Indeed ! NIN defined my personal evolution musically speaking and Johnny's take opened so much more ...I agree with Trent when he said this song wasn't his anymore ! Being French I discovered Johnny Cash's output afterwards and this man was a LEGEND !Respect all around !
Yep. As a kid/teen I just thought it was a beautiful and deep song but I never really felt much when listening. Now I bawl every time I hear it. I can imagine it will only get worse in the future lol, but I will still listen to it.
You’re absolutely correct to hear a man literally tell the world goodbye and you can have all the shit that I leave behind because none of it matters at the end
This song was written by Trent Reznor. He said about the Cash version of Hurt: "I'd been friends with Rick Rubin for several years. He called me to ask how I'd feel if Johnny Cash covered Hurt. I said I'd be very flattered but was given no indication it would actually be recorded. The idea sounded a bit gimmicky.” … “I pop the video in, and wow... Tears welling, silence, goose-bumps... Wow. [I felt like] I just lost my girlfriend, because that song isn't mine anymore... It really made me think about how powerful music is as a medium and art form. I wrote some words and music in my bedroom as a way of staying sane, about a bleak and desperate place I was in, totally isolated and alone. [Somehow] that winds up reinterpreted by a music legend from a radically different era/genre and still retains sincerity and meaning - different, but every bit as pure.”
I'm 70 users old, and have been a cash fan all my life. I understand the song to the fullest. It's hard being my age and feeling it to the fullest, I got one foot in the grave just like johnny. He is right everything you love goes away in the end. God help us
Johnny recorded Hurt in 2002. The vid was filmed Feb. 2003, in June & Johnny's home of 30 years (she's on the stairs behind him) & the nearby, shut-down, House of Cash Museum. Both were in bad health. The vid was released March 2003 & was a big hit. June died May 15. In his final interview, Johnny said June “loved the Hurt video & I’m so glad she lived long enough to see it do what it did & get the attention that it got.” Also, that even when she was in the hospital, June pushed him to keep working & “3 days after the funeral I was in the studio & I stayed in the studio for 2 weeks & it was great therapy for me & I think I accomplished more in that couple of weeks than in most of the other year combined.” Johnny died Sept. 12, 2003.
@@chrissibersky4617 Barry Gibb bought the house, with the intention of preserving it. The fire was accidental, during renovations (electrical, I think). When they bought it, Barry said “This place will always be the spiritual home for the Cash’s. My wife, Linda & I are determined to preserve it, to honor their memory. We fell in love with it; it’s an incredible honor for us. We plan to use the home to write songs because of the musical inspiration.”
@@chrissibersky4617 Incorrect it was a house fire, that was caused during renovations. The Bee Gees didn't intentionally burn it down. google is a wonderful thing...
@@coreybrantley9934 I didn't say it was intentional. Nobody but they know. They had Mexicans paint the house with self igniting oil in the middle of the summer. Stupidity, insurance fraud, spite for Cash, insanity? I can't tell.
@@chrissibersky4617 No, they actually have ways of determining that from the evidence in what’s left after a fire to determine arson or accident…. If it were arson, the6 would have been jacked up trying to file the insurance claim. Guaranteed there were investigators both local and from the insurance company all over that place as soon as the flames were out. Ha$ to have been worth some money and no Ins company us jus5 going to pay that off without looking into it.
His daughter said "daddy, it's like you're saying goodbye." "I am." June, who was standing and watching him on the stair landing, had died a few months before. He was ready.
When you started the video i was like, "Well Homie, get ready cause here it comes". This song gets to me every time. No one is ever ready for this song, it hits like a dump truck.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, why the man is an icon. The Edge of U2 tells a story of meeting Cash for the first time when he agreed to meet with them at a studio to record the song The Wanderer on U2's Zooropa album. Commenting on Cash's imposing presence and iconic status as an American legend, he said when Cash, dressed all in black, at 6 foot 2 in height, arrived it was if Mount Rushmore itself came into the room. He joked it was one of the few times he saw Bono speechless with awe.
A lot of the imagery in this song is from Cash's life. He starts out showing his fame and the emptiness of it (the closed Cash museum, the pictures stacked against the wall, the awards) then he moves to the picture of his dead mother and his wife standing behind him (who he probably knows is dying because she dies shortly thereafter) then he begins to shift back to the shack where he grew up (the little white house) and where he picked cotton as a sharecropper's son. He shows the flood that almost killed his family and his father saved them by piling them onto the front door to float away. And the train that he road away on when he left home (and whose rhythm you hear in almost every Johnny Cash song). This is a man who had a lot of regrets about what he had done in his life and what he didn't do. He was always humble and spiritual and he used his song to speak out about everything, injustice, pain and redemption. This song was his goodbye and it says it all. I don't think you can hear this song and not cry unless you are not human.
I believe that at different stages and ages in life we hear this song in a different spectrums. When it came out 20 years ago, I was in my 30's a younger woman who was a single parent at the time. Now twenty years later, I see and feel this on a much different level. The kids are grown and gone with children of their own. I am by myself and now I see this as a point in life where we look back upon the past. The victories, the losses, shame, regret, happiness, loneliness. When I was younger the phrase, "The needle tears a hole, the old familiar sting" meant drug abuse to me. As a caregiver I see it as a daily pain for the bedridden elderly. The decaying and rotting of the feast, it all returns back into the Earth. There is beauty everywhere, even in the most saddest and depressing times. We just have to look harder to find it, and to appreciate those who are still around in our lives.
