Hurt
Original by Trent Reznor / Nine Inch Nails, Cover by Johnny Cash
I would guess most people today know the song Hurt as the version by Johnny Cash. Cash recorded the song in 2002 for his album American IV: The Man Come Around, which has sold millions of copies worldwide and peaked at #2 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. Cash was introduced to the song by Rick Ruben, who produced the album, but he wasn’t initially sold on the idea of recording Hurt.
Hurt was originally written and recorded by Trent Reznor in 1994 for his band’s, Nine Inch Nails, second album Downward Spiral. It’s a song of depression, addiction, self-harm, combined with Reznor’s industrial rock production style. Not exactly a song that would naturally resonate with Johnny Cash and his fans. But Rick Ruben convinced Cash to read the lyrics and told him they would find a way to record it that suits Cash’s style.
Of course Cash, being the legendary artist that he was, interpreted the lyrics in a way that reflected his own life. He performed the song as a man at the end of his life, reflecting on how it might have been different. And he was at the end of his life when he recorded the song as he died the following year.
Although Cash’s recording of the song stands as one of the greatest covers of all time, the music video for the song had as much or more to do with its success as a hit. Director Mark Romanek filmed Cash performing the song in the House Of Cash museum, which was damaged in a flood and had been closed for years when the video was made. That backdrop, combined with archive footage of Cash, added to the intimacy of the song in an exponential way.
Some fans were attracted to the song as fans of its earlier release by Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails. Some fans were just fans of Johnny Cash, the Man In Black. Some fans discovered the song by seeing the video for the first time and being awestruck by the rawness of emotion.
What’s fascinating to me is how a song can be performed by two different artists, delivering that emotion from two completely separate places, and both versions can resonate strongly with the listener. It really shows the power of a great song.
Even Trent Reznor said that after he watched the video of Cash’s version, he felt the song wasn’t his anymore. Johnny Cash had taken the song and made it his own. That is the definition of a truly great cover.
