On the subject of nonstop 4AM text messages.

I can't believe it's taken me so long to realize how well this song sums up (the most significant relationships of) the last ten years of my life.

...and I guess that you dialed my number
because you thought for sure that I'd agree
I said baby, you know I still love you
but how dare you complain to me...

This.

Big iron on his hip.

When I was driving home from The Dark Knight, I was thinking about songs that feature a mysterious man, usually dressed in black, who travels around and either metes out justice or wreaks havoc. Sometimes he does both. Sometimes it seems as if the man is Death, sometimes he may be God or Jesus, and sometimes he is Mephistopheles. Sometimes it's explicit who the man is and sometimes it's left hidden. In addition, many times these songs are full of literary references, like "When The Man Comes Around," which begins and ends with Bible verses. I read an excellent piece a few days ago on Dylan's "Man in the Long Black Coat" (covered below by Joan Osborne) that draws parallels between the lyrics and Nathaniel Hawthorne's novels.

I think there's a long list of songs that can be categorized like this. "Sympathy For The Devil" would be one, I suppose, but I think as a song from the point of view of the mysterious stranger, it's outnumbered by songs that are about him. It's hard to google for this sort of thing, because "man in black" just brings up Cash, whom as you'll see below was no stranger to this type of song himself. Googling "men in black" just brings up crap. Then I get distracted thinking about this kind of character in say, literature and I start thinking about "A Good Man Is Hard To Find" and then "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" And that's before I start thinking about black hats in westerns and before I start debating with myself over whether Patti Scialfa's "Stumbling To Bethlehem" fits, because of the line, "Now there’s this man on the corner in a long black sweater saying 'sinners they will burn forever.'" (Either way, it's a great song and I recommend it.)

So here are a few songs featuring men in black, none of which are done by Will Smith:

Johnny Cash--When The Man Comes Around (Lyrics)

Johnny Cash--God's Gonna Cut You Down (Lyrics)

Nick Cave--Red Right Hand (Lyrics)

Joan Osbourne--Man in the Long Black Coat (Lyrics)

And one for Heath:

Tom Petty--Wildflowers (Lyrics)

I'd also be interested in any songs you can think of that fit.