 The arrangement of the song is sparse (although not so much as in some of Cash's later compositions, such as "God's Gonna Cut You Down"); two guitars, piano (played in the bass register), and an electric organ.Of the album's fifteen tracks, only three were written by Cash, with "The Man Comes Around" the sole song specifically penned for it, and the only song Cash wrote in its entirety.The song was inspired by a dream Cash had about Queen Elizabeth II in which the queen compared Cash to "a thorn tree in a whirlwind."