There were times when his voice sounded broken. He was at a time where his health was failing, and I tried to pick songs that made sense lyrically for the way his voice was sounding. It’s an acoustic song, so it was recorded as a smaller acoustic song than it ended up becoming, and through overdubs, we built all the drama that’s in the song to support the power of the words and the way Johnny was delivering them. He listened to it with the lyrics sheet and said, “If you feel strongly about this, we can try it.” We recorded at my house in Los Angeles.

If you like the lyrics, then we’ll find a way to do it that will suit you.” So I sent him the lyrics, and I said, “Just read the lyrics.

Because of the way the Nine Inch Nails song sounds, I think it was hard for him to hear it. But I had a strong feeling about it, so on the next compilation, I included that one again. There were maybe 20 songs including that one on the mix I made, and it wasn’t one that he responded to. Johnny and I would make collections of songs as possible covers for him to sing, and we’d send them to each other. The music video becomes even more harrowing when one realises that June Carter Cash, Johnny’s wife, died only three months after it was made, and that the house it was filmed in (the Cash residence for 30 years) later burned down. Cash saw it hit #33 on the Billboard “Alternative Songs” chart, and #56 on its Hot Country Charts, 48 years after his Cry! Cry! Cry! first hit the US Country chart. It was the last single released by Cash before his death in September 2003. The song was released as a single in March 2003, along with “Personal Jesus,” a Depeche Mode cover. 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. 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.

I just lost my girlfriend, because that song isn’t mine anymore… It really made me think about how powerful music is as a medium and art form. Tears welling, silence, goose-bumps… Wow. When Trent Reznor was asked if the song could be covered he said he was:įlattered the idea sounded a bit gimmicky. The song was recommended to Cash by legendary producer, Rick Rubin, who produced Johnny Cash’s American series (and released them on his label American Recordings). Johnny decided to change just one line, possibly reflecting his Christian faith. This song, originally written and performed by Nine Inch Nails, is of disputed meaning: is it about self harm, doing heroin, or both? Either way, no matter if it reflects Cash’s addiction issues, or suicidal thoughts, it’s one of Cash’s classics.

Animal i have become mp3