Long Black Veil

On my way home from work yesterday a local radio station (now that I've been forced to surf stations, damn you Indie!) was playing Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison straight through.

First of all, I had never heard it before. What a good record! 25 Minutes to Go, written as I found out later by my favorite childhood author Shel Silverstein (I never knew he wore so many hats? Shel and Kris Kristofferson, for example? Never knew!) is an awesome song. Now that I know who wrote it I can totally see it's in his style. In between the songs you can really tell that Johnny's enjoying his time playing for them just as much as the prisoners are enjoying the show.

But, as usual, I digress. Good god. In the parlance of our times, I think I have ADD. :)

Okay. So what I'm slowly getting to is the song Long Black Veil, which Johnny sang right after 25 Minutes.

I first heard this song on Mike Ness's Cheating at Solitaire album.

Then on a Dave Matthew's album.

Then on The Band's Music from the Big Pink.

I also have a Bob Dylan version I got from somewhere.

So I looked at my i-pod. Turns out I have FIVE different versions of the song. 5.

I checked it out on the god of all information, wiki, and turns out that everybody and his brother has covered this song.

The lyrics are basically the story of a man who dies for a crime he did not commit and the woman who mourns him.

A man is accused of murder. He won't provide an alibi for where he was at the time of the crime because he is having an affair with his friend's wife. So, for her honor, he goes to the gallows and dies for the murder he did not commit. All cuz he didn't want his friend to know his wife and he were cheatin'. The cheatin' wife goes and mourns her lover's death at his grave site at night.

Do they just like the idea of a woman secretly mourning this dude who hid her indiscretions? I can't quite figure out why this song catches the ear of so many artists. I mean, its a good song, but damn! Why no covers of 25 Minutes?

I think I gotta go and read Where the Sidewalk Ends. Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout would not take the garbage out!