The Theology of Johnny Cash: Part 3, The Man in Black

Beyond how Johnny Cash's music speaks to both saints and sinners--more specifically to the saint and the sinner in each of us--the other prominent theme in Johnny Cash's music is that of solidarity.

Cash's music always tried to speak with and for the marginalized, forgotten, oppressed, broken and criminal. Cash's music often came from the margins. Cash tried to speak for people who had no voice.

And as a sign of this solidarity with those on the margins in the early '70s Cash took to wearing all black clothing during his concerts, in sharp contrast to the flashy fringes and rhinestones of his Nashville contemporaries. Johnny Cash dressed like he was going to a funeral. Dressing in black was a sign of grief and mourning, especially during Vietnam as the war wore on and the death toll ticked up.

Cash summarized the symbolism of his clothing in his famous song "The Man in Black":

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 'a 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,
Believen' that the Lord was on their side,
I wear it for another hundred thousand who have died,
Believen' 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. 

Personally, "The Man in Black" isn't my favorite song that expresses Cash's solidary with the downtrodden. I love the theology of the song. I don't like the rhyme or music all that much.

My personal favorite song expressing this theme is a song Cash wrote for his album Orange Blossom Special entitled "All God's People Ain't Free." When you hear "All God's People Ain't Free" you'd think it was a traditional Negro Spiritual. But it was a Johnny Cash original:

I'd sing more about more of this land
But all God's children ain't free
I'd open up every door I can
'Cause all God's children ain't free

I met a beaten broken man
He shovels dirt but got no land
And he held out his hand to me
All God's children ain't free

I'd sing along to a silly song
But all God's children ain't free
I'm gonna sing a blues for the men they done wrong
'Cause all God's children ain't free

Mister, how about the man you condemn to die
By taking everything that he's livin' by?
And reject him from society
All God's children ain't free
No, reject him from society
All God's children ain't free

I'd be happy walking any street
But all God's children ain't free
I'd have a smile for all I meet
But all God's children ain't free

I'd whistle down the road but I wouldn't feel right
I'd hear somebody cryin' out at night
From a sharecropper's shack or penitentiary
All God's children ain't free

From a sharecropper's shack or penitentiary
All God's children ain't free

Now that's a freedom song.

This theme of solidarity--grieving alongside and for the hungry, the addicted, the criminal, the poor, the old, the beaten down, the dead--is the other great theological theme in Cash's music. And there's not much more to add, theologically, beyond Cash's own lyrics in "The Man in Black."

So rather than simply repeat the theme what I'd like to do is illustrate the theme in the next four posts by looking closely at four specific populations and how Cash expressed solidarity with each. How Cash tried to be "the man in black" for each.

We'll start in the next post with the Native American Indians.

Part 4: Bitter Tears