Johnny Cash - The Long Black Veil [Live] (1968)

With a range in music from rock and roll, rockabilly, and blues to folk, gospel and country, “The Man in Black” is considered one of the most influential musicians of the twentieth century. He was a rebellious man that referred to himself as “the biggest sinner of them all” and was known to have a few run-ins with the law. He released hit songs for nearly fifty years, recording sixty new songs in the last four months of his life at the age of seventy-one. His story is one that cannot be done justice in such a limited space.

Ever since his 1955 song “Folsom Prison Blues,” he had expressed interest in doing a live concert at a prison. In 1967, with personal changes at Columbia Records, he got his wish. This song comes from his live album At Folsom Prison. It was written by Danny Dill and Marijohn Wilkin and was originally recorded by Lefty Frizzell in 1959.



Johnny Cash - The Long Black Veil [Live] (1968)

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Lyrics:

Ten years ago on a cold dark night
Someone was killed 'neath the town hall lights
There were few at the scene, but they all agreed
That the slayer who ran looked a lot like me

She walks these hills in a long black veil
She visits my grave when the night winds wail
Nobody knows, nobody sees, nobody knows but me

The judge said, “Son, what is your alibi?”
“If you were somewhere else then you won't have to die”
I spoke not a word, though it meant my life
I'd been in the arms of my best friend's wife

Did I hear somebody applaud?

Now the scaffold is high and eternity's near
She stood in the crowd and shed not a tear
But sometimes at night when the cold wind moans
In a long black veil she cries over my bones

She walks these hills in a long black veil
She visits my grave when the night winds wail
Nobody knows, nobody sees, nobody knows but me

Can I have a glass of water?