The Man in Black

A conversation with a stranger on a train, a recent viewing of Walk the Line, plus strains of music from another room at a party, compelled me to get a Johnny Cash CD from the library today.

The classics Ring of Fire, Folsom Prison Blues, etc, were all enjoyable but the song which most struck was Hurt, a cover of a Nine Inch Nails track from the 90s. The emotional power of Cash's pared-back musical arrangement and exsiccated voice, distilled by life's ascents & descents, combined to simultaneously rip-out my internal organs and set my mind on fire.

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