The rock classic Johnny Cash called the most “evangelical” song ever
There has always been a bit of a spiritual side to every one of Johnny Cash’s tunes. For all of the dark tunes that he sang about being on the wrong side of the tracks, he was also just as willing to talk about his struggles with faith, either calling on God to help him or turning towards making gospel records at certain points in his career. Given that he sang songs that were meant to be performed in a church, it’s strange how the most spiritual song for him came from Depeche Mode.
Considering his age, though, no one would have been shocked if Cash never made music past the 1980s. Given how embarrassing some of his other material had been over the past few years, his playing in the supergroup The Highwaymen felt like as good a time as any for Cash to close the book on his recording days, settling into middle age and maybe playing the odd show here and there.
Not in Rick Rubin’s eyes, though. Cash was much more important than that, and he was going to give him the comeback he thought he deserved. Coming up with the album American Recordings, Cash suddenly became a far more compelling presence for a new generation. Deep in the alternative revolution, the album was a reminder of the kind of dark songsmith Cash could be at the best of times, which actually fit right in next to the dark sounds of alternative hard rock.
Although Cash still had his fair share of country songs laced throughout his albums, he also could afford to take a few cues from the new kids in town. No one may have expected an artist of his calibre to make a song like ‘Rusty Cage’ by Soundgarden, but when you play it in a different key and put a shuffling beat behind it, it feels like Chris Cornell inadvertently wrote it for ‘The Man in Black’.
When assembling material for what would be the final release of his lifetime, American IV, Rubin suggested working on even more classic rock songs. After making brilliant versions of songs by the Eagles and The Beatles, Cash said that covering Depeche Mode’s ‘Personal Jesus’ was one of his greatest spiritual moments in the studio.
While the same band that wrote songs like ‘Blasphemous Rumours’ was probably not going to be caught dead singing ‘Amazing Grace’ or ‘How Great Thou Art’, there is a bit of spiritual power behind the original. Complete with a barn-burning guitar lick, Dave Gahan sounds like he’s trying to channel an old blues singer half the time, calling back to the days before rock and roll even existed.
Discussing the material he worked on, Cash said that he thought that Gahan hit on something powerful here, telling Rick Rubin in the Studio, “That’s probably the most evangelical gospel song I ever recorded. I don’t know that the writer meant it to be that, but that’s what it is”. The song was also recorded incredibly fast, with Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante adding the acoustic guitar to the final mix.
Even if Gahan may have intended to critique religion when he originally wrote the song, Cash’s version proves that the composer isn’t always the boss. It’s about how the song is delivered, and as Cash sings this at the end of his life, it seems like he’s looking for some sort of comfort before he meets his maker.
