Today would have been Johnny Cash‘s 80th Birthday.
Johnny Cash will forever be one of the best artists in American History. His voice is second to none, the image he created was one of pure cool and the love story behind the man and June Carter-Cash is the stuff of legend.
Johnny was so good at cultivating his image that most people don’t know that he was never in prison. Most people think that he was a reformed criminal who found music and God but alas, basic drunk and disorderly kind of stuff is all that he was ever guilty of.
Although Cash carefully cultivated a romantic outlaw image, he never served a prison sentence. Despite landing in jail seven times for misdemeanors, each stay lasted only a single night.
The video I am choosing to celebrate his birthday is Hurt, a Nine Inch Nails song that Johnny covered shortly before his death. The original song, written by Trent Reznor is brilliant but the direction that Cash takes when singing this song takes it to the next level creating something that is haunting; You can feel in deep down in your soul.
Others certainly agreed:
‘Hurt’ is a song written by Trent Reznor, first released on Nine Inch Nails’ 1994 album The Downward Spiral. In 2002, ‘Hurt’ was covered by Johnny Cash to critical acclaim; it was one of Cash’s final hit releases before his death. Its accompanying video, featuring images from Cash’s life and directed by Mark Romanek, was named the best video of the year by the Grammy Awards and CMA Awards, and the best video of all time by NME in July 2011.
This is one of the best covers ever, hands down, not even a question, no argument.
Happy birthday Mr Cash, you were one of the coolest dudes to ever walk the planet.
[youtube=www.youtube.com/watch?v=McV7pjwVFbE&feature=youtu.be]
