Is 'The Man In Black' back, y'all?
Cleverly constructed from the titles of various Johnny Cash originals with lyrics like "My woman wears a long black veil because I always like to walk the line/I'm gonna take her out tonight I'm goin' to Jackson/We're gonna fall into that ring of fire" and "I don't want those Fulsome Prison blues/I won't take my guns to town tonight if you don't call me a boy named Sue", Alabama 3 achieve a sound here that is light enough to appeal to a cross section of the music community. It does not try to be too seriously country in its style and the catchy tune has the kind of hook that will leave you tapping or singing along to it without realising that you're doing so. This is, of course, all enhanced by vocals that are spooky in their similarity to the man himself and therein lays the root of the probable success for this one because, let's face it, that man could growl out a song. Unfortunately, that is all you get- nothing more than a nice little tune without any real direction or statement.
This is the type of single that if released just before Christmas would easily make the top twenty or better. It is also, strangely enough, the kind of number that could become an underground hit. However, for a song that relies so heavily on the work and sound of a truly great musician it doesn't do him justice.