Nick Cave reflects on meeting his hero Johnny Cash: “The man I’d admired for so long”
Australian singer-songwriter Nick Cave has recalled meeting Johnny Cash in 2000, when the legendary country artist recorded a cover of ‘The Mercy Seat’.
The track in question was initially released by Cave and his band, The Bad Seeds, in 1988, when it appeared on their fifth album, Tender Prey. While the song became one of the most beloved in his back catalogue, it took on a new life when Cash lent his legendary voice to a version of ‘The Mercy Seat’ in 2000.
The cover appeared on his album, American III: Solitary Man, which was part of his series of American Recordings LPs that Cash made in collaboration with producer Rick Rubin. The record featured 14 covers, also including his takes on classic tracks such as Tom Petty’s ‘I Won’t Back Down’ and ‘One’ by U2.
“Johnny Cash is my hero,” Cave said during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on August 13th before reflecting on the encounter.
At the time, Cash was seriously ill after being diagnosed with Shy–Drager syndrome in 1997, but he remained fiercely committed to his artistic career. “When I got there quite early at the studio and when he arrived, he was not well at all. He was a sort of terrifying apparition of a man,” Cave said of Cash’s health issues.
He further detailed: “Look, you know, I’ve had the flu, I’ve had laryngitis, I have no voice. I’ve never asked Jesus for anything, but I had to perform with you today. Last night I dropped down on my knees and I said, ‘Jesus, I got to sing with Nick. Give me back my voice.’”
Despite Cash’s frailty, he somehow burst into life once he stepped into the recording booth, with Cave recalling, “He transformed from this sort of suffering individual into something really extraordinary, literally before my eyes.”
Cave concluded: “It was as if all the frailty melted away, leaving only the essence of the man I’d admired for so long.”
While Cash passed away in 2003, his legacy continues to live on through artists such as Cave, who was brought up watching The Johnny Cash Show on television. Furthermore, the memory of their brief encounter will live with him until he draws his final breath.
Meanwhile, Cave is preparing to release his new album with The Bad Seeds, Wild God, on August 30th, which he described to Colbert as a joyful, uplifting kind of record.” Referencing the death of two of his sons, Cave added, “This record is some years on from events that happened in my life that sort of required my music to be different in a way.”
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