Rick Rubin Recalls the Extent He Went To Convince Johnny Cash to Record His Iconic Cover of “Hurt”

Nicknamed the Man in Black, Johnny Cash seemed to take over the airwaves with songs like “I Walk the Line”, “Ring of Fire”, and “Folsom Prison Blues.” Although he had a legendary career with his own songs, Cash was also known for his ability to transform any cover into a song that sounded like it was written specially for him. Throughout his career, he covered numerous hits like “Personal Jesus” and “Rusty Cage.” but for most, they will always remember Cash turning “Hurt” into his signature song. And while gaining praise from the band who produced the song, Nine Inch Nails, producer Rick Rubin explained how he needed to convince Cash to sing the hit. 

Sitting down with Rick Beato to talk about his career with Cash, Rubin noted how he learned what the singer liked. “At that time, I had already made five albums with Johnny. This was on the sixth album, and he was always looking for songs. He would write one or two songs typically on an album and the rest would be covers. And what I came to realize was things that worked best… the key was the lyrics. If the lyrics were right, it didn’t really matter what genre the music was or where it came from.”

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Johnny Cash Needed A Great Deal Of Convincing

Having the key to winning over Cash, Rubin sought out songs that packed powerful lyrics. But even with the producer knowing the potential behind “Hurt”, he admitted, “I remember one of the early ones we did. We did a Soundgarden song, ‘Rusty Cage.’ That was one of the first ones where, I remember sending him the Chris Cornell version – the Soundgarden version – and he listened to it and he’s like, ‘What are you thinking? I can’t sing that.’ When I sent him the Nine Inch Nails song, he just thought I was crazy.”

Besides sending CDs full of potential songs for Cash, Rubin revealed he always put “Hurt” at the top. “It’s one of the only songs that I probably sent him three times in these compilations I’d send of songs to consider.”

While Cash never showed interest, Rubin finally decided to just show him. “I was in the studio with Smokey Hormel working on something else, and I had Smokey play the acoustic part and I might have sang the vocals myself. I said, ‘It can sound like this. Just read the lyrics.’ And I think that’s what convinced him. He said, ‘I’ll only do it when we’re together.’”

Although only covering the song, the impact Cash had on the lyrics led to Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails admitting the song no longer belonged to the band.

(Photo by Beth Gwinn/Redferns)