The Man Comes Around (song)
| "The Man Comes Around" | |
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"The Man Comes Around" cover
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| Song by Johnny Cash from the album American IV: The Man Comes Around | |
| Released | May 24, 2002 |
| Recorded | 4:26 |
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| Writer(s) | Johnny Cash |
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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. It was actually written a few years earlier; however, Cash updated it for the album. It is one of the last songs Cash wrote before his death. Both sung and spoken, the song makes numerous Biblical references, especially to the Book of Revelation.
There are numerous Biblical references in the lyrics. A spoken portion from Revelation 6:1–2 in the King James Version introduces the song. This portion of Scripture describes the coming of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, each heralded by one of the "four beasts" first mentioned in Revelation 4:6–9. The musical portion then begins with Cash reciting that "the man" (Jesus Christ) will one day come to pass judgment. The chorus indicates that these events will be accompanied by trumpets, (as in Revelation ch.8,9,11), pipers (Rev.18:22), and "one hundred million angels singing". The voice of the Lord in Revelation is often likened to the sound of a loud trumpet (Revelation 1:10; 4:1; and 8:13). Revelation 5:11 states that John saw that there are millions of angels in Heaven.
The song also alludes to the Parable of the Ten Virgins from the Gospel of Matthew (25:1–13) with the lyrics “The virgins are all trimming their wicks,” a reference to the virgins’ preparation of the Second Coming of Christ. The reference to the whirlwind might point to the prophet Elijah, one of the few Biblical characters taken to heaven without dying. He was transported by a "chariot of fire" borne by a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11). Or it could allude to Hosea 8:7 where evildoers "sow the wind and reap the whirlwind."
The phrase "It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks" is a quote from Acts 26:14, where Paul the Apostle describes his meeting Jesus while traveling to Damascus. It is a reference to a Greek proverb where a kicking ox only injures himself by attempting to kick against a goad, an illustration of the futility of resisting the Lord.
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