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 aim

My 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 head

I 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 hands

The 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 head

Here 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 find

I 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 head

I hung my head
I hung my head

Early 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 plain

And 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 head

I hung my head
I hung my head

Now, do download it at iTunes.

I have heard Lorne Green sing the lyrics to the Bonanza theme, but this is the first time I have heard Johnny Cash do it (you get Five Feet High and Rising as a bonus).

I always love it when I find one I have never heard before. Here’s a great one for you by the Statlers, “We Got Paid by Cash.” It’s a nice look back at their start with Johnny Cash.

While cruising the YouTube looking for Johnny Cash vids, I discovered one I had never heard: