Johnny Cash — Lyric Analysis

LyricScope analyzed the lyrics of 673 songs across 68 albums by Johnny Cash. They use 7,528 unique words out of 66,199 (lexical richness MATTR 0.73), with an average of 98 content words per song. Emotional tone: 73% of songs positive, 1% neutral, 26% negative.

Most used words by Johnny Cash

1. love (597)
2. one (583)
3. man (557)
4. said (518)
5. know (518)
6. old (438)
7. time (414)
8. way (406)
9. see (388)
10. come (387)
11. day (351)
12. back (350)
13. good (338)
14. little (334)
15. home (323)
16. away (283)
17. let (269)
18. long (266)
19. gone (264)
20. lord (247)

Signature phrases

• “little bit” (31)
• “worried man” (30)
• “good man” (29)
• “come back” (29)
• “rock island line” (28)
• “long ago” (27)
• “one day” (27)
• “come home” (24)
• “old man” (23)
• “years ago” (22)

Colors in the lyrics

• blue (109)
• white (82)
• green (69)
• black (69)
• red (45)
• gold (45)
• brown (39)
• rose (39)

Albums analyzed

• Johnny Cash With His Hot and Blue Guitar (1957)
• The Fabulous Johnny Cash (1958)
• Hymns by Johnny Cash (1959)
• Songs of Our Soil (1959)
• Now, There Was a Song! (1960)
• Ride This Train (1960)
• The Lure of the Grand Canyon (1961)
• Hymns From the Heart (1962)
• The Sound of Johnny Cash (1962)
• Blood, Sweat and Tears (1963)
• The Christmas Spirit (1963)
• Keep on the Sunny Side (1964)
• Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian (1964)
• I Walk the Line (1964)
• Orange Blossom Special (1965)
• Johnny Cash Sings the Ballads of the True West (1965)
• Happiness Is You (1966)
• Everybody Loves a Nut (1966)
• Carryin’ On With Johnny Cash & June Carter (1967)
• From Sea to Shining Sea (1968)
• The Holy Land (1969)
• Hello, I’m Johnny Cash (1970)
• Man in Black (1971)
• America: A 200-Year Salute in Story and Song (1972)
• A Thing Called Love (1972)
• Johnny Cash and His Woman (1973)
• Any Old Wind That Blows (1973)
• Ragged Old Flag (1974)
• The Junkie and the Juicehead Minus Me (1974)
• The Johnny Cash Children’s Album (1975)
• Johnny Cash Sings Precious Memories (1975)
• Look at Them Beans (1975)
• One Piece at a Time (1976)
• The Last Gunfighter Ballad (1977)
• The Rambler (1977)
• Gone Girl (1978)
• I Would Like to See You Again (1978)
• A Believer Sings the Truth (1979)
• Silver (1979)
• Classic Christmas (1980)
• Rockabilly Blues (1980)
• Sings with the BC Goodpasture Christian School (1980)
• The Adventures of Johnny Cash (1982)
• Johnny 99 (1983)
• Rainbow (1985)
• Believe in Him (1986)
• Class of ’55: Memphis Rock & Roll Homecoming (1986)
• Heroes (1986)
• Johnny Cash Is Coming to Town (1987)
• Classic Cash: Hall of Fame Series (1988)
• Boom Chicka Boom (1989)
• Country Boy (1990)
• Country Christmas (1991)
• The Mystery of Life (1991)
• American Recordings (1994)
• Christmas Album (1996)
• Blue Train (1996)
• Unchained (1996)
• American III: Solitary Man (2000)
• American IV: The Man Comes Around (2002)
• My Mother’s Hymn Book (2004)
• American V: A Hundred Highways (2006)
• More Songs from Johnny’s Personal File (2007)
• American VI: Ain’t No Grave (2010)
• Legends (2012)
• Out Among the Stars (2014)
• Johnny Cash and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (2020)
• Songwriter (2024)