The Mercy Seat (Nick Cave cover)

I can't believe no one has commented on this song yet. kudos to nick cave for writing a kick-ass song, but the music just doesn't match the lyrics. That is why I love Johnny cash's later albums. He takes obscure songs, songs that nobody would ever think that he could change, and he does change it, and for the better. Johnny's version is infinitely times better. So much more emotion. I actually feel sympathy for this convict. And the last line has to qualify as one of the best last lines ever in all of music

i don't agree that sympathizing with the singer makes the song less powerful - it emphasizes the brutality of the "mercy seat" and even makes the "kill hand" part more awful, because his disgust with his other hand - the one that did nothing to challenge or resist as it was being labeled EVIL - becomes more believable.

i also wonder which lie he told - that he's innocent, or that he's not afraid to die?

I'm here nearly 20 years later, but this song has really impacted me. Johnny Cash's version does strike a different tone, and while Nick Cave's version is really interesting and emotive, Johnny's cut me to the core. The fact that innocent people are sometimes found guilty and executed is a horrible reality, but I always believed (or hoped) that at the very least they could face their death with dignity knowing that they WERE innocent. The singer in Johnny's song seems to really be innocent, but starts to doubt himself at the moment of death. It's a possibility I hadn't ever considered before, and it seems horrifyingly plausible.

I really really like this song. I think it's a Nick Cave song.. either way JC does an excellent job with it. Love the last line.

I agree that he takes other's songs and makes them his own, but I wouldn't exactly say that they are obscure songs.

It is originally nick cave's, but johnny cash vocals is amazing in this!! Makes the hairs on my neck stand up!

I'm not sure it's infinitely better, either. I mean, I absolutely adore Johnny's version of this song, but I think he missed out a pretty important part of Nick Cave's version that Adam actually highlighted: he's trying to make us sympathise with the character. Nick's version was massively sinister, and you get the impression more and more as the song goes on that the character is less and less good. But because Johnny's is meant to be a good character, the lines like "My kill hand's tattooed E.V.I.L" really fall flat. That said, I agree that Johnny made this one his own in a good way! I just think the original had a bit more impact.

This song is about guilt, delial, and acceptance for what the man has done. He wrestles with the guilt so much that he finally looks at his punishment by death in the electric chair as a relief. He is so eaten up with guilt that death would be more merciful than living with what he's done.

There are some examples of covers exceeding their original. There are literally only a handful of covers truly transcending their original. In my humble opinion this is one that does.