Nice reaction, man ! The older you get the more this hits you. At 58, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched this with tears rolling down my face .
Such a powerful interpretation of this song. I consider Johnny Cash's version of this song less about depression and addiction (which the original was definitely about) and more about coming to accept ones own mortality. JC died of natural causes just a few months after this song was released, and not long after his wife June (who was featured in the video) passed. It is powerful and heartbreaking to watch, but it also shows a man who already had a legendary career, giving us 100% right up until the very end. Johnny Cash showed us how a real artist lives. And dies.
Yes, but he also had a long time drug addiction himself- that mixed with fame causes hum to hurt his first wife and their children because he left them to be with June. I think he regretted hurting his family.
I’m a college professor and music aficionado (used to work in rock radio). I used to show my students this video to analyze the symbolism and message. They always cried, and wrote some of the best essays ever!!
I cannot listen to this song without feeling those emotions stirring up in masses. I'm not a huge Johnny Cash fan in general, but this cover is everything...
The man in black = Legend! He was dyslexic as well. "I'd been friends with Rick Rubin for several years. He called me to ask how I'd feel if Johnny Cash covered Hurt. I said I'd be very flattered but was given no indication it would actually be recorded. "Two weeks went by. Then I got a CD in the post. I listened to it and it was very strange. It was this other person inhabiting my most personal song. "I'd known where I was when I wrote it. I know what I was thinking about. I know how I felt. Hearing it was like someone kissing your girlfriend. It felt invasive". It was the moving video, though, that made it all fall into place for the Nine Inch Nails star: "It really, really made sense and I thought what a powerful piece of art. "I never got to meet Johnny but I'm happy I contributed the way I did. It felt like a warm hug. For anyone who hasn't seen it, I highly recommend checking it out. I have goose bumps right now thinking about it. "Having Johnny Cash, one of the greatest singer-songwriters of all time, want to cover your song, that's something that matters to me. It's not so much what other people think but the fact that this guy felt that it was worthy of interpreting.
In my opinion this is the most emotional and impactfull song ever recorded. I've listened to this song for 20 years now and it literally never loses and ounce of power
Yes Dereck, this is indeed a 100% authentic performance by Johnny Cash .. And so was your reaction .. It was so real and connected to the song that I had to watch it 2 times in a row .. Well done, mate ! .. Wayne
Cash was a man who left it all on the field throughout his artistic career and in his personal life. I've been a lifelong fan of his artistry. I treasure this song because I consider it to be the intentional capstone performance of his time here in the physical world, The lyrics and accompanying video put in stark relief the battle between the physical and the spiritual that raged within him throughout most of his adult life. I've always seen this as Cash saying farwell and pointing to what Christ did for us all on the cross. The only thing that mattered in the end.
He was only 71 here, he looks so old. The song is about heroin addiction, but it mirrors Johnny's life, he had problems with addiction for a while, so he understands. Johnny Cash was a huge country and western legend, also an actor. His wife June Carter Cash was a member of the Carter family, very big in country music well before your time 🤗 Well worth looking into, Johnny had a very eventful life, a biography film of his life is worth watching too. Well done...
I have watched this dozens of times Dereck. I still cry. Trent Reznor (who wrote the song) said “It’s now a Johnny Cash song”. Johnny’ wife (June) died weeks after this was filmed. (If you get the chance Dereck) you should react to “For Crying Out Loud” by Meat Loaf. It’s the best song (imho) on the classic album Bat Out Of Hell. Thanks from Ireland. ☘️
I came home from work one day, went upstairs & my 24 yr old son turned to me with tears just pouring down his face, I asked what was wrong & all he could do was point to his computer…this video was playing, he’d been listening to it over & over. I stood & watched it, I also cried. Like I told my son, he’s saying goodbye, he knows he doesn’t have a lot of time left. I was privileged to have been able to see Johnny Cash in concert after graduating high school in 1972.
Awesome reaction Johnny was saying goodbye to his fans and the ones that loved him. when he closed the piano lid it was like he was closing the lid on his coffin. I go to his grave once a month, nothing is more humbling than standing in the presence of greatness. Love from the one and only Memphis Tn.
The house in the country that he looked in the windows was his childhood home. As a very young boy, his older brother died in an accident. His father said to him that it should of been him instead. His first wife was self involved and not supportive all leading him to a drug habit which he overcame.
yes the house was restored after his death and now if you're ever in Dyess, Ar lol you can tour it. This is where my Family is from and still have family living there. Last time I went to Visit 2 or 3 yrs ago, I made my Dads cousin Carl take the tour with me, lol reluctant to do so being he spent alot of time there, Johnny's younger brother and cousin Carl were and are close, posting basket ball in highschook and working at the movie house together. However he corrected our young guide as she read from her script @ Johnny and his family during his childhood in the home and I apologized, she said No, I'm really enjoying his stories, by the time we returned back to small " time square" in town to the old Movie house now the museum. I was having to take pictures with the other tour giers and cousin Carl for all of the including the young guide. he lived it ! lol
Your tears are nothing to be ashamed of, or sorry for. You have a good heart, and that is God's way of calling you to him. Be very happy that you are sensitive. It means you haven't been completely corrupted and hardened by this evil world. God Bless you Bro!
