THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

857-Johnny Cash-Man in Black.

1971-It has never charted in the UK.

Best Bit-At 2.26. Definitely not a dedicated follower of fashion.

Johnny Cash was born J. R. Cash, on February 26th, 1932, in Kingsland, Arkansas, United States, he died on September 12th, 2003, of complications from diabetes, at the age of 71. His mother wanted to call him John, and his father wanted to call him Ray, so ‘J.R.’ was the compromise. When he joined the United States Air Force in 1950, he changed his name to John, as they wouldn’t allow people to join who just used initials. Johnny Cash is one of the worlds best ever selling artists, with sales in excess of 90 million. His extensive discography includes 67 studio Albums, released between 1957-2014, and 105 official compilation albums, and 16 live Albums. He has also released 170 singles between 1955-2014, with 13 of those tracks reaching the Billboard Hot 100 top 40 singles chart, with ‘A Boy Named Sue’ peaking the highest at Number 2 in 1971. On the Billboard ‘Hot Country Songs’ chart, 101 of his singles have reached the top 40, with 14 of those tracks making the Number 1 spot, all of those entries include his collaborations with June Carter Cash, (1929-2003) Waylon Jennings, (1937-2002) Willie Nelson (see also best songs 337) and Kris Kristofferson, (see also best songs 341) and also The Carter Family. In the UK, Johnny Cash has charted within the top 40 singles chart on six occasions, with both ‘A Boy Named Sue,’ (1971) and ‘A Thing Called Love,’ (1971) both peaking the highest at Number 4.

‘Man in Black’ is a ‘protest song,’ which was written and produced by Johnny Cash, it is also the title track of his 38th overall Album release, from May 1971. ‘Man in Black’ was the first of two singles released prior to the Albums release, the other track issued as a single was ‘Singing in Viet Nam Talking Blues.’ The lyrics to ‘Man in Black’ are a protest statement of the way poor people are treated by politicians, as well as highlighting mass incarceration, and the war in Viet Nam. Johnny Cash states that until there is justice, he will only ever wear black clothing. It was following this songs release, that Cash gained his lifelong nickname ‘Man in Black.’

By 1971 Johnny Cash had already worn black clothing on stage for many years, it had started in the early days when Cash and his band were constantly on tour, and couldn’t afford new outfits, so they mixed and matched their wardrobe, and since black hid the dirt best, that was what they wore. W. S. ‘Fluke’ Holland, (1935-2020) who played drums with Johnny Cash for many years, spoke to ‘Mojo’ magazine in 2012,’And I say it’s real simple. Back then when we’d leave on tour, the longer you could wear the clothes you had on, the better it was. So if you had on black, it wouldn’t show dirt as quickly as anything else.’

Johnny Cash probably had the ideas in his head for quite sometime about what he wanted to say in ‘Man in Black,’ but when he finally put pen to paper the words came very quickly. Speaking to the audience on his very first performance of the song, at ‘Ryman Auditorium,’ in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1971, Cash admitted that he had written the song the previous weekend, and then revised it a few times before the concert on the Wednesday, Cash performed the song for the first time using cue cards with revised lyrics, that he had only updated that day. At the end of the song he received a standing ovation. His eldest daughter Rosanne has offered her perspective on what the song meant to her father,’There’s so many levels to it. One is saying, ‘I’m wearing this symbol for the downtrodden and the poor.’ The other was much more subtle to me, it reflected the sadness, the convulsions, just that mythic dark night of the soul that he went through so many times.’

‘Ah, I’d 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, ’til things are brighter, I’m the man in black.’