Cully-boy Castleberry: Blog

"There'll be a golden ladder reaching down"

"So while he's warning of the judgement to come, Cash is pointing to the way out of the horrible fate he's described, from the book of Genesis":

As [Jacob] slept, he dreamed of a stairway that reached from the earth up to heaven. And he saw the angels of God going up and down the stairway.

Gen 28:12

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"When the Man comes around"

"Cash's song title comes at the end of each section of the song. He's referring to Jesus' return to Earth at the time of judgement, which is mentioned throughout the Bible, including this vision the Old Testament, which Jesus later said was referring to himself":

I saw someone like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient One [God] and was led into his presence. He was given authority, honour, and sovereignty over all the nations of the world, so that people of every race and nation and language would obey him. His rule is eternal-it will never end. His kingdom will never be destroyed.

Daniel 7:13-14

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"The hairs on your arm will stand up"

"Cash continues to paint a picture of a frightening time, which Revelation also makes clear":

Then everyone-the kings of the earth, the rulers, the generals, the wealthy, the powerful, and every slave and free person-all hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. And they cried to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to survive?

Revelation 6:15-17

"There's a man goin' 'round takin' names."

"The song opens with this line, and it's key to the meaning of the whole song. A theme in the book of Revelation is the 'book of life' - who will be taken to God's eternal Kingdom? If we are to go there, our names are recorded within the book":

I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God's throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books."

Revelation 20:12

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"And he decides who to free and who to blame."

"It's made clear in this line that it's Jesus who is making the decisions here, about whether someone is to be 'saved'. This reflects what it says in the Bible, for example":

Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. Its rider was named Faithful and True, for he judges fairly and wages a righteous war… He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God. The armies of heaven, dressed in the finest of pure white linen, followed him on white horses. From his mouth came a sharp sword to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. He will release the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty, like juice flowing from a winepress. On his robe at his thigh was written this title: King of all kings and Lord of all lords.

Rev 19:11,13-16

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"Everybody won't be treated all the same."

"Again Cash isn't being very PC. It's fashionable to think that God does not judge, that he will take everyone to heaven without any consideration of whether their lives have reflected the reality of heaven. Revelation makes it very clear that this is not the case: that there is a black and white, clear choice to be made, such as in this passage":

And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God's throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds. Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death. And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.

Rev 20:11-15

- He "never had to work again."
- Kris Kristofferson

Well, I woke up Sunday morning
With no way to hold my head that didn't hurt
And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad
So I had one more for dessert
Then I fumbled in my closet for my clothes
And found my cleanest dirty shirt
And I shaved my face and combed my hair
And stumbled down the stairs to meet the day

I'd smoked my brain the night before
With cigarettes and songs I'd been pickin'
But I lit my first and watched a small kid
Cussin' at a can that he was kicking
Then I crossed the empty street
And caught the Sunday smell of someone fryin' chicken
And it took me back to something that I'd lost
Somehow, somewhere along the way

On the Sunday morning sidewalk
Wishing, Lord, that I was stoned
'Cause there's something in a Sunday
Makes a body feel alone
And there's nothin' short of dyin'
Half as lonesome as the sound
On the sleeping city sidewalks
Sunday morning coming down

In the park I saw a daddy
With a laughin' little girl who he was swinging
And I stopped beside a Sunday school
And listened to the song that they were singing
Then I headed back for home
And somewhere far away a lonely bell was ringing
And it echoed through the canyons
Like the disappearing dreams of yesterday

On the Sunday morning sidewalk
Wishing, Lord, that I was stoned
'Cause there's something in a Sunday
Makes a body feel alone
And there's nothin' short of dyin'
Half as lonesome as the sound
On the sleepin' city sidewalks
Sunday morning coming down

-Death Wish- (1974)

"Paul Kersey" (Charles Bronson)
"Ames Jainchill" (Stuart Margolin)

(Tucson, Arizona scene)

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AJ: "When do I get a look-see?"

PK: "In a couple days."

AJ: "Guard said you were here
until after midnight."

PK: "That's the way I work."

AJ: "Somebody once said,
I forget who...
...that he never looked back, because
something might be gaining on him.
What's gaining on you, Paul?"

PK: "Twenty-million-dollar investment,
what else?"

AJ: "I was gonna ask you to dinner but
I don't think you'd be good company."

PK: "No, I don't think I would."

AJ: "Might amuse you. Maybe you've
never seen a club like this.
It's a gun club. We shoot guns.
So much hoopla
from gun control people...
...half the nation's scared
to hold a gun.
Like it was a snake that would bite.
Hell, a gun is just a tool.
Like a hammer. Or an axe.
Used to put food on the table.
Keep foxes out of the chicken coop,
bandits out of the bank.
How long since you held
a pistol in your hand?"

PK: "A long time."

AJ: "Which war was yours? Korea?"

PK: "Yeah."

AJ: "See much action?"

PK: "A little."

AJ: "Were you infantry?"

PK: "I was a C.O. in a medical unit."

AJ: "A commanding officer, huh?"

PK: "Conscientious objector."

The boy who didn't run fast enough...

-Angels with Dirty Faces- (1938)

"Father Jerry asks his old pal Rocky to help him. Rocky agrees. Deterring the Dead End Kids from crime while still engaging in it himself, trying to convince them of its evil while being a living example of its benefits, Rocky is a contradiction. He would be a banality were it not for Cagney's magical performance.

He brought all of his boyhood into the part. Greeting everybody with, 'Whadya hear, whadya say," Cagney was both loose and tense, his body wound up tight, winding down in the hitches of his shoulders and the twitches of his neck. Fooling with the Dead End Kids in their "clubhouse," a place he uses to hide his money, he inevitably spars with them, throwing open-handed punches, mugging, jabbing, beating them down with his hat. Rocky is a manchild, an eternal adolescent to whom time and crime have been both kind and ravaging. The only adult burden he seems to carry is the inevitability of his death. Rocky is the most lovable gangster in all of movies. Tommy Powers grown older and wiser, at home in his city environment because the game is over. Rocky is no longer on the rise or even really on the lam; even as he settles accounts it seems a game he is playing from a distance. Rocky seems most at home as a superannuated member of the Dead End Kids."

"The Pictorial Treasury of Film Stars - James Cagney"

by Andrew Bergman