I must admit I first heard Cash’s version of the song during a powerful episode of Person of Interest, “The Devil’s Share.”
The emotion of the death of a central character accompanied by this majestic track was quite moving.
I didn’t know at the time it was a Nine Inch Nails original.
In an interview with GQ, Trent Rezner described his feelings about Cash’s cover.
Reznor remembered, “It seemed weird. I assumed they’re probably doing 100 songs, so. Then I get the recording of it a little bit later, and that felt weird, because that’s my song, you know? That big voice in there — it felt weird at the moment. I remember I was in the middle of [1999’s] The Fragile when I heard it. [I said] ‘I’m not ready to process what this is right now.'”
