"I Hung My Head" is a murder ballad written by the singer-songwriter Sting and released on the 1996 album Mercury Falling. In 2002, Johnny Cash covered the song in the album American IV: The Man Comes Around.
It tells the story of a man who accidentally kills someone, the resulting shame, and the consequences he faces.
The story is told from the point of view of a young man who takes his brother's rifle out onto the hill one morning. As a rider crosses the plain, the singer takes aim ("I drew a bead on him; to practice my aim.") The rifle goes off in his hands, killing the rider.
The man runs to the salt lands, throwing the rifle into a stream. (The Cash cover changes "salt lands" to "south lands", and "stream" to "sheen". Sting supposed the latter was due to a misprint in the lyrics Cash was using.[1]) He is discovered by a sheriff, and is struck by the realization of what he has done.
He is brought before a judge and jury, where he begs forgiveness and wishes he was dead.
Awaiting execution on the gallows, he sees as a "trick of the brain" the rider return, so that they will ride together "till kingdom come". The man prays to God for mercy.
The song is written in compound time 9/8[2] (2+2+3+2) and employs the use of syncopation throughout. In the Johnny Cash cover, the signature of the song was changed to standard 4/4.
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