Cadences In "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash

Cadences

Wow. This assignment was much harder than I thought it would be. When I read the prompt, I figured that I would easily be able to find a song with an IAC/HC into a PAC but it took me a while to find something. Also this "something" might not even actually have an IAC or an HC, but I figured that I would take a whack at it since it sounds like it does. Of course, I’m no professional at determining cadences within a song. In fact, I hadn’t even heard the term “cadence” before a week ago. So bear with me while I try to explain cadences through a song.

            The song I chose is “Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash. I discovered this song and therefore Johnny Cash at the beginning of high school when I was forced to watch “Walk the Line” with my family for family movie night. Little did I know that this horrible event, at the time, would alter my love for music. As soon as Joaquin Phoenix (the actor playing Johnny Cash) started to sing “Folsom Prison Blues”, I fell in love with the music. So, here is my attempt to point out a cadence within a song with one of my favorite Johnny Cash songs:

Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It7107ELQvY

            After humming along with the tune for about 20 minutes, I finally figured out that the end of the first phrase ends with “mi” on the word “ring”. This occurs at the 0:16 mark in the video. I believe that the second phrase then ends with “do” on the word “fire” at 0:27. If this is the case, then that would mean that the first phrase ends with an Imperfect Authentic Cadence (IAC), an open cadence and the second phrase ends with a Perfect Authentic Cadence (PAC), a closed cadence. This would mean that these two phrases combine to form a period, which occurs when the first phrase ends in an open cadence and the second phrase ends in a closed cadence.

            Well, there was my attempt to explain the cadences (if there are even any) in “Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash. It might have been poor; it might have been rich. Whichever it is, I look forward to knowing for sure what the cadences are.