The glisten of tears in your eyes was the only reaction needed. Trent Reznor said "I wasn't prepared for what I saw, and it really then, wasn't my song anymore." His life really wasn't that bleak when he recorded this, but I think he knew his time left was limited. You ought to react to 'The Man Comes Around' as well.
Never ever apologize for how art makes you feel. ART is meant to make you react. To make you examine yourself. That is why it's art. That is why ART is so important. ART helps you be a better human. Congrats sir! You are a true human!! Don't shy away from how you feel.
He released this a few months after the death of his Beloved wife June Carter (the woman on the video). Cash suffered from drugs and alcohol addiction during his career and it was June, the great love of his life that pulled him out. He died only a few months after her, he hadn't the will to live without her. And you can see it in this video.
The Hurt vid was filmed Feb. 2003, released March 2003 & June died May 15, 2003. In his final interview, Johnny said June “loved the Hurt video & I’m so glad she lived long enough to see it do what it did & get the attention that it got.” Johnny died Sept. 12, 2003.
@@invictusbp1prop143 June used to say, "I'm older than John, but I deserve to be. When I met him he had so much mileage on him, I could never catch up."
As a old man that has been half way around the world and back again, seen and done things most can only dream of. Some of us were made to love, but not to be loved. Like Johnny, I have destroyed everything I have ever had. Now at the end of my days I will die alone. I long for death....
When I saw it, the first I perceived was the time to go, a final libération of the heart. The closure of the piano is very strong. I don't really have words to speak of that. He make the dépêche mode's song tambien. Personnal Jésus .
"Reznor praised Cash's interpretation of the song for its "sincerity and meaning," going so far as to say "that song isn't mine anymore." Tells a lot about the song :D
This is the 4th consecutive "Hurt Reaction" I have just watched. I cry every time. I am 60, I have health issues, my Mother passed away 2 months ago and I have recently been reaching out to those in my Life and those in my past. I has been a great life, but it will end, the changes are evident. I recommend that people start early to find joy and connections with others and work to make lasting memories. Go hug somebody.
Your depth of empathy and emotional candor was most welcome in this video. Excellent job, as usual. As for the song, the line “You are someone else. I am still right here.” is a reference, at least from what I can tell, to one of the things drug/alcohol addiction does to your life. Friends, family…they grow and change with new experiences over the years. But addiction freezes your life. All you do is “drug life”, not real life. No meaningful relationships, no personal growth, no new experience. You rot in place; stuck, and life forgets you and moves on. The people who meant everything are remembered only in brief moments of clarity, regret, and longing.
What a song. He appeals to so many people and generations. Cant top this man. I remember him at Glastonbury some years ago and he had everyone in his hand. Fantastic artist and buckets of charisma.
Très bon choix. J'adore cette chanson. C'est un ami qui me l'avait fait entendre la 1ere fois. Depuis que je l'ai perdu, cette chanson me fait penser a lui. C'est une chanson qui touche directement qu'on comprenne le texte ou non et c'est grâce au grand talent de Johnny Cash. Very good choice. I love this song. It was a friend who made me hear it the first time. Since I lost him, this song reminds me of him. It's a song that touches directly whether you understand the text or not and it's thanks to the great talent of Johnny Cash.
La version originale du groupe Nine Inch Nails est mille fois plus poignante et puissante , cherche la version en live . J'aime Johnny Cash mais ce dernier album fait uniquement de reprises est bien fade comparé à ce qu'il a pu faire dans sa carrière
He sang this song shortly after his wife June died, she had really been the love of his life! He died shorty after recording this song. I met him in Korea in the early 1960's, he was doing a USO Tour. When being interviewed by AFKN (Armed Forced Korea Network) he showed that he was a regular guy and had a great sense of humor. When asked if he'd ever served in the military he replied, "Yes Sergeant, I spent 20 years in the US Air Force- from 1950 to 1954!" When he was asked what the difference was between his regular tours and this USO Tour Johnny replied, "I usually make some money on my regular tours." We'll all miss him!
Johnny Cash sung this one for his wife June who passed away 3 months after this came out. He passed 4 months after she did. Everyone says he died from a broken heart from losing her because they were married for 35 years. She was his world.
After Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails heard Johnny Cash's version of his song, he simply said "This song isn't mine anymore". And he said that with all the respect and love in the world. That says it all...
Love your honest reaction, the tears. I get them every time, I watch this video. So much different colors in this song...so much to take in and maybe learn from. What to strive for. Thanks!
