In a November 6, 1973 interview, Johnny Cash recalled writing “I Walk the Line” backstage one night in 1956 in Gladewater, Texas, while newly married and laying out a pledge of devotion. Sitting in the dressing room with Carl Perkins and strumming a guitar, he said he wanted to write a song with meaning not only for himself but for everybody who heard it, expressing that he would be true to those who believed in him and depended on him, and also to himself and to God, and that it might give courage to others as well as to himself. When Perkins asked what he would call it, Cash suggested something like “I’m Still Being True” or “I’m Walking the Line,” and Perkins replied that “I Walk the Line” would be a good title. Cash said the song came easily, as if it were begging to be written, and that the lyrics came as fast as he could write, so that he finished it in twenty minutes.