Posted on 10/27/2022 3:21:22 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The song appeared on Cash’s 2002 album, ‘American IV: The Man Comes Around.’
Rick Rubin was interviewed on October 23 by Lauren Larverne for BBC Radio’s “Desert Island Discs” show, and during their chat he revealed how he got Johnny Cash to record Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt” for his 2002 farewell album, American IV: The Man Comes Around.
Shop the best of Johnny Cash’s discography on vinyl and more.
According to Rubin, when he first suggested the cover, “Johnny looked at me like I was insane.” He adds, “The Nine Inch Nails version of the song is very noisy, aggressive. Johnny was wary,” Rubin said, though Cash would agree in the end. “I think I did a demo where I had a guitar player play it, and I said the words the way I imagined [Johnny] saying it, and then when he heard the lyrics, and he heard the format of what it could be, he said, ‘Let’s try it.’”
Later in the conversation, Rubin adds, “I thought of the image of Johnny Cash as the mythical Man in Black, and any song he sang had to suit this mythical Man in Black. And one of the ones that seemed to have resonated with people after we did it was ‘Hurt.’ If you listen to the words, it’s like looking back over a life of regret and remorse.”
For his part, Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor was also as skeptical of the ideas as Johnny Cash was. He recounted the tale to Alternative Press in 2004. “Rick Rubin has been a friend for a long time, and he called me asking how I felt about Johnny covering ‘Hurt.’ I was flattered, but frankly, the idea sounded a bit gimmicky to me. … A few weeks later, a CD shows up with the track. … It sounded… weird to me. That song in particular was straight from my soul, and it felt very strange hearing the highly identifiable voice of Johnny Cash singing it.” Once Reznor saw the video, however, he was convinced of the new version’s power.
The Pointer Sister’s also gave him a #2 with Fire, the song he wrote for Elvis Presley.
Yeah, but Elmer Fudd made it his own.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vT-VaMXsAw
Reminds me of the needle and the damage done. -Young.
5.56mm
Extremely powerful video.
What VM song was it a ripoff of?
Saw Van in San Diego last year. He put on a great show.
Which Van song?
Clark then said: ‘ I don’t do that song any more since that other guy ruined it. But I sure did like cashing those royalty checks.
A young 20-something reacts and is overcome with emotion
Johnny Cash “Hurt” REACTION & ANALYSIS by Vocal Coach/Opera Singer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B2zFAHS628
I vehemently disagree, Trent Reznor is one of the most diverse rocker/musicians that I have seen in my 60 plus years . Been into music since 6th grade...that would be around 1971/1972...Trent is all over the different genre’s and tours constantly....his money was made a long time ago ...he works because he enjoys it and has total control just as he did on pretty hate Machine(first album he did everything.)
Michelle Kwan Figure Skating at the Salt Lake City Olympics
Fantastic choreography. And to think that she didn't win the gold medal ...
Great cover. Sting just doesn’t capture the emotion of the song, while Eva’s beautiful voice does. It’s a completely different experience.
I miss Lynyrd Skynrd and Joplin.
I also like Manfred Mann’s cover of “I Came For You,” which I believe is also written by Springsteen.
I didn’t like it that much
Though it was powerful it felt exploitative
Speaking of which
The left exploits Cash like they own him
And not per his wishes I don’t think
I live here
East Nashville and Sylvan park
Leftists nests here for years sported Cash black bumper stickers after his death
Prine too
Waylon …,not so much
Country music execs and management now is mostly lefties
The worm has turned
Thanks for linking TCV. I love about everything Elizabeth does!
Bruce’s weakness was a lack of creativity in the arrangement of his songs. It was all to simplistic, as a lot of folk music can be. Manfred Mann changed up the arrangement on Bruce’s songs in a way that gave them energy and dimension that was beyond Springsteen’s narrow imagination (and vocal range).
Can’t be that bad, when your girlfriend cheats on you, she doesn’t ordinarily send you a royalty payment every month. Having Johnny Cash cover a tune you’ve written and published must have been a nice deal!
I liked it when I got it, but was a little embarrassed. It seemed a little schlocky and over-wrought at the time. Still, one dude made the whole album.
Saw NIN open for Jesus and Mary Chain at the Georgia Theatre Awesome show.
I’m probably going to write way too much, but for this DMA who’s been pushing classical music for the past 45 years, Johnny Cash’s “Hurt” video has been an exceptionally powerful artwork to me in different times.
First, my father died in 1996. He was an old country junkie: Hank Williams Sr., Conway Twitty, Ed Ames, and of course Cash. In my music studies I went from rock to fusion to jazz to classical to medieval, but avoided country because I didn’t want to be Okie like my dad. But when Cash’s “Hurt” came out in 2002, for the first time in my life I could hear what my father had heard in all those country 45s he had collected; I wanted to tell him, but it was six years too late. Whenever appropriate, I have used the video in my music courses ever since.
The second time was two years ago, when my wife passed away after years of debilitating MS, exacerbated by COVID and ending with liver failure. Driving to the crematorium to obtain her remains, I turned on the radio which landed on a country channel, and they started playing “Hurt.” It got to the lyrics
What have I become, my sweetest friend?
Everyone I know goes away in the end
And I had to pull over from bursting into tears. It was the last time my grief poured out; the grief didn’t go away, but the song had broken the dam and let out the worst.
And then there was...yesterday. I have been attempting to move on with my life, with someone I loved, who said she loved me, and we talked about marriage and being together for the rest of our lives. A few weeks ago, without warning she left and went over 1000 miles away, with a man she had just met the day before, and it has been very painful. Yesterday was when I was preparing for “Hurt” in my course, and once again I heard the lyric
You could have it all, my empire of dirt:
I will let you down, I will make you hurt
And once again it broke the dam. No piece of classical music, no piece of jazz music has ever moved me when I needed moving as this one has.
I wouldn’t have written any of this if the thread hadn’t been posted, but I can say nothing but thank you to Rubin and Cash, for bringing me back to my father, saying goodbye to my wife, and once again working through the pain of betrayal that all people experience because they are people. We come here on FR to try to save our country, to try to keep freedom, but at the same time we have to keep ourselves alive, by living, through happiness and pain, through joy and grief.
I am sorry about your wife. And I am sorry that other woman did that in such a cruel way. I guess she proved herself unworthy, but it’s still a punch in the gut. That’s why we need art.
Cash’s “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” and “Going By The Book” were poignant also. They have the same impact upon listeners as they grab you with the message.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.