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...

Story Songs: A Boy Named Sue

We all know folks who don't like their names. There's not much they can do about it unless they want to have it legally changed but that often seems like too much trouble. Some simply go by nicknames or stage names to avoid any embarrassment. 

The legendary Johnny Cash sang about a guy getting stuck with a sissy name by a deadbeat dad in Shel Silverstein's hilarious "A Boy Named Sue." It won a Grammy Award for Best Country Male Vocal Performance in 1969.

In the story, the boy suffers taunts and teases while growing up because of his name. When he gets older, he sets out to find his father and seek revenge for the personal injustice.

"Well, he must o' thought that is quite a joke
And it got a lot of laughs from a' lots of folk,
It seems I had to fight my whole life through.
Some gal would giggle and I'd get red
And some guy'd laugh and I'd bust his head,
I tell ya, life ain't easy for a boy named 'Sue."'

 

He finally finds his father in a bar in Gatlingburg, Tenn., and it turns into a knockdown, dragout fight. And when it's over, the son discovers why his father named him Sue.

"And he said: 'Son, this world is rough
And if a man's gonna make it, he's gotta be tough
And I knew I wouldn't be there to help ya along.
So I give ya that name and I said goodbye
I knew you'd have to get tough or die
And it's the name that helped to make you strong."'

While the son gains some respect for his father in the end, that doesn't mean he likes the name as he proclaims in the last two lines:

"And if I ever have a son, I think I'm gonna name him
Bill or George! Anything but Sue! I still hate that name!"

 For more about Johnny Cash, visit www.johnnycash.com. To learn more about Shel Silverstein, a noted children's author, cartoonist, and poet, go to www.shelsilverstein.com.

A Boy Named Sue lyrics