Johnny Cash talks about "Water From The Wells Of Home"

Cash – the Autobiography of Johnny Cash

Pop Carter was the one who really got me going on Bible study. I liked him a great deal, and learned a great deal from him in the days after I came out of Nickajack Cave. A self-taught theologian and dedicated scholar, he was also a warm and caring man with a lot of good common sense, and he made a great instructor and discussion partner, feeding and stimulating the hunger for spiritual truths that led me after a while into more formal Bible scholarship through correspondence courses. June and I both enrolled in a study program, and for three years we spent much of our time on airplanes, in hotels, and on the bus doing our lessons. We both graduated. I can't speak for June, but for me the experience was both exciting and humbling; I learned just enough to understand that I knew almost nothing. The spiritual well is so deep and unfathomable, but some beautiful water flows out of it. That's partly what John Carter and I had in mind when we wrote 'Waters from the Wells of Home.' The song wasn't just literal (though it was that too).

As I stroll along the road to freedom
Like a gypsy in a gilded cage
My horizons have not always been bright,
But that's the way that dreams are made.

Days all seem to run together
Like a timeless honeycomb;
I find myself wishing I could drink again
Water from the wells of home.

I've seen all the shining cities
Lean against a yellow sky;
I've seen the down and out get better,
I've seen many a strong man die.

Oh, the troubled hearts and worried minds
And things that l’ve been shown
Keep me always returning
To the water from the wells of home.

Always pray to go back someday
To the water from the wells of home.

BY JOHN R. CASH AND JOHN CARTER CASH,

@ 1987 SONGS OF CASH, INC., AND AYRIGA RA MUSIC

New Moon Over Jamaica Johnny Cash & Paul Mccartney