oh, you big talkin' man *

- And so they decided
they would just

take me with them.

- * Well, now we got
married in a fever *

- He's a good traveler too.
He loves airplanes.

He sleeps on planes,
sleeps in cars.

He's no trouble.

- And we traveled
the world together.

- * Ever since
the fire went out *

* I'm going to Jackson *

- We even went
to the White House.

- * Yeah,
we're going to Jackson *

* Ain't never coming back *

- And if I ever have a boy,

I think I'm gonna name him
John Carter.

- Yeah, Johnny Carter.
And that's what we named him.

John Carter Cash, take a bow.

Check him out there.

- There wasn't a time
that I didn't go on stage

and perform
or that I was onstage

as part of a performance.

It was just part of family.
It's part of what we did.

- Give it up for the band,
to Marshall and Fluke.

Come on.

[cheers and applause]

- Thank you very much, sir.

- And my mother,
what she told me

when I was a kid,
was that when you walk up

on that stage and you stand
in front of that audience,

remember
they already love you.

It's not as if you have
to prove it to them.

- Good afternoon,

and welcome
to the home of Johnny Cash.

- We moved,

and, suddenly,
we're in this giant house

that we're not used to.

And we had all these people
hanging around outside,

and we had guards,

and me and Rosie
are on, like, one end,

and they're on the other end.

It was just so different.

- What else do you do at home
when you're not on the road?

- Oh, we do a lot
of different things.

We sometimes have friends in
when we get a chance.

- June made their house
a north star

for the music community
in this city.

- It was a tradition
that they would have

other musicians over
for an evening.

- You would go downstairs,

and there was this
blue velvet--rock and roll--

big sofa.
- All right.

- Well, almost always,
Roy Orbison was there

because he was
our next door neighbor.

George and Tammy
would be there,

all done up
like George and Tammy.

- And you'd sit around
and pass the guitar around

and sing your newest song.

- Shel Silverstein
showed my father the lyric

for "A Boy Named Sue."

Graham Nash
played "Marrakesh Express"

for the first time ever,

and the same thing
with Bob Dylan

with "Lay Lady Lay."

- So I got the bug
to write songs.

I cut my teeth in front of
a lot of really cool people.

I had to follow Paul McCartney
one night.

[laughs]

- That's a lot to do with
good friends of ours,

and some of them
are people who've made it.

A lot of them are young artists
who haven't made it yet,

who are struggling,
and there's been several

struggling people
in our house singing

at some of these
picking sessions

who have made it since then
and that we're proud of.

- She was really good
with young music people

and allowing them to bloom
and wanting them to bloom.

- June heard me sing a song
called "Help Me."

And she wrote my name down
on the back of a blank check,

and I became
one of her babies.

- * The greatest cowboy
of them all *

Larry Gatlin!

* Once he rode
into the sunset *

Larry Gatlin,
Kris Kristofferson,

and, of course,
Waylon would come over.

- Waylon Jennings.

- I have known Waylon
since he was 17.

- She would be
championing them,

you know,
like slipping tapes to John

from Kris Kristofferson.

- We'd like to sing
a song for you.

It's a brand new
Kris Kristofferson song.

I'd like to dedicate this

to my daughter Cindy
who is here tonight.

- Kris Kristofferson.
- He's one of my babies.

He's one of those
that was poor

and trying to make it,
and I felt that he had

a real talent, and I talked
to a lot of people about him.

* Help me make it
through the night *

It's part of what we do.

They hold up my arms
and let me be Moses

now and then.

- That's true,
it's a highly spiritual time,

but there are other things too

that come along
at Christmastime.

- Yeah, like
Christmas presents.

- Just kind of sitting
around by the fire, you know?

- And Christmas presents.
- And Christmas presents, yes.

- I stood over on the side,
and I watched,

and I learned
and was grateful for it.

[soft country music]

And there again,
were it not for June,

so it really comes back
to the matriarch.

And any hairy legged man
who says it ain't true

is lying his ass off.

- * O come, let us *

* Adore Him *

* Christ *

- So I remember one day
June said,

"Well, come on, honey,

let's do some Christmas
shopping at Stein Mart."

