When you hear the name Johnny Cash, you probably think of the rugged, gravel-voiced Man in Black who was as well-known for his hard-partying ways as for his timeless contributions to the world of country music.
But apparently, beneath that rough exterior beat the heart of a true romantic, because when Cash wasn’t penning tunes about shooting men just to watch them die, he was composing love letters that would make the most badass inmate at Folsom get a little misty.
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, a British insurance company commissioned a poll to determine the greatest love letter of all time.
Despite some stiff competition from the likes of poet John Keats and Henry VIII (?!), Cash came out on top with this mash note for his wife June Carter Cash, written on her birthday in 1994:
If it just got a little too dusty in here for you to make out the text, here’s what Cash had to say to his longtime love:
"We get old and we get used to each other. We think alike. We read each others minds. We know what the other wants without asking. Sometimes we irritate each other a little bit. Maybe we sometimes take each other for granted.
"But once in a while, like today, I meditate on it and realize how lucky I am to share my life with the greatest woman I ever met. You still fascinate and inspire me. You influence me for the better. You’re the object of my desire, the #1 Earthly reason for my existence. I love you very much."
Yeah, feel free to crib that one word-for-word if you’re at a loss for what to scribble in your last-minute Hallmark card, fellas.
Makes Michael Jordan’s love letters sound like the lunatic ramblings of a man driven to insanity by the thought that he might one day own the Charlotte Bobcats.
The 2005 film Walk the Line memorably depicted June and Johnny’s romance, but this letter gives us a sense of what really kept the First Couple of Country Music united throughout their many ups and downs.
So steal from Mr. Cash, if you can. Whatever you do, don’t take any cues from the unbelievably awkward Valentine’s Day cards in the gallery below:
