Composed: A Memoir
Rosanne Cash
Language: English
Pages: 256
ISBN: 0143119397
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
"One of the best accounts of an American life you'll likely ever read." -Julia Keller, Chicago Tribune
As moving, disarming, and elusive as one of her classic songs, Composed is Rosanne Cash's testament to the power of art, tradition, and love to transform a life. For more than three decades she has been one of the most compelling figures in popular music, having moved gracefully from Nashville stardom to critical recognition as a singer-songwriter and author of essays and short stories. Her remarkable body of work has often been noted for its emotional acuity, its rich and resonant imagery, and its unsparing honesty. Those qualities have enabled her to establish a unique intimacy with her audiences, and it is those qualities that inform her long-awaited memoir.
musically and personally, and I was riveted by Randy’s quiet but intense demeanor, both in person and onstage. I went to see him play with his dad and brothers in the Earl Scruggs Revue so many times—just about every place they played in the South. I had held out hope for a year or so that Randy was my destiny, but I had recently learned that he was going to marry. The thought of London had been in the back of my mind for years, and this seemed like the perfect time to go. Jeff and Ted Rollins,
acting ability. By December of 1977, I was floundering. The spell of The Work was wearing off, and I was a little panicked about my next move. I decided to get as far away from Los Angeles as I could, and I arranged to visit my dad’s friend Renate Damm in Germany for several weeks over the holiday break. I arrived in cold Munich in early December and moved into the tiny spare bedroom of Renate’s apartment in the Siegfriedstrasse, near the English Gardens. I only knew Renate from touring in
lean against the wall, I was so dizzy. Twelve years on this division of the label, and it was over in twenty minutes. That transfer on paper to New York in 1990 was the beginning of my transfer of body and soul to New York completely. I had just met John Leventhal, and I knew my life was going to change, although I couldn’t foresee how profound and how permanent the change would be. With my transfer at the label, the end of my marriage, and my departure from Nashville, I entered a storm of a
talking about the difficult day ahead, and about my mother and her legacy to us. And John said, “Your mother was the definition of a life well spent. She was always engaged, in her children, her friends, her faith, and her whole community. It’s inspiring. That’s how we all should live.” It’s so true. I can look at the beauty in my life, the sacred space of my home, and the faith in my heart, and witness the love, consideration, and good manners of my children, and I have to thank my mother. She
off the bedroom and watch the news with him—I offered to buy him a new television, a flat-screen, and he agreed that it was time to trade the old one in—or read to him. I read the Book of Job, and the Psalms, and the poetry of Will Carleton, one of his favorites. I made myself get up at three thirty in the morning, when I knew he would wake, and make coffee for him, black, with artificial sweetener. (He had finally accepted the fact that he was diabetic and gave up sugar.) During these few