So we got in her blue Rolls.

- She took Janine off
in her new Rolls-Royce

that John had just bought her,
left me with John.

I barely knew him.

- So I had played some
of Ronnie's songs for them,

and she said, "Well,
I'm just gonna tell you,

he's pretty good."

And--
she goes like this...

[sucks teeth]

"He might have
a couple of hits.

He might."

And she goes, "Honey,

"I just need you to understand,

"It just seems like the ones
that really make it,

they're all a little crazy."

In other words don't do it.
You know, don't do it.

- And Janine comes back
after a few hours,

and she was just kind of pale,
you know?

And I'm thinking, "Oh God,

she spent a lot
of money or what?"

No, it was that June had
read her the riot act about,

you know, dating a musician.

- It was just funny.

She's right though.

They are.

[applause]

- That's it,
ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you very much
and good night!

[cheers and applause]

- The rigors of the road
are difficult for a couple.

And when you work together
and live together, it's a lot.

Plus the constant glare
from the public

and the projections on them
to live up

to some kind of myth, I mean,
that's almost impossible.

It was like a religion.

[cheers and applause]

- I said, "I don't know
who this man is."

- Hello, I'm Johnny Cash.
- I know that.

- Hello, I'm Johnny Cash.
Hello, I'm Johnny Cash.

- We had one of those
storybook kind of marriages

in the beginning
that just was unbelievable.

We had no problems
for the first 10,

12 years of our marriage.

I mean, it was like something
you would read about in books.

- The first 10 years
they were together,

they were never apart
ever, ever.

If she went shopping,
he went shopping with her.

And I just was like,
"I would shoot myself."

[laughs]

- The home I grew up in,

there was a beautiful
intimate relationship

that was going on.
My father was clean.

He wasn't on anything
in the early 1970s.

It was very peaceful

and very together as a unit

up until I was eight
or nine years old,

when their relationship
changed a great deal.

By 1980 or so,

my father rekindled
an addiction.

- It would sneak up on him.

Something would trigger him,
or he'd get hurt,

and you gave John
a bottle of anything

and didn't monitor him on it,
he's going to take it all.

- June did not save my dad.

You can't save another person
from their own addiction.

- Thank you very much.
I'd like to do my new record.

- * Bills, love, and pills *

* And drink,
and wine, and song *

- June really struggled
to keep him looking good

when he was in public,
you know, guarding him

from people
who might be disappointed

if they saw him in that shape.

He chose to, you know,
just give himself to people.

- God bless you
and good night.

- * That's tired and gone *

- There were a lot
of characters around him

who were there
for the wrong reasons.

June was kind,
but she could be ruthless.

It took a lot,

but if it was clear
that you were not trustworthy,

she'd cut you out.

[soft acoustic music]

- Their relationship
suffered greatly.

They were fighting every day.

They were very angry
with each other,

mostly my mom
angry with my father.

- I knew that they
were having trouble.

My mother, my sister, and I
were having lunch

at a restaurant in New York.

And she was there,

and she said,
"There's a problem.

"Either he gets
straightened out

or I have to leave,
and I don't want to leave."

She just was at her wit's end.

So whatever happened,

it must have been
something horrible.

***

- I was traveling with them,

and, you know,
I remember one night

hearing my dad's breathing
being very labored.

He would breathe
all the way out,

and then
his breath would stop,

and then after
a little bit, he'd...

[sniffs, gasps]

and he'd start breathing again.

Well, at one point, it stopped,
and he didn't start back.

[soft dramatic music]

- Scenes of my life
passed before my eyes.

I saw myself at my peaks

and I saw myself walk through
my deepest, darkest valleys.

***

- I ran in,
and I got my mother,

and we got him up,
and we put him in the bathtub,

and we poured water
all over him.

I remember he woke up,

and he was very incoherent.

I was afraid.
I was overwhelmed.

I was crying my eyes out.
I mean, I was a kid, you know?

But it wasn't long after that
many changes began to occur.

- * There was a time *

- There was an intervention.
We had an intervention.

