I talk a lot about great voices on here, especially about the voices of broadcast newsmen and staff announcers. But I found something a few days ago that's kind of strange, but I love it: this 1972 Amoco commercial with Johnny Cash. I don't know what I love most: the man himself, that deep voice with its familiar cadence, the dark soundstage with the two out-of-place gasoline pumps, or that infectiously twangy background music.
I've always loved the sound of Johnny Cash's voice. All at once it's strong, sad, weary, folksy, soothing. It's a voice that, in itself, had a story. Johnny Cash could have read the telephone book and it would have captured me.
A lot of people have said people like Patrick Stewart or James Earl Jones or Morgan Freeman have voices that they imagine sound like what God's voice must sound like. Deep in my heart, though, I've long hoped that if God is indeed male, He has a voice like Johnny Cash. That's part of why I loved this episode of The Simpsons so much. Cash isn't voicing God, but the character taps into the spiritual regardless.
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