Johnny Cash - Nine Inch Nails - Hurt

Written by Trent Reznor and first released in 1994 on The Downward Spiral album by Nine Inch Nails.

Then, in 2002, Johnny Cash covered this song for his album, American IV: The Man Comes Around.

I love the original version by Nine Inch Nails.
To me it is a powerful song, all about the angst of growing up feeling misunderstood, unloved and alone against the world.

But the Johnny Cash version, along with the video, makes me cry at the beauty of life, love and loss.

A younger version of myself always felt covers were a corrupted version of the original song.
A song that already had a following being used by pretender to the throne that could never hope to live up to the superior original version.

But over time I have learnt that not all covers are inferior to the original.
In some cases there is no better version.
There is just a different interpretation, a retelling that reveals a different facet of the original.

This, for me, is one of the most powerful and beautiful songs ever written.