We all wrote letters
to my dad.

It was very hard
for me to do that.

We read them all to my father,

and he agreed
to go to treatment

at Betty Ford Center.

[tender country music]

- When I saw him again
in California,

that person was back,
my old dad was back again.

- * Hey Willy Wallacky,
hey John Dougal-y *

* A lane, quo'Rushity,
noo, noo, noo *

***

* Have I told you lately *

* That I love you? *

- And at that point, there was
a great forgiveness in place.

You know, my mother was like,
"It's hard to be Johnny Cash."

It's like,
"How did she forgive him?"

She had a way of forgiving

as if it was
from East to West.

***

[cheers and applause]

- And maybe a lot of times,

they did buy into
their own myth,

for better or for worse.

Maybe that kept them going
at a time

when they could have broken up.

You know, it's like, well,
we have this thing together

that's bigger than us.

I mean, that's what
it looked like

from the outside,
and you never know

what goes on
in people's marriages anyway.

[light strumming]

- It's real easy.

I don't know if you can
learn it fast enough or not,

but we might
could get it down.

It's one I wrote just
before I sent them to Vicky.

It's...
- "Wings of Angels."

- * Bare me up
on wings of angels *

* Let me hear
the choir sing *

* Let me see the faces *

* Of the cherubim *

***

* Lift me up
on wings of angels *

- I was in the lobby
at the Betty Ford Center.

We went back there to visit
them, and John was in rehab.

And June was
at the codependency center.

- * Jesus, I'm trying *

* To get to you *

- When she went
into Betty Ford Center,

there was an education
that happened

in her life of what
codependency is that she

had never conceived of before.

- She said to me,
"Oh, honey, I just learned

I'm going to die before John."

I said, "Why?"

She goes,
"Well, because codependency

"is really, really hard.

We become super parents."

And I said, "Well,
what do you do in the unit?"

And she goes, "We paint.
We play with clay.

"We fly kites.
We learn to be kids again.

"And I'm telling you this
because you

need to know this."

- Being codependent,
which means sometimes

you're too good
for your own good,

where you put others

too much ahead
of your own needs.

- You helped him to heal
a lot of those scars.

- Well, that would be nice
if I could say I did that.

I think all of us girls would
like to be able to claim

that we healed our husbands.

You know, if it doesn't work,
you just pop them in the head

and holler "heal."

[laughter]
It doesn't work.

- You sound like
you kind of regret some

of the things that go along
with the status

you've achieved
in the business.

- Oh, I don't
regret any of that.

There is pain
in everybody's life.

It's something we all
are confronted with.

Every one of us has pain.

It helps us, you know?

If you've put it behind you,
boy, it'll push you.

It'll stick you right
through the rest of the world

if you'll stick it behind you.

Don't let it hang with you.
Don't put it in front of you.

That's what I say.

[cheers and applause]

[bright acoustic music]

***

- There comes a point
in every entertainer's life,

you're faced
with the mortality,

your own, and the mortality
of your career.

And it happened
to John and June.

- In the early 1980s,
my father didn't

have very many hits at all.

And 1984, after he sort of
picked back up his life again,

it was actually--
he was actually dropped

by his record label
at the time.

- It was a dramatic slowdown.

You know, I saw Johnny
and June the first time

playing
for 16,000 screaming fans.

And then the '80s,
we would sometimes

go to clubs with 300 people.

- They'd been the biggest
stars in the world

for six, eight, ten--

and then it started
not being that way.

- Good night.
- Good night.

- I think June was
unsettled by that.

At the same time,
she was so strong.

It was like,
he's going to be OK.

You're going to be OK.

***

- We went
to Montreux, Switzerland

at the invitation
of John and June.

They decided they wanted
to do a Christmas special

with their best friends.

***

- Hello, I'm Johnny Cash.

- Hello, I'm Johnny Cash.

- Hello, I'm Johnny Cash.

- Hello, I'm Waylie Kris.

[laughter]

- Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson,
Kris Kristofferson,

and Waylon Jennings,
all of whom

were on the downside
of fame at that time.