I'm so glad that younger people are posting reactions to this music video, because it administers a heavy dose of reality. In far more was than one and way more than one can encompass in a simple TH-cam comment. It's a levity that one can simply feel. So well conveyed
In the 2005 Joaquin Phoenix film of Cash's life, "Walk the Line", Cash is depicted in his childhood involved in a sawmill accident that killed his brother. Cash already had a bad relationship with his father, but his father blamed Cash for the death and would often say the wrong brother died. This lays down a psychological underpinning the sets the remainder of Cash's life of self-medication and self-destruction. I don't know how much of this dramatization is true (and Cash died before the film was made), but it does give a possible explanation for how he lived, what fueled his addictions, and how much he needed his wife June. It also seems to inform "Hurt", how the song appealed to him, and what gives his performance of it power. Cash, like Shaft, was a COMPLICATED man. The genius of the video, a miracle that it had even been made, is the bringing together of images that express the moods, darkness, & complication within Johnny Cash. The video and the song were a perfect marriage that is at once unsettling and moving for everyone who views it. It gives EVERYONE pause. The regret, the loss, the pain. A man approaching the end of life, as was the actual case for Cash. The abandoned rooms and damaged mementos of a lifetime in a celebrity's closed museum becomes a metaphor for the pointlessness of striving for fame and riches, which only becomes obvious at the end of a life. In the authenticity and honesty of this performance, Cash reveals his vulnerability, his demons, his humanity. In that raw honesty, the viewer cannot help but feel their own humanity and vulnerability. We grasp our own impermanence. (it's said the young think they'll live forever; true, unless they experience this video.) Thank you for taking this viewing to heart and responding with the honesty it deserves.
That song. While not written by him was Johnnys life! Makes it even more authentic. From the other end of Trent's version. Looking back instead of foreward.
Johnny Cash lived the life of Drugs, Alcohol, Betrayal, Infidelity, Superstardom, Love, Excess, Wealth, Poverty. He had EVERYTHING and could not ENJOY anything because of his DRIVE and Excesses. When he finally began to understand what was really important, he was at the end of an amazing and tragic life.
I don’t know how anyone could watch and listen to this video and not have tears in their eyes or goosebumps. It’s a very powerful song and deep and think anyone can relate to it.
There are many facets to this song that really impress the word "hurt" upon you. The bit that I keep thinking about is Johnny tipping the wine all over his "Empire of Dirt", staring at the camera with those dead unblinking eyes.
I’ve seen several reactors do this song because it was very impactful to me. Yours is the most insightful; and I think most accurate in describing what makes it so compelling. The first time I saw it I was mesmerized through my tears. I could not look away even though it was painful to watch. Thank you for sharing this.
When I listen to Johnny Cash I listen for my Father. I know he listed to Johnny Cash. I can feel that same voice in my soul too. Our experiences continue to meet there.
Every time I listen to this song I think of my father and cry. He is in his 80's and declining in health. He is still happy but you can see his pain and regret. I don't know how well I am going to handle the the next few years. Just spending as much time with him as possible.
Cash was a legend! Starting out in the Blues and Rockabilly. He was his own man in an era when music producers wanted to control nearly every aspect of a musician's life. He performed concerts in places most people would not go. He did two prison concerts and released them on vinyl. Trent Reznor wrote it as a catharsis for his drug addiction. Cash sang it as a close to his life: his regrets, his life and how his life was lived. He was addicted to pills (not heroin) and alcohol. His wife, June, brought him through the tough times. Reznor said he may have wrote the song but Johnny owned the song. His daugher, Roseanne Cash, when she saw the video told him, "it looks like you're saying good-bye." He replied, "I am." I still tear up!
He was hurting when he did this, no doubt. But I like to think he was also, even at this point, still excited about recording a great song that was different than anything he'd done before. Excited by the idea that it might reach a new audience, new generations, and maybe even be something that would outlive him. And something that might comfort some people, in a way.
I know exactly how he feels and what it means but I can't explain it. It's so visceral and amazing sung by the late great Mr Johnny Cash. So poignant. Thank you so much for your review. Simply love this amazing interpretation. Fits him like a glove. 💕
Johnny Cash is HUGE. Always authentic. A classic. You should check out more of him. I'm sure there will be a ton of suggestions. I hope you will take some of them.
An extraordinary artefact. A beautiful examination of aging in a way that Trent Reznor didn't quite expect, until this happened. Genuinely one of the most musical and visual representation of how we will ALL end up. We will be there soon enough. Make your life useful before you get there.
Deeply authentic as you say. His wife June appears as he refers to his "dearest friend," Given that Cash and his wife were in failing health and died shortly after the video was released, I would consider alternate interpretations. "everyone I know goes away." Is he pondering that he will soon die... And everyone and everything will be gone? This song and video moves me every time.
When he sits at that overboarding table, a luxurious farewell dinner, and with spilling the wine he says "So what? It has becomes useless. I cannot take it along anymore".
The lyric, "the needle tears a hole" was originally about heroin addiction. However, the word "needle" can also be interpreted metaphorically to denote regret, loss, loneliness and unfulfilled dreams. Ultimately we break our own hearts. At age 62, that's what this song means to me personally; "I remember everything".
