Yes, Johnny Cash did a version of this song. Yeah, he adapted the metal cubist masterpiece into a cool western ballad. No, it's not on any kind of par with the original.

When I first heard this song, I wasn't quite sure what time signature it was in. It's actually not in any special time signature, not for the most part. It starts in just a common, quick 4/4 time. But how the rhythms and musical parts combine push "common" time into most uncommon places. The guitar parts are extraterrestrial. The vocal, especially the chorus, are the primal exquisiteness of Chris Cornell, flowing out over much longer phrases and resolving in odder rhythmical units than most musicians feel entitled to. That arrogant entitlement to its grandiosity is the basis of Soundgarden's existence, and the movement Soundgarden started.

The blitz-attack first half of the song is so great.

The slow haymaker swing of the second half is the definitive Soundgarden heavy. How can something so rhythmically fractured hit down so hard?

The drumming of Matt Cameron is always exceptional, but in this last heavy section, he makes his hall of fame case. Whether it's in his complex but composed rhythm on hi-hat, kick, and snare or in the punishing fills at the turns, just appreciate that there would be far less fun in this music math morass without the control his precise performance maintains.