“A big cry”: Josh Homme picks the only artist to cover songs better than the original
The world of cover artistry is relatively murky. Swiftly associated with the world of X-factor, pub karaoke and cruise-ship entertainment, it’s not exactly steeped in legacy. But between the cracks of cookie-cutter entertainment are some nuanced takes on modern classics. Heck, even one of music’s original contrarians, Johnny Cash, released a catalogue with Rick Rubin as his producer. Talk about a waste of creative possibility.
Or was it? When the pair stepped into Rubin’s iconic Shangri La studios for what was merely a speculative creative meeting at that point, Rubin was was confronted with somewhat dejected Cash. Devoid of any ideas, he was facing a crossroads where the decision of how his next record might sound could make or break what should be the swansong of his career.
After being dropped from his label of thirty years, CBS, Cash met Rubin sceptically for the producer’s career was trailblazing, yes, but mainly in the spectra of punk-rock and hip-hop. They quickly forged a strong relationship, and Rubin promised Cash nearly full creative control. In the early stages discussing what this record might be, Rubin told Cash: “I would like you to do whatever feels right for you”. Cash’s immediate response was to record without any accompanying musicians.
In 2009, Rubin further explained how the friendship flourished: “Sitting and talking and playing music… that was when we got to build up a friendship”. He then recalled: “My fondest memories are just of hanging out and hearing his stories. He didn’t speak much but, if you drew him out, he seemed to know everything. He was shy and quiet but a wise, wise man.”
What followed was a string of records that saw Cash put his own twist on modern classics. It is the version of Nine Inch Nails’ ‘Hurt’ and is still regarded as one of his most recognisable musical moments, despite not being an original work.
The songs original writer Trent Reznor spoke of the cover, telling The Sun: “I listened to it and it was very strange. It was this other person inhabiting my most personal song” he continued, “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.”
He later added in the interview, “I have goosebumps right now thinking about it. Having Johnny Cash, one of the greatest singer-songwriters of all time, want to cover your song, that’s something that matters to me. It’s not so much what other people think but the fact that this guy felt that it was worthy of interpreting”.
Reznor finished by saying, “He said afterwards it was a song that sounds like one he would have written in the ’60s, and that’s wonderful”.
It was another cover that resonated deeply with desert rock legend Josh Homme. In a 2003 interview with Rolling Stone, Homme said ”Johnny Cash. He’s the only guy who covers songs better than the original. Man, did you hear him do [U2’s] “One” on his last record? I almost broke down and had a big cry”.
Perhaps the irony of Cash’s greatness is that if he performed it in one of the settings I said are so inextricably linked to the idea of a cover, he’d probably be laughed at. And therein lies his biggest compliment, cementing his place as a true representation of authentic art.