- You know, living with
the likes of good ol' boys

like John, and Willie,
and Kris, and Waylon,

well, it's just not that easy.

You don't know all we know.

Because these are a bunch
of wives that have a lot to do.

all: * We're married to a star,
yes, we are *

* Our men are legends
in their time *

- All these guys have
been real close to us.

We were all sitting
around in the room,

and they were all singing,
and they decided,

this really shouldn't
stop right here.

We should do something else.

And that's when they did their
first Highwaymen album.

["Highwayman"]

- * I was a highwayman *

* Along the coach roads
I did ride *

* With sword
and pistol by my side *

- And they reawakened
all their careers.

- * Many a young maid lost
her baubles to my trade *

- And then it just evolved
to a ten-year touring.

***

- On the road
with the Highwaymen,

my mother would have been
the resounding matriarch.

- She was tough,
and she was funny.

And, you know, if you're
married to Johnny Cash,

you've got to be tough.

- * I fly a starship
across the universe divide *

* And when I reach... *

- I'm good friends
with all the wives--

- The Highwomen.
- The Highwomen.

[laughs]
So...

- It was just the Highwaymen.

And they didn't know how
to add the Highwaymen and June.

There was some discussion
whether John and June

could do a song together.

And it just, nobody knew
quite how to work it out.

- June Carter,
who wrote "Ring of Fire,"

my wife is here tonight.

Stand up and take a bow,
would you?

[cheers and applause]

Where are you, baby?

Hey, here she is,
back over here.

All right.

- It ended up that June,
during every show,

would stand up
in the audience.

And they put
a spotlight on her.

And she would look around
at everybody and wave.

- Been the one time
in my life when I've got

to sit and enjoy it kind of.

Really have enjoyed
the time with the boys

and with their wives as well.

["Ring of Fire"]

***

- There's an awkwardness,
and I don't understand,

because I'm not an artist,
how that decision is made.

So how June ended up
never being on stage

during those years,
I really don't know.

But it probably
was hard on her.

***

- That's part of the thing
that's hard about her ego

because that ambition
was there.

And she had
to kind of squelch it.

- She didn't know what
to do with herself.

You can't be on the road
all your entire life

and suddenly not
have it anymore.

["Where We'll
Never Grow Old"]

- * I have heard of a land *

* On the faraway strand *

* 'Tis a beautiful home
of the soul *

* Built by Jesus on high *

- She started going
back to Virginia a lot.

She started spending
a lot of time in the home

that she grew up in
as a little girl.

She was experiencing memories
of what the fire smelled like

in the fireplace,
of which flowers in particular

grew in the woods
in the backyard.

***

She got back in connection
with those things

from when she was at a period
of innocence and beauty.

- June started
to look at her life

to sort of remind herself,
I think,

of who she was and to remind
everybody else,

you know,
here's who I really am.

I'm not Mrs. Johnny Cash.
I'm June Carter.

And this is my story.

- * We'll never grow old *

- He said, you need Vicky,
is what you need.

And I said, OK.

Anyway, she's got
this new record company

that she started.

- I would have never thought
in a million years

that I would, like,
make that record with June.

But she started calling me.

You know, June said
she had to get this music out.

She had a legacy
to leave behind, you know?

That was what she was
trying to accomplish.

[laughter]

I didn't know how I was going
to pay for it or anything

like that.

But June had more faith
than anybody on the planet.

She was always optimistic.

You know, something
really terrible could happen,

and she would figure out
a way to take lemons

and make lemonade out of it.

- Nothing to it.
[clicks tongue]

- She would always say,
"It's OK.

"We'll get through this.
Just press on, honey.

Just press on."

And that was
her philosophy in life.

Those two words
are absolutely how

I would and do remember June,
press on.

- OK, let's press on.

- Let's start with "I Used
To Be Somebody" first.

- OK.

- June and I,
we put on the blinders,

and it happened.

We made the record.

- All right, Marty.

***

- My mother came to me
and asked me if I would

co-produce
the album "Press On."

I was nervous in a certain way
because this was one

of the first things
that I had ever recorded.

