FRONT, BACK OR BENEFACTOR, WE ALL WALK "THE LINE"

"Thank you front line workers"...and those behind the line too!

You see signs and placards all over the place these days and I agree wholeheartedly with supporting "front line" workers who faithfully remain on the job to serve the public during the COVID-19 pandemic. But lest we forget the unheralded individuals who work behind the scenes (the front line, as it were) to help their front line cohorts keep the multitude of essential services functioning for the benefit all of us. 

As is so often the case with an odd-ball like me, this all reminds me of a classic song title "I Walk the Line" from the 1950's, because out of necessity we are all having to walk a certain line today and for the foreseeable future.

I know it's a stretch folks, bit it's all I've got!

"I Walk the Line" was a signature song for Johnny Cash in the '50s and like his "Ring of Fire", it remains one of my all-time favorites.

Now, if that is not a segue and a half, I don't know what is. Anything for a song, I always say.

“I Walk the Line” was Cash’s promise to remain faithful to his first wife, Vivian, while he was on the road. It seems a certain ring of fire interfered with this pledge though. The song became Cash’s first #1 Billboard hit. The single remained on the record charts for over 43 weeks, and sold over two million copies.

The title of the song was also used to name the Johnny Cash biopic film starring Joaquin Phoenix, and a Gregory Peck film. This song’s influence on the music world is palpable. In his autobiography, Bob Dylan makes strong mention of its effect on him:

“I Walk the Line [is] a song I’d always considered to be up there at the top, one of the most mysterious and revolutionary of all time, a song favorite of mine. 'I keep a close watch on this heart of mine.' Indeed. I must have recited those lines to myself a million times… When I first heard 'I Walk the Line' so many years earlier, it sounded like a voice calling out, 'What are you doing there, boy?' I was trying to keep my eyes wide opened, too."

So, with "eyes wide open" (oh God, there I go again infringing on an old church hymn of recall), I say to all front and behind-line workers today, "... to you we'll always be true"

It's not like we're married but after all, what other choice do we have?

I keep a close watch on this heart of mine
I keep my eyes wide open all the time
I keep the ends out for the tie that binds
Because you're there, I walk the line