Story Songs: Man in Black

The late, great Johnny Cash was sometimes referred to as the man in black because of the black outfits he wore at his concerts.


Cash identified with the common man, beginning from his years growing up on a cotton farm in Arkansas during the Great Depression. He understood the hardships families faced trying to get by, and carried those feelings throughout his life.

That was symbolized in the black attire, which he addressed in the song, "Man in Black," released in 1971 in an album of the same title. The song reached No. 3 on the Billboard country charts and No. 58 on the pop charts.

And he gave the reasons "for the things I have on."

We learn it's:

• "for the poor, and the beaten down...
• "for the prisoner who is long paid for his crime...
• "for those who've never read or listened to the words that Jesus said...
• "for the sick and lonely old...
• "for the thousands who have died believin' that the Lord was on their side...
• "for another hundred thousand who have died believin' that we all were on their side...

Cash closes the song with this verse:

"Ah, I love to wear a rainbow every day

And tell the world that everything's okay

But I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my back

Till things are brighter, I'm the Man in Black."

I think it would be interesting if people wore black to symbolically protest the wrongs in towns, cities, states, country, and world. Maybe it would attract attention, and perhaps create some change for the good, much like the Man in Black did in his lifetime.

"Man in Black" lyrics

Until the next time...