3 Times Johnny Cash Turned Someone Else’s Song Into His Own Story

Johnny Cash’s list of covers is extensive. The Man in Black was just as powerful a song interpreter as he was a songwriter. From rock anthems to folk classics, he knew how to make a song his own, delivering many covers that arguably usurp the original. Revisit three of Cash’s best covers below that saw him turn someone else’s story into his own. Never has a cover sounded as innate as Cash’s. Cash didn’t just borrow these songs; he transformed them.

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“Hurt” — Nine Inch Nails

Cash’s most famous cover has to be his rendition of Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt.” Cash took this alt-rock classic and made it a country hit for his late-career album, American IV: The Man Comes Around. Cash somehow made this song sound even more right than the original, using his age and legacy to tell this story of pain and addiction.

“I hurt myself today / To see if I still feel / I focus on the pain / The only thing that’s real,” the lyrics to this iconic cover read. Nine Inch Nails obviously has the definitive version of this song, but Cash delivers an equally earnest rendition of this painful hit.  

“Bridge Over Troubled Water” — Simon & Garfunkel

[RELATED: On This Day in 1963, Johnny Cash Was in the Studio Recording a Major Hit Co-Written About Him by His Future Wife]

“Bridge Over Troubled Water” sounded devastating when Cash got his hands on it. Another late-career offering, Cash brings a wisdom to this song that a younger Simon & Garfunkel didn’t have. It sounds like much-needed advice given from a grandfather figure in Cash’s cover.

“When you’re down and out, / When you’re on the street, / When evening falls so hard will comfort you,” the lyrics read. Never has this song sounded so heartfelt and existential.

“I Won’t Back Down” — Tom Petty

Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down” is pretty much perfect. No one needed to cover this song, but if someone was going to, Cash was the perfect choice. This song isn’t far removed from Cash’s usual offerings. Sentiment-wise, it feels perfectly in line with Cash’s Man in Black persona.

“Well, I won’t back down / No, I won’t back down / You could stand me up at the gates of Hell / But I won’t back down,” Cash sings with total conviction. You’d be forgiven for thinking this song was written by Cash himself.

(Photo by Gai Terrell/Redferns)