Rick Rubin

Comments on

The Cash Recording

"Hurt"

How did you sell him on the Nine Inch Nails song "Hurt"? Trent Reznor, as a singer and songwriter, is so wrapped up in himself, in his own agony. Yet Johnny hijacked the song for himself, made it truly his own.

He just heard the words. They resonated with him. I remember when I sent it to him. I said, "I really feel like this one has the potential to be special." So he may have given it a stronger chance, than if it was one of twenty songs on a CD. I don't know if he would have picked it, but I asked him to listen closely and pay attention to the words. I imagined him singing it and knew how powerful it could be.

It's fascinating to look at the songs he covered on the American albums, and the people who wrote them: Reznor, Soundgarden, Beck, Nick Cave. With his intense life experiences with drugs, poverty, despair and ultimately resurrection, Johnny Cash had every right to look at these younger songwriters and say, "What the hell do these kids now about life?"

He wasn't like that. He looked at everyone and everything equally. He liked what he liked, and he didn't like what he didn't like. It didn't have anything to do with who you were or what experience you had or what your track record was. He looked at these songs as art, judged them as art. And he decided, "This is good art, and it's good art that fits me.

He was like that in every way in his life. It's not unique to his music. He didn't see barriers or classifications between people. He just loved people.