The slowed-down tempo showcases FJM’s pristine vocals perfectly, but he also slips in a few edits to the lyrics that make the whole thing a little more Josh Tillman. Sara Birįirst things first, Father John Misty’s take on this lost Johnny Cash/June Carter duet for La Blogotheque is gorgeous. They’re a perfect yin and yang to each other, but the profundity of Cash’s cover is on a different level entirely. Anyone fluent in Cash’s own infamous personal troubles knows that his steadfast faith got him through, and there’s a plainspoken sincerity in Cash’s working of the lyric “Reach out/Touch faith” that makes Dave Gahan’s vocals in the original seem forced and preening. “Pick up the receiver/ I’ll make you a believer,” Cash sings, and the essence is that prayer is your direct-and accessible-line to salvation. Whether this was at the suggestion of producer Rick Rubin or Cash’s doing, it’s revelatory: Jesus himself, Cash tells us, is your personal Jesus. Cash’s 2002 cover managed to turn the whole thing on its head with a mere shift in tone and a subdued honky-tonk vibe. All thumping darkness, it explores sexual power dynamics to a clubby yet menacing beat. To truly understand the greatness of Johnny Cash’s version of “Personal Jesus,” you have to be pretty familiar with Depeche Mode’s 1990 original-which isn’t too shabby itself.
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