Case Study: Johnny Cash - "Hurt"



This song is about realizing consequence and regret. It sends a powerful message that we should all proceed through life wisely, because there is nothing worse than being stuck with a label, a pain, a sickness, or a death, that we know beforehand will leave us only wishing things had been different and that we could change the choices we made.

The original song was by Nine Inch Nails (1994).  In 2002, "Hurt" was covered by Johnny Cash to critical acclaim; it was one of Cash's final hit releases before his death. Its video was named the best video of the year by the Grammy Awards and CMA Awards, and the best video of all time by NME in July 2011.

There are some major differences between NIN and Cash’s versions:

The theme of NIN’s music focuses on death and has a depressed and unusual tone to it while Johnny Cash’s focuses on regret and faith, making reference to Jesus and Christianity. Johnny changed some of the lines to remove profanity from the lyrics and to also get this across (e.g. The line "crown of shit" was changed to "crown of thorns", like NIN’s censored-for-radio version.).

 NIN music video is a live performance with disturbing black-and-white images on the screen behind the artists linking to the theme of the song (e.g. there are images of death, violence, etc).

Cash's video was directed by Mark Romanek, an American music film director who previously worked with many top-selling recording artists such as U2, Michael Jackson and Madonna. He also won two Grammys, one for the film ‘Scream’ the other for ‘Got ‘Til it’s gone’.).

In the video, the 71-year old Cash appears very fragile as he sings this from his home in Hendersonville, Tennessee. It is a very emotional video and drew a lot of media attention.

The genre of Hurt is a hybrid of performance and narrative. It consists of jump cuts from images of Johnny’s past to him currently singing us the song. At one point you see all his awards and then it  jumps back to him alone at a table with food and wine. This creates a sense of ‘what went wrong’ and a sense of empathy from the audience. There is some intertexuality of religion as we are shown Jesus being nailed to a cross. This scene is a metaphor for the pain Johnny has been through. Perhaps he felt that he was being nailed to a cross of his own and like Jesus is isolated and betrayed by those he loves. Cash isn’t wearing makeup, as there was no attempt to make him look younger or more vibrant through lighting or other special effects.

The video appeared to be Cash's death announcement, as he was in failing health after a life filled with drug-abuse. He died 7 months after the filming of the music video.

Hurt lyrics

I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that's real
The needle tears a hole
The old familiar sting
Try to kill it all away
But I remember, everything

What have I become
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know,
goes away
In the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt

I wear this crown of thorns
Upon my liar's chair
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
Beneath the stains of time
The feelings disappear
You are someone else
I am still right here

What have I become
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know
goes away
In the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt

If I could start again
A million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way