Hurt

Cover version of the month #13

Johnny Cash covers Nine Inch Nails - Hurt

I remember hearing this song and watching the video for the first time. It truly stopped me in my tracks - the feeling, the emotion, the soul, the pain....the hurt. It was written all over the faces of Johnny and June Cash, it was in Cash’s voice, trembling yet finding strength to sing the heartfelt lyrics.

The song is a cover version of Nine Inch Nails. Trent Reznor’s version conveys the same emotion, soul, passion and hurt. It is far from the industrial metal that Nine Inch Nails are more known for.

Hurt was originally released on the Nine Inch Nails album The Downward Spiral. It certainly fits in with that title, as Reznor takes a look at his life and of those around them; the self harm, the addiction, the desolate bleakness of it all.

The Cash version is breathtaking. The basic piano note being played over and over with increasing intensity is so simple yet so effective. The performance is simply spellbinding. 

American IV: The Man Comes Around was the fourth album in Cash’s American series - produced by Rick Rubin. There are plenty of covers, including stunning versions of Wichita Lineman and In My Life. Cash’s aged voice adds extra edge to lyrics like 

And I need you more than want you, and I want you for all time - from Wichita Lineman

But of all these friends and lovers, there is no-one compares with you - from In My Life

I hurt myself today

To see if I still feel

I focus on the pain

The only thing that’s real

The needle tears a hole

The old familiar sting

Try to kill it all away

But I remember everything

What have I become

My sweetest friend

Everyone I know goes away

In the end

And you could have it all

My empire of dirt

I will let you down

I will make you hurt

I wear this crown of thorns

Upon my liar’s chair

Full of broken thoughts

I cannot repair

Beneath the stains of time

The feelings disappear

You are someone else

I am still right here

What have I become

My sweetest friend

Everyone I know goes away

In the end

And you could have it all

My empire of dirt

I will let you down

I will make you hurt

If I could start again

A million miles away

I would keep myself

I would find a way

Previous covers of the month

1. You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' 

2. Going Back To My Roots

3. Nirvana play The Vaselines

4. Slip Inside This House

5. Top 10 covers by Teenage Fanclub

6. Only Love Can Break Your Heart

7. Time For Livin' 
8. Sound and Vision 
9. All Along The Watchtower
10. I Am The Walrus 
11. Guiding Star
12. You’ll Never Walk Alone