<P> "I Hung My Head" is a song written by the singer - songwriter Sting and released on the 1996 album Mercury Falling . It reflects Sting's childhood fondness for TV Westerns, as well as his avowed interest in Country music, but also tackles deeper and more philosophical themes of life and death, justice and redemption . In 2002, Johnny Cash covered the song in the album American IV: The Man Comes Around . Sting re-recorded the song in an orchestral version for his 2010 album Symphonicities . </P> <P> It tells the story of a boy who shoots a man, the resulting shame, and the consequences he faces . </P>

Who wrote the song i hung my head