Songs of Our Soil

Songs of Our Soil is the sixth album by the singer Johnny Cash. It was originally released on July 6, 1959 (see 1959 in music), and later re-issued on August 27, 2002 (see 2002 in music) with two bonus tracks.

Songs of Our Soil
Studio album by Johnny Cash
Released	July 6, 1959
Recorded	July 24, 1958 - March 16, 1959
Genre	Folk
Length	Original: 25:40 Re-issue: 29:34
Label	Columbia
Producer	Don Law Al Quaglieri
Johnny Cash chronology
Hymns by Johnny Cash (1959) Songs of Our Soil (1959) Greatest! (1959)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]

A majority of the songs involve dying. Death concludes "The Man on the Hill", "Hank and Joe and Me", "Clementine" and "My Grandfather's Clock." "Don't Step on Mother's Roses" is about a family losing their parents to death; first Mother, then Daddy. "The Great Speckled Bird" is a spiritual about the Second Coming of Jesus. "The Caretaker" is the story of a cemetery caretaker wondering who will mourn for him when his time comes. Even "Five Feet High and Rising" ("the hives are gone; I lost my bees") and "Old Apache Squaw" ("...the next white man that sees my face is gonna be a dead white man") mention death in some way. "I Want to Go Home" is a retitled version of the nautical standard "The John B. Sails".

By his own admission, Cash was becoming fascinated by death during this time, in part due to his growing amphetamine and barbiturate dependence, and also due to the premature death of his brother.[2]