Hear the mesmeric isolated vocals of Johnny Cash on ‘Hurt’
Cover songs are a double-edged sword. One side of the blade is a rather blunt affair, comprised of awkward performances from pub bands who attempt to perform the songs of their heroes in an attempt to gain a modicum of gravitas. The other side is a simply spellbinding concoction of heartfelt originality and creative impunity meeting pure and unadulterated passion. We are focusing on one of these covers, these triumphs over logic, today via Johnny Cash.
Cash is one of the most influential country music stars of all time. Although the singer-songwriter was never happy to stick to one side of the creative road, he used his iconic vocal to sing songs from across the musical spectrum and always managed to make music not only sound exactly like the beating heart of his own character but thud with the same intensity of his soul. It was a unique skill that defied the logic of “original means best”.
Considered to be quite possibly the greatest cover of all time, Johnny Cash’s cover of Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails’ song ‘Hurt’ will go down in history as one of music’s more beautiful stories of fated kismet. Famed producer Rick Rubin put forward the song as part of Cash’s American Recordings releases. Looking back two decades on and it is easy to see the match made in heaven. However, that wasn’t always the case.
Letting the country star take on the effort was originally a worry for Reznor. Speaking with Music Radar, he said: “I’d been friends with Rick Rubin for several years. He called me to ask how I’d feel if Johnny Cash covered ‘Hurt’. I said I’d be very flattered but was given no indication it would actually be recorded.
“Two weeks went by. Then I got a CD in the post. I listened to it, and it was very strange. It was this other person inhabiting my most personal song. I’d known where I was when I wrote it. I know what I was thinking about. I know how I felt. Hearing it was like someone kissing your girlfriend. It felt invasive.”
But as soon as Reznor saw the poignant video and the striking sentiment behind the cover, things changed: “It really, really made sense, and I thought what a powerful piece of art. I never got to meet Johnny, but I’m happy I contributed the way I did. It felt like a warm hug. For anyone who hasn’t seen it, I highly recommend checking it out. I have goosebumps right now thinking about it.”
The video saw Cash sitting in the museum ‘The House of Cash’ singing the reflective song while clips of his past are flashed on the screen. It sees the legendary performer standing in front of his audience for one final time. However, it is the vocal performance of Cash that we’re focusing on today, reminding ourselves of the powerful timber he delivered to ever song he sang.
The words may be from the mind of Trent Reznor, but with Johnny Cash on vocal, he quickly asserts them as his own. Deep, melodic, poetic and purposeful, through the isolated track, we get to hear the intense vulnerability and noble humility that Cash imbues the cover with all the more clearly.
