Show'em How It's Done: Hurt

Nine Inch Nails is just a bad band that fills most of their songs with needless noise, a fact that almost ruins their original version of Hurt. They also threw in a completely pointless and distracting "shit" just to put it in. It completely takes away my sympathy which the singer has been trying so hard to garner and makes him sound like someone who can't ever talk without swearing.

So I don't think anyone else will be surprised to hear that I think the best version of this song belongs to Johnny Cash. When Trent Reznor sings this song it doesn't sound sincere. I know it is because I know he had a lot of problems but that does not translate over to the song. In Cash's version I not only feel is pain and desperation but also his loneliness. The NIN version makes you want to just walk by and ignore this person who is having problems, they don't deserves your time all they are doing is complaining about how no one likes me as the play bad music. On Cash's version tough his deep voice and sorrowful acoustic picking makes you want to reach out and help him, but the backing strings and piano hits also makes him unapproachable which is all the more heartbreaking.

Some people say that you need sloppiness in music to keep it "real", "soulful", and "powerful". Well Johnny Cash sure proved that one wrong with this little cover.

Show 'em How it's Done: Don't Think Twice It's Alright

One of the most common ways people cover a song is by striping it down to acoustic guitar and vocals. Now some people think this it the true way to tell how good a song it. That is bull. It only shows how good the guitar/vocal parts are.

But what do you do when you start with acoustic/vocals? Well you turn it into a soulful blues rock tune. Bob Dylan has many songs that are just him and acoustic but Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright is one of the best. On the night of Dylan’s 30^th anniversary concert Eric Clapton takes this song in a whole different direction. He takes almost all the Dylan out of it and inserts as much Clapton as he can.

Show'em How It's Done: Knockin' On Heaven's Door

Knockin’ On Heavens Door has been covered so many times that many people lose track of the fact that it is a Bob Dylan song. But what version is the best? The original? Or Eric Clapton’s reggae version? It certainly isn’t the butchering that is the Guns N Roses version. For my money the best goes to Warren Zevon.

In 2002 Warren Zevon was diagnosed with mesothelioma. He was told that he only had months to live and immediately set out to record his final album The Wind. It is during these sessions that he recorded his version of Knockin’ On Heavens Door. He sounds tired but not downtrodden. This is his curtain call and he is going to take it gracefully.