The Man Comes Around (song)

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"The Man Comes Around" is the title track from Johnny Cash's American IV: The Man Comes Around, released in 2002 (see 2002 in music). It is one of the last songs Cash wrote in his life.

Only three of the fifteen tracks on this album were actually written by Cash; "The Man Comes Around" is the only one that Cash wrote for the album. It is partially sung and partially spoken, containing numerous Biblical references, predominantly from the Book of Revelation.

The song is introduced by a spoken portion in which Cash describes the coming of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, sounding of thunder and led by a white horse. The musical portion then begins with Cash reciting that a man (Jesus Christ) has arrived to pass judgment, and the world will be in terror as people await theirs. The chorus indicates that these events are accompanied by trumpets, pipers, and "one hundred million angels singing".

The chorus also repeats the point that "the whirlwind is in the thorn tree", a reference to Job 38:1 in which God appears to Job as a voice in a whirlwind.

Cash then returns to spoken form, ending the song with a quote from Revelation 6:8:

And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts

And I looked and behold, a pale horse

And his name that sat on him was Death

And Hell followed with him

The main musical motif is heard as the accented grand piano-like C note following the IV-V chords. It is also played repeatedly in the chorus. This gives the song its distinctive "finality" in terms of mood/style.

An alternate, "early take" of the song appears on the Unearthed box set (2003).

This song was used during the opening montage for the 2004 film Dawn of the Dead as well as the credits for the film The Hunted.

This song, as sung by Johnny Cash, is very popular with American, British and Australian soldiers operating in Iraq and Afghanistan as combatants in the War on Terror.

[edit] External Links

• Lyrics from Hit Country Lyrics

Johnny Cash

Studio albums With His Hot and Blue Guitar | Sings the Songs That Made Him Famous | The Fabulous Johnny Cash | Greatest! | Hymns by Johnny Cash | Songs of Our Soil | Sings Hank Williams | Ride This Train | Now, There Was a Song! | Now Here's Johnny Cash | The Lure of the Grand Canyon | Hymns from the Heart | The Sound of Johnny Cash | All Aboard the Blue Train | Blood, Sweat and Tears | Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash | The Christmas Spirit | I Walk the Line | Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian | Orange Blossom Special | Sings the Ballads of the True West | Everybody Loves a Nut | Happiness is You | Carryin' On with Johnny Cash and June Carter | From Sea to Shining Sea | Old Golden Throat | Heart of Cash | The Holy Land | More of Old Golden Throat | Hello, I'm Johnny Cash | Man in Black | A Thing Called Love | America: A 200-Year Salute in Story and Song | The Johnny Cash Family Christmas | Any Old Wind That Blows | Johnny Cash and His Woman | Ragged Old Flag | Junkie and the Juicehead Minus Me | The Johnny Cash Children's Album | Sings Precious Memories | John R. Cash | Look at Them Beans | One Piece at a Time | The Last Gunfighter Ballad | The Rambler | I Would Like to See You Again | Gone Girl | Silver | A Believer Sings the Truth | Rockabilly Blues | Classic Christmas | The Baron | The Adventures of Johnny Cash | Johnny 99 | Highwayman | Rainbow | Believe in Him | Heroes | Class of '55 | Johnny Cash is Coming to Town | Classic Cash: Hall of Fame Series | Water from the Wells of Home | Boom Chicka Boom | Highwayman 2 | The Mystery of Life | American Recordings | The Road Goes on Forever | Unchained | American III: Solitary Man | American IV: The Man Comes Around | American V: A Hundred Highways | American VI Live albums At Folsom Prison | At San Quentin | The Johnny Cash Show | På Österåker | Strawberry Cake | The Survivors Live | VH1 Storytellers | At Madison Square Garden Soundtrack albums I Walk the Line | Little Fauss and Big Halsy | The Gospel Road | Return to the Promised Land Compilation albums Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 | The World of Johnny Cash | Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 | International Superstar | Greatest Hits, Vol. 3 | The Unissued Johnny Cash | Johnny & June | Tall Man | Encore | Love, God and Murder | The Essential Johnny Cash | Unearthed | The Legend | The Legend of Johnny Cash | Personal File | The Legend of Johnny Cash Vol. II Songs "25 Minutes to Go" | "A Boy Named Sue" | "Cat's in the Cradle" | "Cocaine Blues" | "Cry, Cry, Cry" | "Dark as a Dungeon" | "Engine 143" | "Folsom Prison Blues" | "Get Rhythm" | "Goodnight, Irene" | "Green Green Grass of Home" | "Greystone Chapel" | "Hey Porter" | "Home of the Blues" | "Hurt" | "I Walk the Line" | "In My Life" | "It Ain't Me Babe" | "Jackson" | "Like the 309" | "The Man Comes Around" | "One Piece at a Time" | "The One on the Right is on the Left" | "Remember the Alamo" | "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky" | "Ring of Fire" | "What'd I Say" Family June Carter Cash | John Carter Cash | Rosanne Cash | Carlene Carter | Vivian Liberto | Tommy Cash | Carter Family Related articles Sun Records | Columbia Records | Mercury Records | American Recordings | Legacy Recordings | Lost Highway Records | Sam Phillips | Jack Clement | Rick Rubin | Carl Perkins | Jerry Lee Lewis | The Highwaymen | Waylon Jennings | Kris Kristofferson | Willie Nelson | Folsom Prison | San Quentin State Prison | Outlaw country | Tennessee Three | Shel Silverstein | Walk the Line | Man in Black | Cash: The Autobiography