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you know you’re old when you’re salty about kids thinking the cover version is the original
That said, Cash absolutely fuckin nailed that cover. I think it’s way more emotional than the original. I’m sure Trent was proud as fuck at what Cash did to his song.
I know it’s not a popular opinion but I don’t think Johnny cash understood Trents original meaning of the song and turned it into a self aggrandizing song. Especially the change from “I wear this crown of shit” to “I wear this crown of thorns”.
It just doesn’t hit like the NIN version which clearly came from a very personal place.
Exactly this. It also lacks the gravity of an entire concept album preceding it and two minutes of static death sounds at the end. It’s a sanitized cover of a song that shouldn’t be sanitized.
I think it’s similar, I think the thorns are the pain of regret that he wears for all that he has done. The crown of shit is similar in that it’s worthless, he’s a king of nothing.
He absolutely did and it’s an unpopular opinion because you’re positing that a song man who’d been in the business for 50 years couldn’t understand the meaning.
He changed the line because of his faith, mostly.
If his faith was in conflict with the song, he should’ve left it tf alone.
Johnny Cash always nailed covers. He makes songs I thought were average sound great, and you believe every word he sings.
As a bonus, his version is way easier to play on guitar.
He’s out and said it’s Johnny’s song now.
I’m old enough to have bought Downworld Spiral on release day, and I think Reznor wrote that song for Cash. It just took him and the the rest of us 20 years to realize it.
it happens like that sometimes. see also jimi’s all along the watchtower.
there are tons of covers that i love better than the original (if i like the original at all). just one example is lacuna coil’s enjoy the silence
Don’t look up something like all along the watch tower…
Written by Dylan and performed by Hendrix.
Reznor wrote that song
That’s the important part.
Reznor is on record saying it’s cash’s song now so op is only mostly wrong :)
People say this a lot and I believe it’s based on this quote:
I pop the video in, and wow… Tears welling, silence, goose-bumps… Wow. [I felt like] 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. 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. [Somehow] 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.
Many people seem to interpret “that song isn’t mine anymore” to mean “that song is now Cash’s”. But here’s another quote:
Then I got a CD in the post. I listened to it and it was very strange. It was this other person inhabiting my most personal song. I’d known where I was when I wrote it. I know what I was thinking about. I know how I felt. Hearing it was like someone kissing your girlfriend. It felt invasive.
To me, that doesn’t sound like he’s saying it’s Cash’s song now or that Cash’s version is better. It’s more that Cash proved to him that even though this was a deeply personal song about his own life and struggles that he’s not the only one capable of doing it justice. He realized that other talented artists can take that song about him and transform it into a song about them. The song’s not his anymore because it could be anyone’s song.
Thank you for this context.
I’ve witnessed a lot of talk about this song- I love me a good cover- and this is the first time I’ve read this quote. Thanks for that, it gives some great context.
Ed: pretty sure this is the original source: https://www.theninhotline.net/archives/articles/display/11
Right? Like damn, I know that was a good cover but have we already forgotten it was a NiN song?
I love Fallen Kingdom. Who the fuck is Coldplay?
Perhaps Tent Reznor thought the same.
I agree, kind of annoying that the person that wrote the song doesn’t get credited for what was said.
In fairness I do believe Johnny somehow managed to do it better, but credit where credit is due.
Said this before on this platform, opinions are like assholes, everyone has one. It’s your opinion that you think Johnny’s version is better.
I like both versions of the song. They have a different delivery.
For what it’s worth, Trent Reznor likes Johnny’s version better
Not until he saw the video. He originally said after listening
ive it a cursory listen. It sounded… weird to me. That song in particular was straight from my soul, and it felt very strange hearing the highly identifiable voice of Johnny Cash singing it. It was a good version, and I certainly wasn’t cringing or anything, but it felt like I was watching my girlfriend fuck somebody else.
but it felt like I was watching my girlfriend fuck somebody else.
Some people are into that. Who’s to say Reznor wasn’t?
Trent liking a cover version more doesn’t mean Trent didn’t write the original lyrics.
When did I say anything about who wrote the lyrics?
I too like both versions, and actually writing such a powerful song is something Trent deserves huge credit for. Talent all round.
I don’t know how to speak music, but I’ll try. I think the dissonant notes together with i believe micro tonal pitch bending (maybe I don’t know i have bad pitch) in the original better illustrate the discomfort of Trent very poetically.
Also Cash sensoring the original lyrics is okay, but it doesn’t deliver has hard.
Don’t get me wrong, both versions are beautiful, and this is just nit picking
I think that Cash’s slow delivery, acoustic guitar, and deep, raspy voice, better delivers the despair and loneliness of the song.
I still prefer Kermit’s version.
Even putting aside the music, that video is incredible.
Darth Kermit?
That’s only because the US version of Further Down does not contain the live version, which is the best version.
There’s a lot of those. Patti Smith’s “Because the Night” is better than Bruce Springsteen’s performance of the same. Leonard Cohen has a voice that’s something of an acquired taste, so most people prefer Jeff Buckley’s version of “Hallelujah”.
Patti Smith also had an excellent version of “Teen Spirit”, but it’s more of a different take than better, I’d say.
*Trent Reznor’s camp brother.
I have been in an all out war with autocorrect over the last 24 hours. Appear to have lost that particular skirmish without even realising it.
Vermiculture is a perfectly legitimate hobby and I’m not weird because of it!!!
Do you know all the words? Those would be vermiculture vernacular.
And now I need to go cry.
Thanks op
Because you’re upset at the meme implying Johnny Cash wrote the song, right?
Speaking of covers, Trent Reznor does a great cover of this song. Almost as good as Cash’s!
Yeah this is what irked me.
Considering how much the Cash version changed the meaning and vibe of the song, yeah this is canon now.
Who is his Swedish friend though?
