Rarely Heard: Johnny Cash - I See a Darkness

In the 1980s Columbia Records dropped Johny Cash, and it was only until 1994 that his career was rejuvenated by his work with the rock and rap producer Rick Rubin and the American Recordings series of albums. The concept was to record his own songs together with cover versions of more contemporary songs. The albums received great critical acclaim and were commercially successful. I was asked why I'd put his version of Bonnie Prince Billy's I See a Darkness (a favourite of mine in the original and in Cash's version) on my Rarely Heard list. Although his famous cover of Hurt has 28 million views at YouTube, his I See a Darkness has 28 thousand. Hurt has been heard 1,000 times more often, although in my opinion his interpretation of I See of Darkness is equally successful and deserves much more attention. By the way, Bonnie Prince Billy himself joins in on the refrain.