What Happens Next: A Gallimaufry

melancholic romantic comic cynic. bi & genderqueer. fantasy writer. sysrae on ao3.

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fozmeadows:

Supernatural - Hurt

I assume it was an intentional decision to use the Johnny Cash version of the lyrics (“crown of thorns” instead of the original’s “crown of shit”), but was wondering if you could unpack that choice? (as someone who only knows SPN from tumblr gifs, I don’t know which version would be more musically appropriate, but if that’s the cut-and-dried answer, cool.)

Sure thing! It was an intentional choice, and for three reasons:

1. Musically, I much prefer the Johnny Cash version; the NIN original is still a good song, but there’s something creepy and discordant about it that, for me, isn’t as powerful as the raw regret in Cash’s interpretation. If I had to try and pin it down, I’d say that emotionally, the NIN version makes the lyrics sound… not exactly arrogant, and not exactly self-aggrandising, but sung in a way that has a patina of rock stars glamourising self harm and sadness because it’s cool, like they’re challenging the listener to be more damaged than they are. Whereas the Cash version sounds, brutally and sincerely, like the unvarnished testimony of someone who has made a fuckload of mistakes, and who wants to fix their life, but doesn’t really believe they deserve it. Which is possibly the difference between the original being written and sung by a twentysomething Trent Reznor, and the cover being sung by a seventy-year-old Cash (his version came out in 2002; he died in 2003). So, there’s that.

2. I dislike the “crown of shit” lyric. While I have no problem with swearing in music, it feels unnecessarily confrontational in a song that’s otherwise about grief and regret - in fact, this one line is part of why I think the original sounds more glamourised than sincere. By changing that one line to “crown of thorns”, Cash turns a generically angsty verse into one that’s deeply evocative of both penitence and suffering for one’s sins, and especially given how he sings the song overall, I think it works much better.

3. Dean Winchester is broken. He is self-loathing and self-pitying, but fiercely rejects the idea of romanticised damage - especially as applied to his life. That being so, the Cash version feels like a much stronger representation of the character than the original, so that’s the one I went with.   

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    Sure thing! It was an intentional choice, and for three reasons: 1. Musically, I much prefer the Johnny Cash version;...
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    I assume it was an intentional decision to use the Johnny Cash version of the lyrics (“crown of thorns” instead of the...
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