The Greatest Cover Song of All Time?

Reznor wrote a suicide note. Cash wrote a eulogy. They're both beautiful in their own way.

I like the fact that Reznor recognized Johnny now owns it. What a gracious tribute from one artist to another. Much respect.

Two voices answering each other across the void of pain. Trent in his suburban youth asking “is this all there is?” and Johnny at his end answering “is this all there was?”

The NIN version is a young man going through addiction and suicidal thoughts. The Cash version is an old man looking back on his life, coming to terms with his regrets, and knowing he’s about to die. Both versions are beautiful, and I’m honored to have been alive to hear them both.

The man sang his own eulogy he found the perfect song to capture his life and sang it to us.

The way he closed the lid of the piano, then caressed it. Like it was the coffin of a loved one. Gets me every time.

I can’t watch “Hurt” without fighting back the tears. Jonny may you RIP.

I love how Trent is humble enough to be able to say "It really then was not my song anymore" . Heartwarming

Johnny's interpretation of "Hurt" tore my heart out, but it was Trent's version that forced me to re-examine my life, my choices, and paths not taken. I'm 72, and 6 years clean now, but these two guys are one of the reasons I can write these words today, Thank you, Johnny and Trent.

When I first heard Cash's Hurt, man... it ripped my heart out. I just sat there, staring at nothing, frozen. I still get teary when I hear it so many years later. I love music.

People like to ask which is better. Obviously the answer is both. Personally, as a 70's kid that was severely depressed throughout the 90's, Trent's version resonates. Now at the age of 50, Johnny's version hits home. I still get teary and goosebumps whenever I hear either version. We miss you Johnny; and we love you Trent.

I got sober in 1993. I'm 30 years sober now. I remember the way I felt listening to this song on The Downward Spiral(one of the most influential albums of it's time)and Knowing exactly how Trent felt. Now I'm in my 60's and now I Know exactly How Johnny felt. Pain may feel like a lifetime. But Music like this transcends all time. Thank you Trent for a masterpiece written in a time in your life when nothing seemed to make any sense. And thank you Johnny for reminding all of us that in the end,we try to make sense of it all,before our time is near.

There's a longer quote from Trent that is just perfect. "Tears welling, silence, goose-bumps... Wow. I just lost my girlfriend, because that song isn't mine any more. Then it all made sense to me. 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. Some-fucking-how 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. Things felt even stranger when he passed away. The song's purpose shifted again."

Nine Inch Nails version scares me, the Johnny Cash version makes me cry. One of the best songs ever written.

I could listen to Cash's 'Hurt' 100 times in a row and get goosebumps all 100 times. I was a Johnny fan already but 'Hurt' made me an even bigger fan for all new reasons.

What a wonderful gift Trent gave to Johnny and Johnny gave back to Trent. A timeless classic. Haunting.

Johnny's long, sometimes dark career has the credentials it takes to give a song like this a life of it's own.

It’s incredible how Johnny encapsulated his life using another person’s song. It speaks to the power of his musicianship and depth of emotion he was able to convey. And it also represents the spirit of a person on the cusp of death speaking out for the last time: I existed and it mattered.

Johnny Cash’s version blew me away. It was extremely painful and beautiful and just very vulnerable. What a legend!

Johnny’s version of hurt was the first version I heard, I wouldn’t hear the original till much later and I’m glad that reznor agrees that Johnny not only did the song justice but made it his own. The line “everyone I know goes away, in the end” manages to make me cry every time, good chunk of the time it reminds me of those I’ve lost already in my life (I’m in my 30s) and how much I’m still going to lose.