"When Trent Reznor was asked if Cash could cover his song, Reznor said he was "flattered" but worried that "the idea sounded a bit gimmicky." He became a fan of Cash's version, however, once he saw the music video."
“ I pop the video in, and wow... Tears welling, silence, goose-bumps... Wow. [I felt like] I just lost my girlfriend, because that song isn't mine anymore... It really made me think about how powerful music is as a medium and art form. I wrote some words and music in my bedroom as a way of staying sane, about a bleak and desperate place I was in, totally isolated and alone. [Somehow] that winds up reinterpreted by a music legend from a radically different era/genre and still retains sincerity and meaning — different, but every bit as pure.[5]
My quote above was from the Wikipedia article about the song Hurt.
Why would anyone have to ask the author of a published song if another singer “could cover it”? That report itself sounds gimmicky!
An incredibly moving and heartbreaking video. The way the music acted as counterpoint to much of the video, especially the happy bits of Johnny & June was incredible.
Mark