Is "Hurt" Johnny Cash's best song?

No. It's really good but you should listen to his early stuff.

It may not be his best song, but like the Tom Jones / Art of Noise version of “Kiss” it’s a cover that surpasses the original; because of the associations the older artist brings to the newer material, and because they can really fucking sing.

Were You There

9 inch nails did it first and better.

The original version is amazing, but Johnny Cash changed it from a dirty song to a sad one. I'm with you, OP.

It's not even his song.

It' so funny when the younguns 'discover' musicians with decades of songs and only know their later/last works.

Ring of Fire was his best song.

[quote]9 inch nails did it first and better.

Trent Reznor considered it to be Cash’s song after seeing his video, not his anymore.

Yeah, but I'd bet he gets some royalties from it anyway.

Cash version is the better version.

I think this one of the songs where the remake is better than the original. The original is pretty damn good too.

No.

R4: Not according Trent Reznor.

I remember hearing that the song is the winner of best country song at the CMA's that receive less airplay, but you can't expect good taste of the average country music listener

I agree, the Cash' version is much better than the original, mainly because he it's full of emotion. The fact he was very sick at the time makes it even more haunting. I like God's Gonna Cut You Down, also.

Do you know Johnny Cash wrote his own songs, too, OP?

And, uh, no, R2. Prince's version is classic.

I do think this cover beats the original but I also think that Johnny had some better songs, like Ring of Fire.

Its a heartbreaking song. The way he sings it is so human, humble, and filled with agony and contrition. It’s very religious, but darkly so, which “contemporary Christian” music doesn’t touch upon—the pain of being alive, facing death, and taking a moral inventory. There will never be another Johnny Cash...I miss him.

Yet again, the genius contributions of Rick Rubin are ignored. It was Rick who decided to revive Johnny's career by asking him to record a cover of Hurt.

The recording itself is far from "under-appreciated" considering that it revived Cash's career, sold a ton of copies, and won an armful of awards.

And yes, the NIN version is the superior version.

Who had the better version of "I Won't Back Down?" Tom Petty seem amused that the U.S. Army wasn't interested in his version of his son, preferring Cash's rendition.

NIN’s “Hurt” and Prince’s “Kiss” are fantastic, classic songs - but they also fit squarely into the sound and style of what those artists were doing musically at that time - and that’s not a criticism; both artists were at a creative peak.

What Jones and especially Cash along with their producers / collaborators did was take brilliant songs that were already incredibly well known and completely re-imagine them - they are shockingly different covers that equal or surpass the originals -with additional emotional depth or brazen sexual bravado and fantastic vocals - that’s a rare artistic achievement.

Cash version is iconic.

NIN version is forgotten.

Trent sings it from the perspective of a son, JC from the perspective of a father. (At least, that's how they've always sounded to me.)

Cash understood pain and sorrow, all too well. Like Otis Retting when he heard Aretha sing "Respect", Reznor knew that he had lost his song when he heard Cash's version.

Love this version. It was at the very end of his life, his wife was dead, he was sick and you could tell he was ready to go. All the pain in his life came out in this song and in his voice.

"Hurt" is Timi Yuro's best song.......

Yes. It is.

R24 Yes, who could see that video and not wish for peace for him, to be with June and his family again, free of his pain.

Amazing cover but I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die...

His cover of Hurt is fantastic but his earlier songs are definitely worth checking out. Ring Of Fire is a personal fave.

His version of hurt makes me cry every time I hear it, instantly and in floods. I can't think of anything or anyone that does that to me.

Johnny Cash's biggest song was "A Boy Named Sue".

What is this fucking "underappreciated" shit? Over and over the OP of this kind of thing declares something "underappreciated" because they just discovered something or their few acquaintances don't know about it. I can take tunnel-vision enthusiasm from the ignorant, but pretending to know what other people have said without bothering to check is something to spit at.

"Rolling Stone": Second Greatest Cover, 2011

CMA Single of the Year, 2003

CMT Top Video, 2003

Grammy, Best Short-Form Video, 2004

MTV Video Music Award for Best Cinematography, 2003 (Timberlake got award for best performance and said in his acceptance Cash should have gotten it.)

Trent Reznor said the song didn't belong to him any more.

Yeah. Underappreciated.

