Wednesday, March 7, 2007

Johnny Cash covers and vice versa

I'll be the first to admit that I don't know anything about music. When asked what music I liked, I would say, "I like most music -- except country." Like any dork, my radio is usually tuned to NPR/OPB talk radio, but I do listen to "alternative" rock, generic popularly corporate rock/pop music, and classical music that Scott makes me listen to.

Before the 2005 movie Walk the Line (IMDB.com), Johnny Cash was just one of those country music types that I never knew anything about. I think I even saw Johnny Cash (Wikipedia.org) at a Billy Graham Crusade (Wiki) in 1992 -- although I don't remember anything about it. However, the more of his music and covers (his of others' song, and others' covers of his songs) I hear, the more I like his singing.

Lately, I've had some of these songs stuck in my head:


Johnny Cash's 2002 cover of Nine Inch Nail's "Hurt" (Wiki) -- his last hit. His retrospective, farewell video is heartbreaking. The video also shows his wife, June Carter Cash (Wiki), watching him perform. They both passed away in 2003 within four months of each other.

Here is a Nine Inch Nails video of one of the original versions of the song:

David Bowie (Wiki) also performed "Hurt" with NIN:


Johnny Cash sang "The Wanderer" on U2's 1993 Zooropa album (Wiki). (Montage in YouTube video is unrelated to the song.)

U2's only live performance of "The Wanderer" (Wiki) for a 2005 Johnny Cash tribute.


Johnny Cash covered U2's "One" in 2000 (Wiki).


Cash's 1969 San Quentin performance of "A Boy Named Sue" (Wiki).

There are some hilarious fan videos of this song:




(BTW, I acknowledge the irony of sharing probably unauthorized versions of the music. I do own and plan on purchasing real copies of these songs -- really, I do.)

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