***

But she gave me the energy.
She gave me the strength.

She's like,
"Oh, you can do this.

Oh, yes, you can do this."

- Go back to the top of that
verse, that different verse,

because everybody's
still working on that.

- One, two, three, four.

["Tall Lover Man"]

- * Two lovers stood
in the white, white sand *

* Dark-eyed maiden
and her tall lover man *

* With surprise
and pain in her eyes *

- It was my mother's time
to shine.

It was as if every dream
that she had,

when she went
to New York City in the 1950s,

they were all coming back real.

- When are you coming back?

- Around that time,
she did "The Apostle"

with Robert Duvall.

- I just--
I'm just a little chilly.

- Hold on now, hold on.

- We did the way we were
taught from Sandy Meisner,

who was both
of our teachers in New York

at the Neighborhood Playhouse.

***

- Hello?

- Well, she was always ready.

She was great to work with,
just wonderful.

She had her own sense
of being strong-willed.

- She can't do that, son.

You know she can't.

- She was so excited
to be in that film with him.

She just adored Robert Duvall

and had become
good friends with him.

- I just wish he had
given me another part.

Why did he have to give me
one where I'm older

than he is, when he's older--

[laughter]

When he's older than I am?

- Good sense of humor,
good sense of humor.

***

- That's about where
we do it right there.

- Johnny is with me now.

He goes wherever I go.

And it's kind of,
he likes to be where I am,

and I like to be where he is.

- I like this one.
That's good.

* I've grown wearier *

***

- During the recording,
Johnny's health

was pretty fragile.

- So John was in intensive
care literally the day

before the first day
of recording.

He was very shaky.
His hands were shaking.

And he didn't have
much energy for it,

but he said, you know, he--

I was amazed by the
professionalism of this guy.

- [coughs]

- Quick.
- I gotta settle down first.

- He wanted
to play backup guitar

and sing harmonies with her.

He wanted to be there for her
as she was for him

in so many different ways.

["Far Side Banks of Jordan"]

- * I believe my steps *

* Are growing
wearier each day *

- He comes out there to do
"Far Side Banks of Jordan."

- * Got another journey
on my mind *

- That song meant
so much to them.

They sang that every night
on stage from the late 1970s

until the end
of their performance career.

- * Wanna stay,
and my one regret *

* Is leaving you behind *

***

- * But if it proves
to be his will *

* That I am first to cross *

* And somehow, I have
a feeling it will be *

***

* When it comes
your time to travel *

* Likewise, don't feel lost *

* For I will be the first one
that you'll see *

both: * And I'll be waiting *

* On the far side banks
of Jordan *

- People have come
to me and said,

"What's it like to be
the product of the greatest

love affair that ever was?"

Evidently,
they were not there, right?

Because they had struggles.

But by the end of their life,
my mother and father

were more in love
than they ever had been.

- They loved each other.

And they were great friends.

They both loved
what the other did.

- Love is what made
their relationship.

It wasn't fame.
It wasn't power.

It was what love really is.

And people forget
what love is.

It's patient, it's kind,
it's long-suffering.

But the beauty
is what stands out.

And what's so great is to get
a window into that strength

and into that beauty, we have
but to listen to the music.

both: * And I'll be waiting *

* On the far side banks
of Jordan *

* I'll be sitting,
drawing pictures in the sand *

***

- I'm here mostly
because my life,

the way it's turned around
in the last little bit.

For the past several years,
I just followed

Johnny Cash around the world
wherever he went.

And I worked a whole lot
harder than he did,

but you all didn't know that.

So I'm glad to have
the opportunity to tell you.

- You know, June,
it's been many years

since she has had
a new album out, "Press On."

- Called "Press On,"
first solo album in 25 years.

- She was one of the stars

in Robert Duvall's
film "The Apostle."

And now with her brand-new CD
called "Press On,"

here is June Carter Cash.

- * I fell
into a ring of fire *

* I fell into a burnin'... *

- This is the June Carter Cash
album right here.

And I listened
to this this afternoon.

And my goodness, what a lovely,
touching, sweet collection

of music this is.