You would think that a man such as Johnny Cash would look back on his life with pride and a sense of having accomplished much more than most. * A marriage to June Carter Cash that was still intact at the time he produced the video. * A career that was stellar. More hit records over decades and decades. * One child a successful music artist. One involved successfully in the music industry. * Having beaten addictions that might have killed a weaker man. * Financial security in his retired years. And yet...he took NIN's lyrics and agreed. He had built an empire that meant nothing when he considered how much he hurt everyone from his first wife to June to his parents to his children to his fans. "I will let you down. I will make you hurt." His voice, his music, the imagery shows a frail old man looking back over his life with nothing but regret. Thus is so very difficult to watch through tear-drenched eyes.
The older you get, the deeper & harder this song will hit you.
Indeed !
NIN defined my personal evolution musically speaking and Johnny's take opened so much more ...I agree with
Trent when he said this song wasn't his anymore ! Being French I discovered Johnny Cash's output afterwards and this man was a LEGEND !Respect all around !
Yep. As a kid/teen I just thought it was a beautiful and deep song but I never really felt much when listening. Now I bawl every time I hear it. I can imagine it will only get worse in the future lol, but I will still listen to it.
So true!
You’re absolutely correct to hear a man literally tell the world goodbye and you can have all the shit that I leave behind because none of it matters at the end
so true
This song was written by Trent Reznor. He said about the Cash version of Hurt: "I'd been friends with Rick Rubin for several years. He called me to ask how I'd feel if Johnny Cash covered Hurt. I said I'd be very flattered but was given no indication it would actually be recorded. The idea sounded a bit gimmicky.” … “I pop the video in, and wow... Tears welling, silence, goose-bumps... Wow. [I felt like] I just lost my girlfriend, because that song isn't mine anymore... It really made me think about how powerful music is as a medium and art form. I wrote some words and music in my bedroom as a way of staying sane, about a bleak and desperate place I was in, totally isolated and alone. [Somehow] that winds up reinterpreted by a music legend from a radically different era/genre and still retains sincerity and meaning - different, but every bit as pure.”
He thought Johny was doing a cover album not THE cover
I'm 70 users old, and have been a cash fan all my life. I understand the song to the fullest. It's hard being my age and feeling it to the fullest, I got one foot in the grave just like johnny. He is right everything you love goes away in the end. God help us
😢 life ain’t fair .
Johnny recorded Hurt in 2002. The vid was filmed Feb. 2003, in June & Johnny's home of 30 years (she's on the stairs behind him) & the nearby, shut-down, House of Cash Museum. Both were in bad health. The vid was released March 2003 & was a big hit. June died May 15. In his final interview, Johnny said June “loved the Hurt video & I’m so glad she lived long enough to see it do what it did & get the attention that it got.” Also, that even when she was in the hospital, June pushed him to keep working & “3 days after the funeral I was in the studio & I stayed in the studio for 2 weeks & it was great therapy for me & I think I accomplished more in that couple of weeks than in most of the other year combined.” Johnny died Sept. 12, 2003.
Another fun fact:
The Bee Gees bought his house after he passed away and burned it to the ground with everything you see in this video in it.
@@chrissibersky4617 Barry Gibb bought the house, with the intention of preserving it. The fire was accidental, during renovations (electrical, I think). When they bought it, Barry said “This place will always be the spiritual home for the Cash’s. My wife, Linda & I are determined to preserve it, to honor their memory. We fell in love with it; it’s an incredible honor for us. We plan to use the home to write songs because of the musical inspiration.”
@@chrissibersky4617 Incorrect it was a house fire, that was caused during renovations. The Bee Gees didn't intentionally burn it down. google is a wonderful thing...
@@coreybrantley9934
I didn't say it was intentional. Nobody but they know.
They had Mexicans paint the house with self igniting oil in the middle of the summer. Stupidity, insurance fraud, spite for Cash, insanity? I can't tell.
@@chrissibersky4617 No, they actually have ways of determining that from the evidence in what’s left after a fire to determine arson or accident…. If it were arson, the6 would have been jacked up trying to file the insurance claim. Guaranteed there were investigators both local and from the insurance company all over that place as soon as the flames were out. Ha$ to have been worth some money and no Ins company us jus5 going to pay that off without looking into it.
The way he closes the piano at the end gets me. It's so obvious this is a man who knows he's saying goodbye.
It's like he's closing his own coffin. Powerful.
His daughter said "daddy, it's like you're saying goodbye." "I am."
June, who was standing and watching him on the stair landing, had died a few months before. He was ready.
When you started the video i was like, "Well Homie, get ready cause here it comes". This song gets to me every time. No one is ever ready for this song, it hits like a dump truck.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, why the man is an icon. The Edge of U2 tells a story of meeting Cash for the first time when he agreed to meet with them at a studio to record the song The Wanderer on U2's Zooropa album. Commenting on Cash's imposing presence and iconic status as an American legend, he said when Cash, dressed all in black, at 6 foot 2 in height, arrived it was if Mount Rushmore itself came into the room. He joked it was one of the few times he saw Bono speechless with awe.
