The Beauty Part

It starts with 71 seconds of silence--one for each year of Johnny Cash's life. And then with his voice: "Rosanne, c'mon." And then these lyrics: "It was a black Cadillac/that drove you away." The black keeps coming. "It was a black Cadillac/like you used to drive." And "it's a black heart of pain that I'm wearing." Happily, the music chugs along in a jauntier gear, first guitars, then organ, then horns. Experts say there's a quote from "Ring of Fire"--one of Johnny's big hits--toward the end. But it's the words that hammer the point of loss home: "It's a lonely world/I guess it always was/minus you/minus blood."

In "Black Cadillac," a woman who doesn't know what to believe in--an impatient, questioning woman who has no respect for easy answers and pre-packaged formulas--swallows a mountain of loss. And processes it. And comes out--astonishingly --on the side of faith and love and a longing for connection so great it defeats death.

The way out is the way through. "God is in the roses--and the thorns." "When it all falls apart, there is love." Rosanne Cash places her bet firmly on "the world unseen." She's going to "sail off on the Good Intent." That's a lot of belief for a woman who has no religion.

I hesitate to say that "Black Cadillac" is the best thing Rosanne Cash has ever done--what came before is nothing to scoff at. So let's put it this way: "Black Cadilac" is about a thousand times better than the best thing a lot of other singer-songwriters have done. And no one could have done it but Rosanne Cash.