9 thoughts on “Hurt”

  1. Cash’s version of that song took me down hard. Knowing he lived only a short time after June had died, make that song what it is. I rather listen to Nine Inch Nails than country music, but seeing that old man breaking apart while he sang that song took me down. I can’t listen to it when I’ve been drinking.

  2. I grew up listening to NIN as a teenager so have liked it for some time. But when I heard Johnny Cash sing it, man, that just took it all out of me. It took on a new meaning and feeling. It’s a rare cover that made the song feel so different than intended, and imo, better because of those feelings it brings out.

  3. Sometimes a song transcends into something impossible to explain upon having been covered by someone else. There are quite a few examples and i don’t think there is any better than this one (maybe Jeff Buckley with his render of “Hallelujah”). I will always remember watching and hearing that spot for the first time on MTV. I didn’t catch the beginning and I didn’t recognize the singer for at least 20 seconds… Voice made me realize that 96 years old man I am looking at was 70 years old Johnny Cash. Only then it got me what he sings. I think I cried. Still get that odd tickle down my throat when I hear the song.

    I don’t compare music, that’s silly business, but Reznor said it all. And I agree.

  5. Reznor made a concerted effort to evoke melancholy and despair. Cash just let it come naturally in less time and effort. It was as if the song was written more for Cash than for NIN.

  6. Always been a Cash fan, He took that song and didn’t make IT his own, he cut it down from 6:15 to 3:49 and a different feel, made A song of his own. Siblings but different.

    I guess Firesmith is lounging on a beach somewhere telling stories to girls in bikinis and their puppies.

  7. I Love both songs…. the NIN version though, reminds me of me of tough times during my youth…. My empire of dirt!

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