The two videos linked below present Johnny Cash’s haunting and soul-searching rendition of the folk song, God’s Gonna Cut You Down. Cash presents the song as more of a sermon warning sinners that there’s a limit to their evil and that their Day of Reckoning is coming.
You can run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Sooner or later God’ll cut you down
Sooner or later God’ll cut you down
The first video features a montage of some of American’s most notorious murderers and gangsters along with some Dust Bowl Era images. The compiler of this video did a great job with images of people fleeing the Midwest during the Great Depression.
The second video features clips of several celebrities (see list), with some of them lip-syncing the lyrics that Cash is singing. Featuring celebrities in the music video could suggest that “God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” No evil doer is exempt. No matter how marvelous they look or how important they think they are sooner or later God’ll cut ’em down.
Well, you may throw your rock and hide your hand
Workin’ in the dark against your fellow man
But as sure as God made black and white
What’s down in the dark will be brought to the light
List of Celebrities: time they appear and who the are.
0:00 Rick Rubin 0:11 Iggy Pop 0:17 Kanye West 0:21 Chris Martin 0:26 Kris Kristofferson 0:30 Patti Smith 0:34 Terence Howard 0:41 Flea 0:46 Q-Tip 0:48 Adam Levine 0:53 Chris Rock 0:56 Justin Timberlake 1:01 Kate Moss 1:05 Peter Blake 1:08 Sheryl Crow 1:11 Denis Hopper 1:16 Woody Harrelson 1:19 Amy Lee 1:25 Tommy Lee 1:28 Emily Robison 1:29 Natalie Maines 1:30 Martie Maguire 1:31 Mick Jones 1:33 Sharon Stone 1:37 Bono 1:41 Shelby Lynne 1:48 Anthony Kiedis 1:50 Travis Barker 1:52 Lisa Marie Presley 1:56 Kid Rock 2:00 Jay Z 2:05 Keith Richards 2:11 Billy Gibbons 2:13 Corinne Bailey Rae 2:15 Johnny Depp 2:21 Graham Nash 2:24 Brian Wilson 2:37 Rick Rubin and Owen Wilson
THE MILLSTONE DIARIES 