Back in 1937, water kept climbing across Arkansas, inch by inch. A five year old boy watched his family pack up as the farm disappeared. He kept asking the same hard question to his mother, and she answered steadily every time. That plain rhythm turns fear into grit in Cash’s flood story, five feet high and rising.
The studio cut arrived in 1959, and it moves like a kitchen call and response. The child’s voice asks, “How high is the water, Mama?” The answer climbs from two to five feet while chickens roost in trees and crops are lost. Through it all, Carrie Cash’s calm faith keeps the family moving forward.
Five Feet High and Rising
Listeners still lean in for the plain talk and the steady beat. Many share family memories of floods and hard seasons; others smile at the dark little jokes about animals climbing high ground. One line stays with people: “How high is the water, Mama?” It turns fear into a rhythm you can carry.
We start with a child’s question and a mother’s courage, then the river widens. Onstage, Cash links that same waterway to another tale. The flood memory gives way to a chase down the Mississippi, from St. Paul to New Orleans, so the story keeps moving while the current pulls hard.
Johnny Cash (Live) – Five Feet High And Rising / Big River (Medley)
In the live medley, he finishes the flood count, then snaps into Big River with a driving groove. A heartbroken narrator follows a leaving lover from St. Paul through St. Louis and Memphis, all the way south. The crowd rides the names like mile markers. It feels surefooted, lean, and alive.
Johnny Cash makes hard stories feel close. He sings about fear with a wink, and hope with a steady hand. The voice is rough velvet, the beat is honest, the heart is big. Follow Johnny Cash on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. There is always another river bend ahead worth hearing.