Songs of Our Soil

Songs of Our Soil is the sixth album by the singer Johnny Cash. It was originally released in September 1959 (see 1959 in music), and later re-issued on August 27, 2002 (see 2002 in music) with two bonus tracks. The album is something of a curiosity in that a majority of the songs involve dying. Death concludes "The Man on the Hill", "Hank and Joe and Me", "Clementine" and "My Grandfather's Clock." "Don't Step on Mother's Roses" is about a family losing their parents to death; first Mother, then Daddy. "The Great Speckled Bird" is a spiritual about the Second Coming of Jesus. "The Caretaker" is the story of a cemetery caretaker wondering who will mourn for him when his time comes. Even "Five Feet High and Rising" ("the hives are gone; I lost my bees") and "Old Apache Squaw" ("...the next white man that sees my face is gonna be a dead white man") mention death in some way. By his own admission, Cash was becoming fascinated by death during this time, in part due to his growing amphetamine and barbiturate dependence.