I Hung My Head
4April 10, 2008 by Tyson Wynn
Sometimes songs just get you, and this one gets me. When I first heard it on Johnny Cash’s “American IV” album I almost cried. It is literally the saddest song I have ever heard. It communicates with razor sharpness the tragedy of an innocent, though dangerous, mistake that has deep and eternal consequences. “I orphaned his children/I widowed his wife” always puts a lump in my throat.
Here are the lyrics.
Early one morning
With time to kill
I borrowed Jebb’s rifle
And sat on a hill
I saw a lone rider
Crossing the plain
I drew a bead on him
To practice my aimMy brother’s rifle
Went off in my hand
A shot rang out
Across the land
The horse, he kept running
The rider was dead
I hung my head
I hung my headI set off running
To wake from the dream
My brother’s rifle
Went into the sheen
I kept on running
Into the south lands
That’s where they found me
My head and my handsThe sheriff he asked me
Why had I run
And then it came to me
Just what I had done
And all for no reason
Just one piece of lead
I hung my head
I hung my headHere in the court house
The whole town was there
I see the judge
High up in the chair
Explain to the court room
What went through you mind
And we’ll ask the jury
What verdict they findI felt the power
Of death over life
I orphaned his children
I widowed his wife
I begged their forgiveness
I wish I was dead
I hung my head
I hung my headI hung my head
I hung my headEarly one morning
With time to kill
I see the gallows
Up on a hill
And out in the distance
A trick of the brain
I see a lone rider
Crossing the plainAnd he’d come to fetch me
To see what they’d done
And we’d ride together
To kingdom come
I prayed for God’s mercy
For soon I’d be dead
I hung my head
I hung my headI hung my head
I hung my head
Now, do download it at iTunes.
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4 comments
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“I Hung My Head” was written by Sting.
Johnny was a great songwriter, but many of his best tunes on his last few albums were written by others. Johnny’s rendition is much better than Sting’s.
Of those Johnny wrote, “The Man Comes Around” is probably my favorite.
Johnny did little writing the last 25 years of his life, for some reason I’ve yet to figure out. “The Man Comes Around” is a notable exception, and it’s such an amazing and spooky song that it’s occupied my iPod for years.
What made Johnny Cash a great music artist was that he could take other people’s songs and make them HIS. His version of Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt” is a prime example.
There are only a few singers I can think of who could take other people’s material and instantly put their personal, indelible stamp on them — Ray Charles, James Brown, Jerry Lee Lewis, Waylon Jennings. Johnny Cash was one of them.
You got it.
All of those American albums were amazing. The posthumous one (American V) was heartrending, especially the Gordon Lighfoot “If You Could Read My Mind.”
And back to The Man Comes Around (which I liked more than Hurt–though it was good). I think the liner notes said Johnny had filled notepads with lyrics for The Man. It is biblical allusion from start to finish, and it shows that Johnny had a deep knowledge of the Word.