A lot of the imagery in this song is from Cash's life. He starts out showing his fame and the emptiness of it (the closed Cash museum, the pictures stacked against the wall, the awards) then he moves to the picture of his dead mother and his wife standing behind him (who he probably knows is dying because she dies shortly thereafter) then he begins to shift back to the shack where he grew up (the little white house) and where he picked cotton as a sharecropper's son. He shows the flood that almost killed his family and his father saved them by piling them onto the front door to float away. And the train that he road away on when he left home (and whose rhythm you hear in almost every Johnny Cash song). This is a man who had a lot of regrets about what he had done in his life and what he didn't do. He was always humble and spiritual and he used his song to speak out about everything, injustice, pain and redemption. This song was his goodbye and it says it all. I don't think you can hear this song and not cry unless you are not human.
I believe that at different stages and ages in life we hear this song in a different spectrums. When it came out 20 years ago, I was in my 30's a younger woman who was a single parent at the time. Now twenty years later, I see and feel this on a much different level. The kids are grown and gone with children of their own. I am by myself and now I see this as a point in life where we look back upon the past. The victories, the losses, shame, regret, happiness, loneliness. When I was younger the phrase, "The needle tears a hole, the old familiar sting" meant drug abuse to me. As a caregiver I see it as a daily pain for the bedridden elderly. The decaying and rotting of the feast, it all returns back into the Earth. There is beauty everywhere, even in the most saddest and depressing times. We just have to look harder to find it, and to appreciate those who are still around in our lives.
Nice reaction, man ! The older you get the more this hits you. At 58, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched this with tears rolling down my face .
Such a powerful interpretation of this song. I consider Johnny Cash's version of this song less about depression and addiction (which the original was definitely about) and more about coming to accept ones own mortality. JC died of natural causes just a few months after this song was released, and not long after his wife June (who was featured in the video) passed. It is powerful and heartbreaking to watch, but it also shows a man who already had a legendary career, giving us 100% right up until the very end. Johnny Cash showed us how a real artist lives. And dies.
Yes, but he also had a long time drug addiction himself- that mixed with fame causes hum to hurt his first wife and their children because he left them to be with June. I think he regretted hurting his family.
I’m a college professor and music aficionado (used to work in rock radio). I used to show my students this video to analyze the symbolism and message. They always cried, and wrote some of the best essays ever!!
Great teaching choice. I bet those essays were incredible
I cannot listen to this song without feeling those emotions stirring up in masses. I'm not a huge Johnny Cash fan in general, but this cover is everything...
The man in black = Legend! He was dyslexic as well. "I'd been friends with Rick Rubin for several years. He called me to ask how I'd feel if Johnny Cash covered Hurt. I said I'd be very flattered but was given no indication it would actually be recorded.
"Two weeks went by. Then I got a CD in the post. I listened to it and it was very strange. It was this other person inhabiting my most personal song.
"I'd known where I was when I wrote it. I know what I was thinking about. I know how I felt. Hearing it was like someone kissing your girlfriend. It felt invasive".
It was the moving video, though, that made it all fall into place for the Nine Inch Nails star: "It really, really made sense and I thought what a powerful piece of art.
"I never got to meet Johnny but I'm happy I contributed the way I did. It felt like a warm hug. For anyone who hasn't seen it, I highly recommend checking it out. I have goose bumps right now thinking about it.
"Having Johnny Cash, one of the greatest singer-songwriters of all time, want to cover your song, that's something that matters to me. It's not so much what other people think but the fact that this guy felt that it was worthy of interpreting.
This cover by the man in black hits me so hard and I reacted just like you the first time I heard it. Still tears me up when I listen to it..
I tear up every single time I watch the Hurt video. It's beautiful.
I do every time! Most powerful song ever, video as well. Hauntingly so.
In my opinion this is the most emotional and impactfull song ever recorded. I've listened to this song for 20 years now and it literally never loses and ounce of power
Just POWERFUL... I am in tears again... what a message
Hurt was a Nine Inch Nails song Johnny covered but damn did he make it his own 😔. Very powerful song & video 💗 💫
i cant remember his name but the man in nine inch nails who wrote this said this was officially cash's song after this cover hit.
@@PaganMinn Trent Reznor is the name of the genius behind this and many more tracks...
Trent Reznor said something like I wrote his song.
@@ca9968 thank you for the info good sir and agreed. i love their music but i have a hard time with names haha :)
@@PaganMinn indeed he did after this i had a new respect for Trent
Yes Dereck, this is indeed a 100% authentic performance by Johnny Cash .. And so was your reaction .. It was so real and connected to the song that I had to watch it 2 times in a row .. Well done, mate ! .. Wayne
Cash was a man who left it all on the field throughout his artistic career and in his personal life. I've been a lifelong fan of his artistry. I treasure this song because I consider it to be the intentional capstone performance of his time here in the physical world, The lyrics and accompanying video put in stark relief the battle between the physical and the spiritual that raged within him throughout most of his adult life. I've always seen this as Cash saying farwell and pointing to what Christ did for us all on the cross. The only thing that mattered in the end.
Imagine an artist who began his career at 17 creating his masterpiece at the age of 71 as the angel of death hovers over him. Simply astounding.
when you're happy you enjoy the music, when you're broken you understand the music.
He was only 71 here, he looks so old.
The song is about heroin addiction, but it mirrors Johnny's life, he had problems with addiction for a while, so he understands.
