Rusty Cage

To put it simply, this is one of the best rebuilds of a song I've ever heard. The musical arrangement is an almost total deconstruction. It's also a powerful demonstration of how changing the vocal delivery from a howling yell to barely sung speech can sound far more serious and threatening. And no one was ever more up for that task than the Man in Black, Johnny Cash.

In 1996, Cash and producer Rick Rubin enlisted Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers to provide the backbone for Cash's American Recordings album, "Unchained", which eventually won a Grammy that year for Best Country Album. As producer, Rubin was heavily involved in reviewing and presenting to Cash, the many songs that might be suitable for Cash to record. One of them was a scorcher by Seattle grungemeisters, Soundgarden, called "Rusty Cage"

Soundgarden

Although I've already inferred that there's a huge musical difference between these two recordings, the key is in the vocal. Soundgarden's Chris Cornell sounds like he's about to bust a lung. But by putting his famous rumbling baritone to full use, Cash sounds like a very dangerous man. I can see why Rubin suggested this one for Cash. To Cornell's credit, this lyric sounds custom written for Cash, especially the lines after the mid-song tempo change, which read, "When the forest burns along the road, like God's eyes in my headlights; when the dogs are looking for their bones and it's raining ice picks on your steel shores, I'm gonna break my rusty cage and run." That's one powerful lyric and Cash's delivery makes it sound like the voice of a mountain.

So, for a point of reference, here's Soundgarden's original grunge/metal version of "Rusty Cage". Yes, it's loud. Go for it.

 

 Now, listen to Cash's stripped to the bones version. Keep the volume cranked and buckle in.

So, if your music collection is short on Cash, get yourself over to Amazon & make things right.

They have a lot of Soundgarden there too, if you are so inclined.