God's Gonna Cut You Down

I grew up in the Bronx and my parents used to keep their albums and 45's in my bedroom. When I was old enough and I showed them that I would be careful with their collection, I was given persmission to dig through and listen. I was blessed by the sounds of James Brown, The Ojays, The Temptations, The Ohio Players, Donna Summer, Diana Ross, Bob Marley and The Wailers and the list goes on and on.

As I grew my musical tastes expanded and I was discovering new music all the time. I hungered for it and even stayed up to ridiculous hours to listen to certain radio shows. There weren't many white artists I was listening to back then. There was Queen but you couldn't escape them, they were everywhere with "We Will Rock You", David Bowie with "Modern Love", and Pink Floyd with "Another Brick In The Wall" but that was about it. I was neck deep in R&B and soul music until "Miami Vice" opened me up to another musical world. Phil Collins' "In The Air Tonight" blew me away and I raced headlong into rock and pop.

The one genre that had practically no representation in my musical worlds though was country. While my grandparents tried to introduce me to Ray Charles and Charlie Pride I really wasn't trying to hear what they had to say. I was too busy rocking out to Prince, Mazarati and their one hit "100 MPH", The Time, Metallica, Guns N Roses, Depeche Mode, and even George Michael.

Recently someone said that I should take a listen to Johnny Cash because they thought I would really like his stuff. I laughed at the idea until I heard his remakes of Nine Inch Nails song "Hurt" and Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus". I suddenly sat up and took a listen and what I heard was "God's Gonna Cut You Down".

The Man in Black sings a song of warning to those that feel they can keep living a life of comfort, excess, or sin by letting them know that no matter what, God will have the last word. Lyricall it's a serious song back by a haunting guitar, foot stomps, and hand claps which gives you the impression the song was recorded in church and the congregation joined in. Now the song is currently the backing music in the new Jeep Grand Cherokee commercial but that doesn't lessen it's impact. Take a listen and tell me if you think I'm wrong.