Talk:The Man Comes Around

Quotations from the scripture

It's not true that the article doesn't do any quotations. For example all quotations from the scripture are given correctly. It's a very good and scientific article.

"Taking names"

I don't think nazis recollecting names has absolutely anything to do with this song theme or spirit, and I certainly don't think this was on Cash's mind when writing it. I couldn't find any kind of evidence of this so I propose to delete this out of place reference. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.135.143.201 (talk) 17:40, 22 September 2010 (UTC)

Who is this song popular with?

I'm a little concerned about "the song is very popular with soldiers in the war on terror." Is it uncommonly popular? Has its popularity played a significant role in anything? Unfounded statements like that make me feel like I should be allowed to throw in "Stuart also likes it, particularly when he is drunk, and once looked up the chords online." ````sa8604````

Am I correct that there is no video for this song? I looked in Yahoo and MTV under Johnny Cash and couldn't find one. --Andyrowell94 15:29, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

Shalam

Nobody explains what 'Shalam' means. Is it just a play with the word Shalom or does it have a sense?

A: Good question. Aramaic was the common language in Palestine at the time of Christ. "Shalam" is the Aramaic word for Peace. Aramaic is a Semitic language closely ralated to Hebrew.

I added a explanation about "Shalam" after consulting with a person who speaks Aramaic today (an Iraqi Assyrian Christian). They still say Hi! or peace as "Shalam" although the younger generation uses Hi! more commonly

-- cheers

posterdot Toronto Oct 29 2007 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Posterdot (talk • contribs) 15:05, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

I think the line says that there will be no peace until the End of the World (Armageddon), and the conflict between Muslims (Shalam) and Jews (Shalom) will significantly contribute to this. And this in a very highly poetical way which to assert a meaning to is needs defective, but if I were to write a "consensus canticorum" or the like, that's what I'd say. And if Shalam is indeed not Arab but Aramaic, that's even more pointed since the Middle East Christians are comprised (and, only too often, forgotten inspite of their indeed not so little numbers) under the respective Muslim-majoritied peoples. --84.154.60.236 (talk) 20:57, 7 October 2010 (UTC)

Can you find a published reference reflecting this analysis? bd2412 T 21:02, 7 October 2010 (UTC)

Er, no. The same--77.4.127.38 (talk) 13:10, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

I think that Cash meant Salaam but [mis]pronounced the 's' at the beginning as 'sh.' Salaam is how the Arabic word 'سلام' is most frequently spelled in English -- 12.218.76.10 (talk) 00:53, 17 March 2013 (UTC)

tscc

lol I was just looking at this page and was going to edit it myself, when someone edited it for tscc (terminator: the sarah connor chronicles) ^^ :D —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.78.94.167 (talk) 07:18, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Please, tell us more! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.206.43.53 (talk) 02:06, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

More biblical references

I think the following lyrics are also biblical references. I'll try to look them up as soon as I've got time.

• Will you partake of that last offered cup / Or disappear into the potter's ground?
• Then the father hen will call his chickens home (Mt 23:27 is the closest to this that I know of. Also, aren't hens female? - caa 11/9/2010)
• At his feet they'll cast their golden crowns —Preceding unsigned comment added by Aardvark92 (talk • contribs) 20:24, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

---

This song was in a recent episode of Stargate Atlantis...but yeah. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.116.214.76 (talk) 01:24, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

• Do you know which episode? We may have an article on it. bd2412 T 02:21, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Infobox

I have removed the Infobox Needed tag since I have created one. Expansion would be greatly appreciated. Crisco 1492 (talk) 13:51, 10 January 2011 (UTC)

no Shalam, no Shalom

I think he is just saying there will be no peace, in the ancient languages,for that book was written. I dont believe like another person (above) who wrote the war between Muslim and Jew, there is no basis for this in the song? it is just counter productive. To me its a great song.They call me Mister Tibbs (talk) 13:35, 29 June 2012 (UTC)

That was me. No there is no basis for it in the song. I was musing, that is all. But, in fact, musing about possible meanings of some few words of a song is to me a sign of liking it, not the contrary; it is to me a great song too. Why, though, should such musing be "counterproductive"? There obviously is mutual enmity between Muslims and Jews going on, whether Johnny Cash meant that or no.--131.159.0.47 (talk) 17:21, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

What does this sentance mean?

From the lede: "The inspiration for writing the song was his newly discovered relationship with Jesus Christ, which Cash says he doubts it will make it into any church hymnals, particularly due to how he had led his life before becoming a Christian, but he would be flattered if it did". What does Cash doubt would make it into any hymnal? The Man Comes Around? Or "Johnny Cash's newly discovered relationship with Christ"? Or something else? The former would make more sense, but the current wording seems to imply the latter. Wardog (talk) 20:16, 13 October 2012 (UTC)

Authorship

This seems a little confused as to who wrote the song.

From the introduction:

"It was actually written a few years earlier by Sting; however, Cash updated it for the album."

This seems to imply that the lead singer of The Police wrote the song. From History:

"Of the album's fifteen tracks, only three were written by Cash, with "The Man Comes Around" the sole song specifically penned for it, and the only song Cash wrote in its entirety."

AllMusic suggests here that History is correct and Cash wrote this by himself. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.115.45.148 (talk) 22:25, 21 January 2013 (UTC)

Yes, an anonymous user has repeatedly attempted to add the assertion that it was written by Sting, despite the obvious problem of an acknowledged agnostic writing a song about the necessity of divine grace on judgment day. eldamorie (talk) 14:56, 22 January 2013 (UTC)

I wonder if this began as somebodhy's confusion about the album "The Man Comes Around". Track 5 (I think) has Cash's cover of a Sting song "Hung My Head". To some people, his cover is far superior to Sting's and establishes it as a song sung chiefly by Cash. Twistlethrop (talk) 05:54, 27 June 2017 (UTC)

Sleepy Hollow

The intro to the song IS NOT used in the Sleepy Hollow pilot. Clancy Brown, an actor in the episode, recites the same portion of Revelation Ch 6 that Cash does in the song, but no part of the track appears. It's actually a Rolling Stones song (Sympathy for the Devil) that follows. Maybe the song was used in an early cut of the pilot but the producers couldn't get the rights? In the version on Hulu, it's clearly Clancy Brown at 43:50.

I'm not going to make the change though -- not an editor and don't want to start. Jkwhitley (talk) 01:43, 20 October 2013 (UTC)

Double entendre

Although the wicks/pricks lines are from scripture, they are often misinterpreted by listeners unaware of the source material as a double entendre. Is there any indication that Cash was aware of this? Having heard both the CD version and the early take released on the Story of Cash compilation, it's hard to tell. The lines are legitimate, but at the same time this song was written in the 1990s and released in 2002; Cash would have been unrealistically naive not to have caught it. Certainly his producer, previous associated with rap music, would have. 68.146.52.234 (talk) 21:16, 5 March 2015 (UTC)

By accounts of some people who knew him, Cash was anything but naive or ignorant; I'm sure he understood that some listeners might focus on the double meaning. It's a leap to imagine that he had that possibility at the forefront of his mind as he wrote the lyrics, though.

Apropos that.. I recently watched the 2003 Paramount DVD release of "The Hunted" movie. When Cash sings "kick against the pricks", the closed captions have it as "kick against the priests". For a brief moment, I wondered if some strange kind of censorship was going on but then considered it unlikely as the movie dialog includes language which I would imagine is more taboo.Twistlethrop (talk) 05:40, 27 June 2017 (UTC)