I knew I wanted to sing when I was a very small boy. When I was probably 4 years old. My mother played a guitar and I would sit with her and she would sing and I learned to sing along with her.

When I was 17 - 16, my father and I cut wood all day long and I was swinging that crosscut saw and hauling wood.

I say I'm not a singer, so that means I can't sing. But - doesn't it?

I worked there [on Pontiac] three weeks, got really sick of it, went back home and joined the Air Force.

Sometimes I am two people. Johnny is the nice one. Cash causes all the trouble. They fight.

That was American Recordings. I said, I like the name, maybe it'd be OK. So I said, I'd like to meet the guy [Rick Rubin ].I'd like for him to tell me what he can do with me that they're not doing now.

[My mother] called [my voice] the gift.