The Moment Trent Reznor Heard Johnny Cash’s “Hurt”, He Knew It Was No Longer His Song

Johnny Cash might be a commercial symbol of country music, but he is also a symbol of pure pathos in the world of songwriting. Both through his original works and covers, Cash brought a level of sentimentality to country music that only a few musicians since have been able to accomplish. He did so on countless tracks, but the one that just might prove to be the most gut-wrenching and soul-piercing is his cover of “Hurt”.

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A lot of people know that Johnny Cash’s 2002 single “Hurt” is a cover of Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails‘ original 1994 rendition. Though if you don’t know that, then it isn’t much of a surprise, as this is a fact that is often lost upon country music fans. And that is because when Johnny Cash recorded it, he essentially made it his own track, and Reznor agrees.

Great Artists Respect Great Art: Why Reznor Gave Ownership to Johnny Cash

Now, Johnny Cash nor his estate owns the rights to “Hurt”. However, in a colloquial and subtextual sense, he does. Trent Reznor attested to that fact in a 2004 interview with The Alternative Press, two years after Cash’s version was released. In the interview, Reznor stated, “That song in particular was straight from my soul, and it felt very strange hearing the highly identifiable voice of Johnny Cash singing it.”

Reznor added, “A videotape shows up with Mark Romanek’s video on it. It’s morning … I pop the video in, and… wow. Tears welling, silence, goose-bumps… Wow. I just lost my girlfriend, because that song isn’t mine anymore. Then it all made sense to me. It really made me think about how powerful music is as a medium and art form.”

“I wrote some words and music in my bedroom as a way of staying sane, about a bleak and desperate place I was in, totally isolated and alone. Some-f—ng-how that winds up reinterpreted by a music legend from a radically different era/genre and still retains sincerity and meaning – different, but every bit as pure,” concluded Trent Reznor per The Alternative Press, via NINHOTLINE.

Reznor could not be more right in his comments, on every front that is. After Cash covered the song, it was no longer his. Though, regardless, Johnny Cash’s rendition attests to the relativity in the human condition through music. As both songs could not differ more sonically, but still resonate with listeners lyrically and emotionally.

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