Johnny Cash was a huge country and western legend, also an actor.
His wife June Carter Cash was a member of the Carter family, very big in country music well before your time 🤗
Well worth looking into, Johnny had a very eventful life, a biography film of his life is worth watching too.
Well done...
I have watched this dozens of times Dereck. I still cry.
Trent Reznor (who wrote the song) said “It’s now a Johnny Cash song”.
Johnny’ wife (June) died weeks after this was filmed.
(If you get the chance Dereck) you should react to “For Crying Out Loud” by Meat Loaf. It’s the best song (imho) on the classic album Bat Out Of Hell.
Thanks from Ireland. ☘️
I came home from work one day, went upstairs & my 24 yr old son turned to me with tears just pouring down his face, I asked what was wrong & all he could do was point to his computer…this video was playing, he’d been listening to it over & over. I stood & watched it, I also cried. Like I told my son, he’s saying goodbye, he knows he doesn’t have a lot of time left. I was privileged to have been able to see Johnny Cash in concert after graduating high school in 1972.
Awesome reaction Johnny was saying goodbye to his fans and the ones that loved him. when he closed the piano lid it was like he was closing the lid on his coffin. I go to his grave once a month, nothing is more humbling than standing in the presence of greatness. Love from the one and only Memphis Tn.
What you're feeling is what we've all felt watching this. It's powerful.
Omg. What a powerfull song this is. I am crying my eyes out.😭
Everytime i hear the Song im crying just crying cannot Control
Sung by a man who knew his end was coming. Really makes you think about how little time we all have.😢
The house in the country that he looked in the windows was his childhood home. As a very young boy, his older brother died in an accident. His father said to him that it should of been him instead. His first wife was self involved and not supportive all leading him to a drug habit which he overcame.
His first wife was years ahead of her time, most modern women are that way now...
yes the house was restored after his death and now if you're ever in Dyess, Ar lol you can tour it. This is where my Family is from and still have family living there. Last time I went to Visit 2 or 3 yrs ago, I made my Dads cousin Carl take the tour with me, lol reluctant to do so being he spent alot of time there, Johnny's younger brother and cousin Carl were and are close, posting basket ball in highschook and working at the movie house together. However he corrected our young guide as she read from her script @ Johnny and his family during his childhood in the home and I apologized, she said No, I'm really enjoying his stories, by the time we returned back to small " time square" in town to the old Movie house now the museum. I was having to take pictures with the other tour giers and cousin Carl for all of the including the young guide. he lived it ! lol
Your tears are nothing to be ashamed of, or sorry for. You have a good heart, and that is God's way of calling you to him. Be very happy that you are sensitive. It means you haven't been completely corrupted and hardened by this evil world.
God Bless you Bro!
One of the most powerful songs and videos I have ever seen.
The glisten of tears in your eyes was the only reaction needed. Trent Reznor said "I wasn't prepared for what I saw, and it really then, wasn't my song anymore." His life really wasn't that bleak when he recorded this, but I think he knew his time left was limited. You ought to react to 'The Man Comes Around' as well.
God !! I love Johnny Cash !! A true legend, country for ever !!
He is.
The part where he pours the wine looking at you in your eye. It's pure self-destructive agression.
That part 😲
He was truely saying good bye with this song. I still get emotional when I hear it. 🖤
Never ever apologize for how art makes you feel. ART is meant to make
you react. To make you examine yourself. That is why it's art. That is
why ART is so important. ART helps you be a better human. Congrats sir!
You are a true human!! Don't shy away from how you feel.
That is one of the most powerful performances for me
The genius of it is more apparent when you hear how the original was and what he turned it into.
He released this a few months after the death of his Beloved wife June Carter (the woman on the video). Cash suffered from drugs and alcohol addiction during his career and it was June, the great love of his life that pulled him out. He died only a few months after her, he hadn't the will to live without her. And you can see it in this video.
The Hurt vid was filmed Feb. 2003, released March 2003 & June died May 15, 2003. In his final interview, Johnny said June “loved the Hurt video & I’m so glad she lived long enough to see it do what it did & get the attention that it got.” Johnny died Sept. 12, 2003.
He was only 70 when he filmed this video and looked over 90. Decades of abuse finally caught up with him.
@@maverick214 Dude lived a rough life…hard miles and long nights take a toll on a body.
@@invictusbp1prop143 June used to say, "I'm older than John, but I deserve to be. When I met him he had so much mileage on him, I could never catch up."
Before or after?
As a old man that has been half way around the world and back again, seen and done things most can only dream of. Some of us were made to love, but not to be loved. Like Johnny, I have destroyed everything I have ever had. Now at the end of my days I will die alone. I long for death....
When I saw it, the first I perceived was the time to go, a final libération of the heart. The closure of the piano is very strong. I don't really have words to speak of that. He make the dépêche mode's song tambien. Personnal Jésus .
There was a lot of hurt and pain in his life. Early on drug addition. But he is one of the greats of American music. Bless his soul ❤❤❤
"Reznor praised Cash's interpretation of the song for its "sincerity and meaning," going so far as to say "that song isn't mine anymore." Tells a lot about the song :D
I challenged myself not to cry THIS time, no dice! 😥♥️✌
I really wanted to give you a hug after that!! Your commentary was spot on... despite it hurting, I loved it!♥️
Impossible mission
Nothing hurts more than the truth.
