Up front there ought to be a man in black.

[KyuzoGator]

Well, you wonder why I always dress in black,
Why you never see bright colors on my back,
And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone?
Well, there's a reason for the things that I have on.

I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down,
Livin' in the hopeless, hungry side of town,
I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime,
But is there because he's a victim of the times.

I wear the black for those who never read,
Or listened to the words that Jesus said,
About the road to happiness through love and charity,
Why, you'd think He's talking straight to you and me!

Well, we're doin' mighty fine, I do suppose,
In our streak of lightnin' cars and fancy clothes,
But just so we're reminded of the ones who are held back,
Up front there ought to be a man in black.

I wear it for the sick and lonely old,
For the reckless ones whose bad trip left them cold,
I wear the black in mournin' for the lives that could have been,
Each week we lose a hundred fine young men.

And, I wear it for the thousands who have died,
Believin' that the Lord was on their side,
I wear it for another hundred thousand who have died,
Believin' that we all were on their side.

Well, there's things that never will be right I know,
And things need changin' everywhere you go,
But 'til we start to make a move to make a few things right,
You'll never see me wear a suit of white.

Ah, I'd love to wear a rainbow every day,
And tell the world that everything's OK,
But I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my back,
'Till things are brighter, I'm the man in black.

[Erika]

1. Governance under the GOP has been very dark and cold

No hope, no vision, only gloom,doom, and a reduction in our standard of living. And American troop deaths for nothing.

[amitten]

6. You're not kidding. Yesterday I was driving home and I allowed

myself to imagine, fully, what it would feel like when Bush is out of office (I have a good imagination).

When I snapped out of it a few seconds later into reality, it was like a dark cloud just dropped over the whole world again. I teared up, because it made me realize just how bad it's been to live this way...ruled by a bunch of murderous crooks.

I'm not usually so touchy, but things have been baaaaaaad. Black, you could say.

[niallmac]

2. Johnny, My Own Personal Jesus...

with due respect to Depeche-Mode.

[ugarte]

3. I miss the man in black

I heard something the other day on NPR that I didn't know. His famous Folsom Prison album was of course recorded live but the concert audience noise was added in the studio. I didn't hear all the story, so I'm not sure if ANY of the audience noise were the prisoners themselves or not.

[padia]

4. rode to the coast with my parents

the other day while listening to this on a "greatest hits" CD and it does make you think how did we get back here or did we ever leave. Anyways I guess as long we can cry & feel our shame there is still hope for us.

[madfloridian]

5. I just tonight downloaded Complete Sun Singles, Vol. I...tremendous.

That music takes me back many years.

[ComerPerro]

7. And to think, people claim Cash was a RWer

[bedazzled]

8. nothing ever changes

that song makes me cry

[wicket]

9. Here's a great story about Johnny and Richard Nixon:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Cash

When invited to perform at the White House for the first time in 1972, President Richard Nixon's office requested that he play "Okie from Muskogee" (a Merle Haggard song that negatively portrays youthful drug users and war protesters) and "Welfare Cadillac" (a Guy Drake song that derides the integrity of welfare recipients). Cash declined to play either song and instead played a series of his own more left-leaning, politically-charged songs, including "The Ballad of Ira Hayes" (about a brave Native-American World War II veteran who was racially mistreated upon his return to Arizona) and "Man in Black" (which contains angry, anti-war lyrics, which Cash acknowledged in his 1997 autobiography were specifically about the Vietnam War).

God bless Johnny Cash :patriot:

[HornBuckler]

10. Awesome - want something differently cool?

Crickets are chirpin', the water is high,
There's a soft cotton dress on the line hangin' dry,
Window wide open, African trees
Bent over backwards from a hurricane breeze.
Not a word of goodbye, note even a note,
She gone with the man
In the long black coat.

Somebody seen him hanging around
At the old dance hall on the outskirts of town,
He looked into her eyes when she stopped to ask
If he wanted to dance, he had a face like a mask.
Somebody said from the Bible he'd quote
There was dust on the man
In the long black coat.

Preacher was a talkin' there's a sermon he gave,
He said every man's conscience is vile and depraved,
You cannot depend on it to be your guide
When it's you who must keep it satisfied.
It ain't easy to swallow, it sticks in the throat,
She gave her heart to the man
In the long black coat.

There are no mistakes in life some people say
It is true sometimes you can see it that way.
Bridge: But people don't live or die, people just float.
She went with the man
In the long black coat.

There's smoke on the water, it's been there since June,
Tree trunks uprooted, 'neath the high crescent moon
Feel the pulse and vibration and the rumbling force
Somebody is out there beating the dead horse.
She never said nothing there was nothing she wrote,
She gone with the man
In the long black coat


- Dylan

Him and Cash were good friends - great musicians and good friends - Powerful shit no doubt.

[madokie]

11. I guess I was in need of watery eyes

I remember when the man in black hit the scene back in the early, mid '50s. All these years I've never tired of listening to him sing. I never seen Mr Cash as a country artist only as an artist who could put more happiness into your heart or pull the tears out of your eyes like they were faucets.