- "Press On," I think,
caught everybody by surprise.

- That is true timeless music.

It was never a trend-based.

It never chased anything.

June's songs are just based
on basic human emotion,

things that
everyone could relate to.

- It is a privilege
to introduce

the great June Carter Cash.

- Here's June Carter Cash.

- Here she is,
June Carter Cash.

- The only June Carter Cash.

- Yeah!

- Thank you very much.

This is a big night for me.

* Burnin' ring of fire *

* Went down, down, down *

- It is the true spirit
of American music.

- And it won her a Grammy.

- * Ring of fire *

[cheers and applause]

- "Press On" won a Grammy.

It was, like,
really surprising.

I mean, I had no idea.

And it was just such an honor
that that happened.

[soft music]

- Yeah, I mean, she was very,
very proud of that.

You know, Johnny had
countless Grammys.

And this was her own Grammy.

So, yeah, she was
really proud of that.

- Everybody pooh-poohs it.

Everybody goes,
oh, Grammy award.

But you know what, when you get
one, it means something.

It really means something.

It's like,
it's music's highest accolade.

And you might not think
you wanted it,

but you know you really did.

- Please give a Grand Ole Opry
welcome to June Carter Cash.

[cheers and applause]

- And then they would
start shouting for June.

- Thank you very much.

Gosh, what a big room.

- You know she had
to feel vindication.

- Oh, thank you.

- You know that she--

in her final years,
people are screaming for June.

- Oh, thank you.

You've almost made me cry.

- She is standing up
there giving us

a life lesson of what
it means to stick it out.

***

- OK, son?

- Let's do one more.

- Press on, Norman.

[folk music playing]

- And then she was back
in the studio again...

***

In Virginia at the house
where she was raised.

- * Oh, give to me
a winding stream *

- She gave it every bit
of energy she had,

14 songs within three days.

- * But I will dance,
I will sing *

* And my laugh shall be gay *

- You know, moss did not
grow on my mama's feet.

She had a lot of energy.

Her work ethic,
period, was like--

she was like
a superwoman to me.

- * But I'm longing to see him
and regret the dark hour *

* It's gone and neglected *

OK, I'm ready
to press on, son.

- One second.
- OK.

No--I'll tell you how it is.

I'll just tell you again.

We don't want
to think about death,

but sometimes I do.

Sometimes I feel
like I'm on a hill,

and it's John's grave
I'm kneeling on.

And if you can imagine me
just sitting there

trying to talk to him.

* When death shall
close these eyelids *

* And this heart
shall cease to beat *

* And they lay me
down to rest *

* In some flowery *

* Bound retreat *

* Will you miss me? *

all: * Miss me when I'm gone *

- * Will you miss me? *

all: * Miss me when I'm gone *

- * Will you... *

- I remember my mother
was coming out the door.

And I remember seeing her get
in the car and her telling me,

"I've got to go
to the hospital."

I look back now,
and I remember

the look in her eye.

It was this joy,
but such sadness

and weakness at the same time.

And she went to the hospital.

Um...

- * And come sit along... *

- When I got the phone call,
I was shocked

because John had been the one.

I think everybody
kind of expected John

from his illness
over the last ten years,

that he would be
the first to go.

- * Will you miss me? *

all: * Miss me when I'm gone *

- Her death was sudden.

And it hit all of us really
hard, the whole community.

- It was just confusing.

It was like, oh, no,
there goes the tent pole

for everybody, you know?

It was a hard one.
It was a hard one.

- * But I could not
hide my sorrow *

* when they laid her
in the grave *

* Can the circle... *

- It's hard even
now remembering

that whole few days.

- * Lord, by and by *

* There's a better... *

- When we went
to June's funeral,

Johnny Cash was so sad,
oh, my God.

He just could hardly sit there.

- I just remember him saying,
"I put her in a blue dress

because of her eyes."

And then when I walked
past him in the church,

he said, "Is that Katie?"

[sniffling]

- It was agonizing to watch him

go through that experience.

It was really tough.

She was so full of life.

- We wave to her
from this shore

as she drifts out of our lives.

