Page 30 of Johnny Cash Show Souvenir Picture and Song Book – ca. 1966

This is Part 4 of our series Implements of Destruction.  Check out Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 when you get a chance!

Introduction – “With time to kill…”

Ken established our Implements of Destruction series with posts considering three songs that, in three different ways, centered on a handgun and the violence it engendered.  Today, Ken takes a well-deserved break and I get to write this fourth installment of our series – an opportunity for which I’m most grateful!  This week’s ballad wasn’t part of Ken’s original vision, but like the first three it is set in the Old West and uses a gun as its narrative linchpin. But today’s gun is a rifle and the moral question involved is different, even if the physics of the murder is the same – this time it’s an accident.

“I Hung My Head” is quite well-known as one of Johnny Cash‘s finer works from his prolific last years, released in 2002 on his final album American IV: The Man Comes Around.  However, the casual fan of Cash might not realize that the song was actually written by Sting and recorded first for his 1996 album Mercury Falling.

While I won’t explore the story behind the creation of either album, Sting’s inspiration for writing “I Hung My Head” is relevant to the focus of our series. The whole song turns on “one piece of lead.”  Further, that inspiration and its intersection with another occasional interest of ours – ‘authentic’ delivery – makes for a particularly interesting study in this case.  The song is Sting’s and his lyrics are brilliant, but Cash made this tragic story truly popular.  Is that because we somehow *believe it* more when Johnny sings it?  If such is true, why might that be?

“It was just free association…”

Let’s hear the music before we start answering questions.  We’ll start with Sting’s performance and move to Cash’s.  The lyrics between the two are only slightly different. More significantly, Cash changes from Sting’s 9/8 time into a standard 4/4.  Both have their charms.  And, though the piece is relatively short and is certainly not traditional, it’s a murder ballad proper by our admittedly loose definition – a complete story of homicide in song.

Sting’s version, live from 1996, on YouTube

Cash’s version from The Man Comes Around on YouTube

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