God's Gonna Cut You Down

"God's Gonna Cut You Down" (also known as "God Almighty's Gonna Cut You Down", "God's Gonna Cut 'Em Down", "Run On" and "Sermon") is atraditional American folk song.The track has been recorded in a variety of genres, includingcountry,folk,alternative rock,electronicandblack metal.The lyrics warn evildoers that they cannot avoidGod's eventual judgment.
As "Run On For A Long Time", it was released in 1949 byBill Landford & The Landfordaires.As "God's Gonna Cut You Down", it was performed byOdettaonOdetta Sings Ballads and Blues(1956), andJohnny Cashon the posthumously releasedAmerican V: A Hundred Highways(2006).Marilyn Mansonalso used this title for a non-album single in 2019.As "Run On", it has been recorded byElvis PresleyandTom Jones, andthe Blind Boys of Alabama.  The song has been covered by many other artists.
"Run On" is a remix of the version by Bill Landford and the Landfordairs, by AmericanelectronicamusicianMoby. It was released as the second single from his fifthstudio albumPlayon April 26, 1999.
Recorded by Moby for his fifth studio albumPlay, "Run On" features samples from "Run On for a Long Time", a 1949 recording by Bill Landford and the Landfordairs of the traditionalfolkhymn "God's Gonna Cut You Down", which make up the song's vocal content.Moby was unaware of the original hymn's considerable popularity incountryandgospelmusic as astandardwhile recording the song.He later recalled that "Run On" was "really hard to put together, because it has so many samples in it. I didn't use computers at this point, it was all done with stand-alone samplers. When it was finished, I collapsed in exhaustion."
The music video for "Run On" was directed byMike Mills.Mills' video depicts Moby working at an office whose employees all wear white. A flashback is then shown involving a workout instructor who faints while teaching a class; Moby then arrives and puts an inhaler in her mouth, reviving her. The video proceeds through subsequent flashbacks to explain the entire plot: the office Moby works in isheaven, the instructor is self-conscious and unsure of her capabilities, and heaven is a self-help phone line. Towards the end of the video, Moby is seen dead in a parking lot, with a man checking his pulse. The video concludes similarly to the opening scene, with Moby working in an office while still living, only everyone is unkind and emotionally distant.
Johnny Cashrecorded a version of "God's Gonna Cut You Down" onAmerican V: A Hundred Highwaysin 2003, with an arrangement quite different from most known gospel versions of the song.As of January 2016, this version of the song sold 672,000 copies in the United States.
Amusic video, directed byTony Kaye,was made for this version in late 2006, three years after Cash's death. The video was shot entirely inblack and whiteand features a number of celebrities:David Allan Coe,Patricia Arquette,Travis Barker,Peter Blake,Bono,Sheryl Crow,Johnny Depp, the Dixie Chicks (now known asThe Chicks),Flea,Billy Gibbons,Whoopi Goldberg,Woody Harrelson,Dennis Hopper,Terrence Howard,Jay-Z,Mick Jones,Kid Rock,Anthony Kiedis,Kris Kristofferson,Amy Lee,Tommy Lee,Adam Levine,Shelby Lynne,Chris Martin,Kate Moss,Graham Nash,Iggy Pop,Lisa Marie Presley,Q-Tip,Corinne Bailey Rae,Keith Richards,Chris Rock,Rick Rubin,Patti Smith,Sharon Stone,Justin Timberlake,Kanye West,Brian Wilson, andOwen Wilson.
This version has appeared in theFoxseriesGotham, during the episode titled "What the Little Bird Told Him".It also featured in the season three episode ofNBCseriesThe Blacklist, "The Director: Conclusion", and in theCBCseriesRepublic of Doyle, where it closed episode 10 of season 2, "The Special Detective".It is also the close-out song for the Australian road trip mini-seriesWanted.
Marilyn Mansonrecorded a cover version of the track during sessions for their tenth studio album,Heaven Upside Down, which was released in 2017.They performed the song live several times during that album'ssupporting concert tour.Their studio version of the track first appeared on theEthan Hawkefilm24 Hours to Live,the soundtrack of which was issued viaVarèse Sarabandeon December 8, 2017.The song was then released as a standalonedigital downloadandstreamingsingleon October 18, 2019, in tandem with a tour by the band.A vinylpicture discwas released on December 13, 2019, and limited to 3,000 copies worldwide.The vinyl single features one of Manson'swatercolorpaintings as its artwork.
A music video directed by Tim Mattia, who previously directed the video for theBorn Villaintrack "Hey, Cruel World...",was filmed inJoshua Tree, Californiaand was also released on October 18.The track peaked at number eight onHot Rock Songsand at number one onRock Digital Songs—the band's highest peak on either chart.