How Johnny Cash Transformed These 3 Rock Classics Into Outlaw Hymns

Working with producer Rick Rubin, Johnny Cash revived his career with raw acoustic recordings of rock and country songs. The American Recordings series continued Rubin’s work of breaking down barriers between musical genres. But for Cash, these releases became a final statement before he died in 2003. Which makes this list feel more like a collection of outlaw hymns than cover songs.

“I Won’t Back Down”

Tom Petty often wrote with a chip on his shoulder, and “I Won’t Back Down” remains one of his best and most defiant tunes. For Johnny Cash, one doesn’t become an outlaw without either the above-mentioned chip or an eternal sense of defiance. Petty accompanies Cash with both a backing vocal and a showing of solidarity. Speaking of backing down, neither artist ever did.

In a world that keeps on pushing me around,
But I’ll stand my ground,
And I won’t back down.

“Personal Jesus”

When Martin Gore wrote Depeche Mode’s swampy synth-rock hit, he presented it to the band on an acoustic guitar. “Personal Jesus” describes how one relies on a savior figure. And the dark track hints at the predictable ways the savior inevitably fails. But in Cash’s voice, the sentiment is less cynical or less rational, depending on your view. “That’s probably the most evangelical song [I’ve] ever recorded,” Cash said. “I don’t know that the writer ever meant it to be that, but that’s what it is.” It features John Frusciante on acoustic guitar, returning the song to its beginning.

Reach out and touch faith.

“Hurt”

Cash recorded “Hurt” while facing his own mortality. Here, he flips the perspective of Trent Reznor’s despair in a song written as the Nine Inch Nails frontman approached age 30. When he heard Cash’s version, Reznor said the song was no longer his. I can’t think of a cover that’s more powerful or profoundly sadder than this. The music video features clips of Cash’s life flashing before his eyes in a time-lapse of joy, grief, love, failure, and triumph. This is the difference in how one gauges despair with nothing but time versus one trying to cling to it. Absolutely gutting.

If I could start again,
A million miles away,
I would keep myself,
I would find a way.

Photo by Michel Linssen/Redferns