Waking Ear

Johnny Cash/"I See A Darkness" -- I know, I know, another Will Oldham song. But it's not an Oldham song anymore. Neither is Trent Reznor's "Hurt," as Paul and others have noted.

"I See A Darkness" has sinister, low piano chords, Cash's wavering old baritone and Oldham's "devil's-gonna-get-me" twang on harmony. It's a song about a man who wants to be good, but he's scared of something inside himself. It isn't self-hatred yet. It's self-fear, and that makes it more mysterious and dangerous. Anyone who has dealt with or is close to someone who has dealt with addiction or mental illness knows this feeling. Everything is utterly unpredictable because that innate human drive for survival is missing. Nothing is certain, and as Cash's voice raises to fight his urges, to "stop our whoring," and the piano swells darkly, it's obvious he's sinking, losing control.

Read the Rolling Stone story I linked above. "Drug abuse, Cash says wearily, 'runs through this family like a turkey through the corn. Man, it's terrible. We're just trying to save him, trying to snatch him up before he goes.' " Now watch that "Hurt" video. This isn't exploitive. This is a man trying to tell us something.