Nine Inch Nails

Johnny Cash

The song "Hurt" written by Nine Inch Nails lead singer Trent Reznor and performed by the band in 1994 was redone by country music legend Johnny Cash in 2002. This Cash version of the song was the first time I had ever heard "Hurt" and after it played on the radio the disc jockey mention that the song was actually a cover of a NIN song. If you know who these two artists are and how different they are musically this probably shocked you as much as it did me. The late great Johnny Cash released this song along with one of the most moving music videos of all time. The release of the single and video came only a few weeks before the death of Cash's wife, June Carter Cash, and seemed to fit the emotions he may have been feeling after her death. The NIN version of the song was never released as a single, but was chosen by Cash nonetheless. Both versions of the song contain very similar tempo's and exactly the same lyrics, except for one word. In the NIN version Reznor sings "I wear this crown of shit," while Cash's version says "I wear this crown of thorns." Cash opting against profanity and possibly going for a religious reference. The most obvious and distinct difference in the two versions however are the tone of the singers. The 70 year old Cash sounds very tired and sad as he sings the song while the 30 year old Reznor sounds more angry than anything.