What a legacy she leaves us.

- It still,
to this day, kills me

for her to be gone.

She was my dearest friend
and my mommy.

- Under a June blue sky
waving her scarf to greet us.

- I just had
this vision of June.

Almost her whole life
flashed before me.

And I almost felt
like this song

just--she just dropped it in
my lap as she was flying over.

Like, here, I'm going
to give you one more thing.

And I wrote this song called
"The Strong Hand."

* She was a strong hand *

* A good sister
and a daughter *

- I was standing
next to John Carter.

And I had my arm around him.

- Lisa Kristofferson
was there to support me.

- At one point,
his knees were collapsing.

And he's a large man.

- It's like
she could tell right

when I emotionally cracked,

because I did
emotionally crack.

- And I heard June say,
"I'm right here, son."

- * And it's a miracle *

* How one soul finds another *

- And I had
this super strength,

I held up this huge man.

- Lisa held me with such love.

Lisa held on
to me like a mother.

- * As they walk
this world together *

- She was a holder upper
in that moment,

you know, in a dimension
that I don't

really know or understand.

But there is no doubt
in my mind that it was real.

***

- After June died,
John would call me a lot.

And he was really down.

And I could tell.

And, you know, we'd talk
about this thing or that thing.

But what he was
really wanting to do was

get somebody to take his mind
off of the whole thing.

***

- He really struggled.

I mean, all of us children
were holding our breaths,

like he's not going
to last long without her.

And he didn't.
He lasted four months.

***

- One of the last things
he wrote

on a plain piece of paper was,

"I love June Carter.

"She is an angel.

I am not."

- * Oh, it's a sad thing *

- Here she is right now,
Miss June Carter!

- * The other and fly up
where the voice rings *

- She was very special.

And, you know,

there's nobody
that can replace her.

***

- She was a very free spirit.

There was a great depth
of love of the people.

At the heart of it, there
is this enduring personality

that is there
of a young girl riding

on the back of a motorcycle.

- * For it's
a miracle how... *

- When you look
at little girls,

they're capable
of so much more.

And life is a series
of girdles, and corsets,

and bras,
and straitjackets, and gingham.

And sometimes, it takes
that little girl out of you.

- * I believe *

- But June was able
to tap into that.

And so she kept that little
girl growing and going.

But I think a lot of times,
we don't see that in women.

And we don't give them
the opportunity

to continue to develop
all those dreams

and wonderful things that
they thought as young girls.

- * I'm going to shout
and sing until heavens ring *

* When I'm bidding
this world goodbye *

It has 580 verses.

That's the way my family
always wrote songs,

just in case you wanted
to go sing two or three days

without stop.

That's what you did.

OK, we're pressing on.

[June Carter Cash's
"It's My Lazy Day"]

***

* Well, I might
have gone fishing *

all: * Might have
gone fishing *

- * I got to thinkin'
it over *

all: * Thinkin' it over *

- * The road to the river *
all: * Is a mighty long way *

- * It's a mighty long way,
it must be the season *

all: * Must be the season *

- * No rhyme or no reason *

all: * No rhyme or no reason *
- * I'm just taking it easy *

all: * It's my lazy day *
- * It's my lazy day *

* I'm finding it easy *
all: * Finding it easy *

- * To mind my own business *
all: * Mind my own business *

- * I'm keepin' my nose
out of everyone's way *

* Everyone's way,
just gonna look stupid *

all: * Gonna look stupid *
- * Don't wanna meet Cupid *

all: * Wanna meet Cupid *
- * Just taking it easy *

* It's my lazy day,
it's my lazy day *

***

* I ain't askin'
no questions *

all: * Askin' no questions *
- * I ain't givin' advices *

all: * Givin' advices *
- * I ain't doing no datin' *

all: * Ain't wanting to play *
- * Ain't wanting to play *

* I'm just gonna look stupid *
all: * Gonna look stupid *

- * I don't wanna meet Cupid *
all: * Wanna meet Cupid *

- * Just taking it easy,
it's my lazy day *

* It's my lazy day *

[rhythmic clapping]