Much to my surprise, I have discovered today two wonderful versions of a song. It is "Hurt" originally sung by Nine Inch Nails, and then covered by Johnny Cash, not long before he died. Both versions in their different ways are excellent, but at the moment the Cash one is doing it for me, not least because of the video that accompanies it - absolutely breathtaking, and very moving. Both can easily be found on Youtube - if you haven't found them, I recommend scoping them out. I feel rather embarrassed as both songs have been around for ages, and I have only just cottoned on to their existence. Annoyingly as a teenager, country in all forms was regarded as being completely outside taste and decency, so I never listened to any, with the exception of Ry Cooder (yes, not really country I know, but American, and a slide guitarist without match). It is only later as I got into blues, a bit of folk and a dash of bluegrass, that it began to dawn on me that country could be good, so there are still these large gaps in my knowledge and understanding of it. Going back to the song, the lyrics are raw, powerful and describe harrowing emotional suffering, with its isolation and corrosive effects on relationships. I recommend it wholeheartedly.

After that, there really isn't much else I can add, except I am thinking of buying some of the later Cash CDs - the American songbook series - Hurt comes from Volume 4, the last he made before he died. Interestingly, there is a posthumous Volume 5 too. Several of the albums were made with the Heartbreakers (as in Tom Petty and) who I already liked as they sing two of my favourite songs - I Won't Back Down and Learning To Fly.

What I think today confirms is that truly great songs can stand and are enhanced by cover versions that are completely different in genre. Am just thinking of some of Leonard Cohen's such as Hallelujah which everyone has had a go at, and of course the wonderful Nouvelle Vague. They dared to cover Love Will Tear us Apart, which I would have regarded as heresy, but to my amazement, I loved it. Another of my all time fave albums is KD Lang's compilation of covers, Hymns of the 49th Parallel. She chooses some blinders including Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and of course Mr Cohen. Her voice is so beautiful that if she invited me I would become a lesbian without a second's hesitation, although I realise this is a very theoretical possibility.