My Brasilian bud Thiago put me on to this video. It almost seems funny when you say what it is — Johnny Cash singing “Hurt” by Nine Inch Nails — but you’ll have to stop yourself from crying on the keyboard.

I have to chuckle when I recall all the pundits who are attacking churches using popular and contemporary music to reach the unreached in our culture. People, the music in the culture is the cry of the heart! We may not like the words or the sound but it tells us where the audience we need to reach is coming from.

After listening to the song hundreds of times, Cash called it “The best anti-drug song I ever heard.” When he decided to do this piece, he changed the line “I wear this crown of s–t” to “I wear this crown of thorns.” Trent Reznor has confessed that originally he was angry that Johnny Cash had changed his lyrics, as it was such a personal song to him. However, once he heard Cash’s heart-wrenching version and saw the poignant video, he changed his tune. [Source: Songfacts]

My thanks to Thiago for his post — obrigadíssimo cara! — posthumously to Johnny Cash and to Trent Reznor of NIN. Proof that you should never stop reaching out — anyone is redeemable.