Cash remains a formidible presence to fans, scribes and fellow musicians. When he talks, the words are weighted by force of personality and by inherent importance: Things quite literally matter because Johnny Cash says them.

"He believes what he says he believes, but that don't make him a saint," wrote daughter Rosanne Cash in My Old Man, and the senior Cash's past struggles with pill-popping and hell-raising attest to a decided disinterest in sainthood. He is, however, interested in godliness.

No deity, then, Cash is instead a legend, and his words mean more than the reams of copy written about him. The following transcipt includes some of those words, beginning with his opinions on the Tuesday, Oct. 17, presidential debate.

Peter, this is Johnny Cash. Did you see the debate last night? I thought Gore stomped him. Everybody's got an opinion, but I thought Gore was so much better. (wife) June was friends with his (Gore's) father, and the first time I saw Al Gore Jr. he was 9-years-old. We're not close, but over the years we've touched base.

So, have you heard my new album?

Yes, I've just reviewed it. I like it very much.

Well, it was a struggle doing it. I started out doing it about two years ago at my cabin in the woods across from my house in Hendersonville, and I was very ill at the time. I went into the studio on and off for a solid year, and I was never pleased with any of my performances. But then I started getting better late last year, like November, and I started working really hard on this record. My son, John Carter, worked with me on it, and then I went to California in July to add the vocals and finish it with my producer, Rick Rubin.

Your son-in-law, Jimmy Tittle, told me that that you keep guitars around the house, and that even when you were very ill you would pick them up and play.

I never stopped loving music. I don't do concert tours any more, and all of that energy we put into touring and concerts and road work, all those miles, we're focusing that energy now on records. I'm ready now to start recording another one now, and it's going to be the best I've ever done. But I'm very proud of this one, too. I had my choice of all these great songs. So, if the question is why do I still play, it's because that's what I started out doing and it's what I want to do.

You did a cover on this album of One, which was written by the guys in U2. What do you figure the narrator is talking about in that song?

I think he's really talking about a love affair. He says at one point, "We hurt each other, and we're doing it again." A good love affair gone wrong needs some good work on it. I'm speaking from experience. June and I have done that. We've accomplished that. That song hit home to me solidly, from personal experience.

Has your time of illness tested your marriage, or has it been a strengthening factor?

The fighting June and I did and the love affair gone wrong was years ago. Nobody could ever have a truer companion through the sickness as June was. We're closer now than we've ever been in our lives. We've seen a lot of them die and fall, seen great artists bite the dust, but she and I have fought together and fought for each other, and we're one.

Are doctors still saying that your health problems are caused by Shy-Drager syndrome?

That was a misdiagnosis. I do not have Shy-Drager syndrome. My doctor told me in November that if I'd had it, I'd be dead by now. She said, "You're getting better, so you don't have Shy-Drager's. And you don't have Parkinson's."

I'm in better health than I have been in a year or two. I worked all day yesterday in my yard. I pruned my grape vines yesterday. I've got grapes and muscadines. I've got fig trees that the winter tries to kill, but I'm covering them with hay to protect them from the cold.

Someone remarked to me yesterday that you seem to be a virtually fearless person. Is that right?

Fearless? Aw, no. Drug addiction scares me. I'm afraid of that. Since I left the hospital last November I've had not one sleeping pill, not one tranquilizer. I stay away from people who are using or drinking. And I fear God. That's about all the things I'm afraid of that I want to talk about.

Prior to this album, you had never recorded a duet with Merle Haggard. When you recorded I'm Leaving Now with Haggard for American III, did it feel like a moment of some historical importance?

As the time approached, I thought, "This is a momentous occasion." You know, Merle was in the front row at San Quentin prison when I played there. We've been friends for years. I love Merle Haggard. He came in with Marty Stuart that morning to record, and we had a big breakfast with country ham and biscuits and gravy. We talked a long time until we felt ready to go to the cabin and record.

Neither you nor Haggard have been associated in a long time with the Grand Ole Opry, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary right now.

Well, (beginning in 1969) I did 61 network television shows from the Ryman Auditorium, and at the beginning I said, "This is Johnny Cash, coming to you from Music City, USA, home of the Grand Ole Opry." That was because I wanted to. I was as thrilled as any singer the first time I did the Opry in 1956. I did Hey, Porter! seven times that night.

A lot of people remember me as the guy that broke the footlights out at the Ryman Auditorium, but I did that at a bad time. I later regretted my lifestyle during that time.

I have not been asked to do the Grand Ole Opry in 15 years. Not that I would do it now, but I haven't been asked. The last person who asked me was Roy Acuff, who asked if I'd be a permanent member. I told Roy that I was wrapped up in touring and enjoying my shows, and that there was no way June and I could get back to Nashville 26 nights a year (at the time, the Opry required its members to play more shows each year than is currently mandated). I still have a great love for the Opry, though. I've always loved it, and I still do.

I also love Nashville. The happiest period of my recording career was when I was working here with Jack Clement in the '80s. He was, and is, a Nashville renegade himself. I guess I always gravitated to people of that ilk. I love Jack Clement, and I intend to do more work with Jack as time goes by.

Earlier, you said your next album will be your best ever. Are you competitive about your music?

I'm only in competition with myself. You can look back to my road shows, where I would have the Statler Brothers, Carl Perkins and others on stage with myself and the Carter Family.

Now we're off the road, and we're happier for it. When Maybelle and Helen and Anita (June's relatives and members of the Carter Family) died, June lost heart, and I was ready to quit the road. Those deaths had a lot to do with it. The sunshine went out of it, and the thrill of performing wasn't as great as it has been.

Thanks for your time this morning, Johnny.

Well, I wanted to talk to you, because this is where I live. Sony (American's manufacturer) were asking me about doing interviews with USA Today, the Washington Post, you name it. I said, first I'd like to talk to Nashville. So it's good to talk with you. I'm going out in the yard now to work on my grape vines.