It's the most affecting performance Cash gave, and I've listened to everything he recorded over the years. "Jackson" is the most fun, "Ring of Fire," "Folsom Prison Blues," "Sunday Morning Coming Down" and "Don't Take Your Guns to Town" and so many others are wonderful, and the more stripped-down the arrangements the better. But I'll take "I Walk the Line." Without the stink of Phoenix and Witheredpoon.

And R27: Mary! Just for the record, June was alive when it was done and appears in the video, and Cash said he enjoyed doing the song and making the video. It's a piece of performance, not an old man shitting himself over his travails.

I was friends with his Granddaughter. I remember when she got engaged to a black man and people were attacking her for it, saying her granddad would be rolling in his grave. She said you don’t know anything about my granddaddy if you think he would care about race.

I haven’t spoken to her in years. She seemed to go into hiding because of the reception. I wonder if they remained together or not

No, the original song is awful, and Johnny Cash's version is also awful.

I remember the 1st time I heard it I was eating at Texas Roadhouse ( Dont judge me! my mother loves it ) this came on the sound system and was was like "WTF?" and was very dismissive. A few days later I saw the video,and I cried . What a way to go out on a high note . Stunning video ,and his voice raked your emotions right over the coals.

It's a gorgeous song but Reznor singing it was a bit of a pose.

No pose whatsoever when Cash sang it.

For some reason, NINs' Hurt is a song that produces a lot of good covers. Even the amateur covers on YouTube are usually pretty good.

I wonder if it was this granddaughter who was insulted for wearing a mask in the grocery store.

It amazes me that so many MAGAts were completely clueless about Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson's politics, despite the content of their songs and, in Nelson's case, decades' long support for the Democratic party. They were shocked and incensed when Nelson played at a Beto fundraiser.

It's a beautiful song. Cash's version can make me cry.

Him and June died only 4 months apart. Maybe it really is true that when someone you really love dies that you can’t go on much longer.

R38 because in their small minds they were born and raised in the South and sing Country music so they MUST BE Republicans.

I saw Mr Cash perform live, with June Carter Cash and Mother Maybelle. I wasn't much of a country fan at the time, but they were something to see, especially the commanding man in black.

I'm a huge fan. Can't think of a favorite right now.

I Hung My Head is fantastic also

This is one of those instances were both the original and cover were great for very different reasons. I grew up with a mom who played Cash all the time, so of course I loved his rendition. But Reznor's was damn good too.

It's interesting how Reznor's relative youth and Cash's advanced age both play heavily as to why each version works so beautifully.

Love this song.

Sunday morning coming down...

God's Gonna Cut You Down

I was dating a guy who was older and didn't realize "Hurt" is a cover for Nine Inch Nails. Embarrassing. Even if Trent thought Johnny did it better. I disagree.

My favorite song by him

OP is still an idiot.

The best "hurt" songs are Hurts So Good (John Cougar Mellencamp), Everybody Hurts (REM), Hurts So Bad (Linda Ronstadt), and Do You Really Want to Hurt Me (Culture Club).

Love Hurts

In particular the "Hurt" video is a distillation of what Cash did best - draw on the passion and pain of his life and express it in his music. Even Trent Reznor was impressed with Cash's cover of the song. Like Aretha and "Respect", I think there may be many in future generations who identify the song with Cash and don't even realize it is a cover.

Both Johnny and June would die the same year that the video was made, and the video foreshadows it hauntingly.

Weird Al's parroty "Squirt" is a hoot. His smackdown of the video is epic.

"parroty"

[quote] It may not be his best song, but like the Tom Jones / Art of Noise version of “Kiss” it’s a cover that surpasses the original; because of the associations the older artist brings to the newer material, and because they can really fucking sing.

Tom Jones’ cover of “Kiss” is a fucking abomination.

OP are you clinically depressed or hoping to be?

I love this song, written by Kris Kristofferson, but I’ll always think of it as Johnny Cash’s song.

R55 needs to be maligned and ostracized forever and ever.

[quote] Weird Al's parroty

For. Ever!

Love Hurts...and Love Bites!!!

I'm a big fan of both Cash and Reznor in their own right, but I never understood the adoration of this cover. Cash just sounds like an old grandpa slowly singing a Gen X Reznor song. It's like karaoke at a retirement home. Cringe.

Darling Companion his duet with June. Hurt a close second.

Forgot the link

Cash made "Hurt". All the pain is evident. He was old and ready to die, the love of his life was dead and you can hear it in his voice.

Side Note: Reznor has had a very successful post-NIN career doing music for movies and TV, most recently HBO's Watchmen