Johnny Cash- Favorite cover performed by Cash?

Today I dialed-up Cash on the iPod while I worked and eventually I got to the "Unearthed" box set, which I hadn't listened to in a while. This stopped me in my tracks:



With so many excellent choices, what's your favorite cover performed by Cash?

 

Rusty Cage
Highway Patrolman

 

My brother bought this 45 single cover of Tim Hardin's The Lady Came From Baltimore. It also features Elvis Presley TCB band members James Burton and Ronnie Tutt. The great Bobby Darin had covered it too as he had on Hardin's previous gem, If I Were A Carpenter.

 

I’m a huge fan but there’s too many to choose from. I’ll give an honorable mention to his somewhat obscure covers of Rod McKuen’s Doesn’t Anybody Know My Name. Here’s a version, and there’s another on the More Personal File release.

 

I’ve always loved his cover of Kristofferson’s Just The Other Side of Nowhere, as well. Cash was really great with covering songs. He sounded like he lived them.

 

'Southern Accents'

 

His voice was capable of covering just about everything and the conviction in his performance often made it his own. Hurt is a perfect example, and given his health concerns, all the more powerful.

 

One More Ride. My favorite track from his best album:

 

"One" -- I like this cover better than the original:

 

Definitely. No matter what was going in Reznor’s life, he was still a young guy with many years ahead of him, while Johnny was near the end after a lifetime of one battle after another (also, could a more perfect track have been chosen for Logan’s trailer?)

 

Interesting choice. As I'm sure you know Johnny wound up hating this album, but it's really kind of a cool change of pace from his usual sound, featuring studio guys instead of his usual touring band.

 

Ring of Fire!

 

Hurt.

 

I love what he did with “God’s Gonna Cut You Down”. It’s a traditional gospel album rather than a popular song, he gives it this dark menace. It’s spiritual yet it feels like Satan is charging after you.

 

Nick Cave's "The Mercy Seat" for me.

 

Neil Young's "Heart of Gold"

 

Sunday Morning Coming Down

 

Long Black Veil

 

The man could sing any song and make it his own. He was amazing.


Dan

 

No doubt Cash was a great interpreter. Ring Of Fire was mentioned above. One of Cash's bigger chart hits was also a cover: Johnny & June were the only people that made this song sound like a possible real couple NOT taking a humorous approach in telling the story.

Jackson was also recorded by the Kingston Trio four years before the Cash/Carter hit four years later (with a contemporaneous competing version by Nancy Sinatra/Lee Hazelwood) by the song's writer Billy Ed Wheeler in 1963-

 

thread closed

 

"Rusty Cage" for me...such a badass cover it blows the original away!

 

Either "Hurt" or Dylan's "Forever Young".

 

“Darlin’ Companion”.

 

Rusty Cage and Hurt. The video for Hurt still is the most emotional music video I've ever seen, both for myself as well as how well I think Cash did it. Just awesome, and sad.