NIN original - https://youtu.be/PbHz9p7Z4OU?si=CN4XnjojE4hjYhJW Johnny Cash cover - https://youtu.be/8AHCfZTRGiI?si=b2J3xUB7cuzrgGBk What Trent Reznor thought about the cover - https://youtu.be/2Z9pB4yI-BQ?si=Gzn7gOcWi2pryoiu
I guess this is where I say that, while I like the Johnny Cash version, I will always prefer the original no matter how many people tell me that they think the Cash version is better, or point out Reznor said “it’s his song now.”
The harsh noise while Trent almost whispers “I will find a way” feels like the song is conveying that no matter what he’s saying out loud, his thought and feelings are “heh, who am I kidding…I’d make all the same mistakes and end up here again anyway.” The extended drone gives a sense that this person who just told you “I will find a way” is just now staring off into space, unable to stop focusing on how he believes he really won’t. This may not have been intentional, and I’m sure others may not have had the same interpretation, but that’s how I interpret the song, and I think it’s amazing. And these details are missing in the Johnny Cash version.
In the end, the two versions are doing different things, so we probably shouldn’t be declaring one to be objectively better than the other anyway, but if you force me to make a choice, I will choose the original until the day I die.