Did not know the song. Very impressive track. Wow! thanks for showing and commenting it
This is the 4th consecutive "Hurt Reaction" I have just watched. I cry every time. I am 60, I have health issues, my Mother passed away 2 months ago and I have recently been reaching out to those in my Life and those in my past. I has been a great life, but it will end, the changes are evident. I recommend that people start early to find joy and connections with others and work to make lasting memories. Go hug somebody.
This is one of my favorite songs.
Your depth of empathy and emotional candor was most welcome in this video. Excellent job, as usual.
As for the song, the line “You are someone else. I am still right here.” is a reference, at least from what I can tell, to one of the things drug/alcohol addiction does to your life. Friends, family…they grow and change with new experiences over the years. But addiction freezes your life. All you do is “drug life”, not real life. No meaningful relationships, no personal growth, no new experience. You rot in place; stuck, and life forgets you and moves on. The people who meant everything are remembered only in brief moments of clarity, regret, and longing.
I don't show much emotion but omg this one song brings me to tears every single time I hear it.
What a song. He appeals to so many people and generations. Cant top this man. I remember him at Glastonbury some years ago and he had everyone in his hand. Fantastic artist and buckets of charisma.
Très bon choix. J'adore cette chanson. C'est un ami qui me l'avait fait entendre la 1ere fois. Depuis que je l'ai perdu, cette chanson me fait penser a lui. C'est une chanson qui touche directement qu'on comprenne le texte ou non et c'est grâce au grand talent de Johnny Cash. Very good choice. I love this song. It was a friend who made me hear it the first time. Since I lost him, this song reminds me of him. It's a song that touches directly whether you understand the text or not and it's thanks to the great talent of Johnny Cash.
La version originale du groupe Nine Inch Nails est mille fois plus poignante et puissante , cherche la version en live .
J'aime Johnny Cash mais ce dernier album fait uniquement de reprises est bien fade comparé à ce qu'il a pu faire dans sa carrière
Great reaction to a great song 🎶 legendary Johnny Cash
He sang this song shortly after his wife June died, she had really been the love of his life! He died shorty after recording this song.
I met him in Korea in the early 1960's, he was doing a USO Tour. When being interviewed by AFKN (Armed Forced Korea Network) he showed that he was a regular guy and had a great sense of humor. When asked if he'd ever served in the military he replied, "Yes Sergeant, I spent 20 years in the US Air Force- from 1950 to 1954!" When he was asked what the difference was between his regular tours and this USO Tour Johnny replied, "I usually make some money on my regular tours." We'll all miss him!
Johnny Cash sung this one for his wife June who passed away 3 months after this came out. He passed 4 months after she did. Everyone says he died from a broken heart from losing her because they were married for 35 years. She was his world.
After Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails heard Johnny Cash's version of his song, he simply said "This song isn't mine anymore". And he said that with all the respect and love in the world. That says it all...
I loved his version of the song it was his farewell to all his fans thanking them for loving his music.
Love your honest reaction, the tears. I get them every time, I watch this video. So much different colors in this song...so much to take in and maybe learn from. What to strive for. Thanks!
Heartfelt reaction bro. Thanks for that.
His wife died in 2003, and Johnny, four months after her.
Its regret….whole hearted, fully embodied regret for things in his life….and the ones he loved…
I'm so glad that younger people are posting reactions to this music video, because it administers a heavy dose of reality. In far more was than one and way more than one can encompass in a simple TH-cam comment. It's a levity that one can simply feel. So well conveyed
Cant help but think when he closed the piano that it was like closing his life, closing the casket, he knew the end was close
It was the year before he died, and he let us share his life flashing before his eyes. And his rendition shares a lifetime of regrets...
I discovered Johnny Cash in Columbo lol !
He’s really a Great Artist.
Thank you Dereck ! 🍀🌼🍀🌈
Very powerful song that will make you cry.
All the time
In the 2005 Joaquin Phoenix film of Cash's life, "Walk the Line", Cash is depicted in his childhood involved in a sawmill accident that killed his brother. Cash already had a bad relationship with his father, but his father blamed Cash for the death and would often say the wrong brother died. This lays down a psychological underpinning the sets the remainder of Cash's life of self-medication and self-destruction. I don't know how much of this dramatization is true (and Cash died before the film was made), but it does give a possible explanation for how he lived, what fueled his addictions, and how much he needed his wife June. It also seems to inform "Hurt", how the song appealed to him, and what gives his performance of it power.
Cash, like Shaft, was a COMPLICATED man. The genius of the video, a miracle that it had even been made, is the bringing together of images that express the moods, darkness, & complication within Johnny Cash. The video and the song were a perfect marriage that is at once unsettling and moving for everyone who views it. It gives EVERYONE pause. The regret, the loss, the pain. A man approaching the end of life, as was the actual case for Cash. The abandoned rooms and damaged mementos of a lifetime in a celebrity's closed museum becomes a metaphor for the pointlessness of striving for fame and riches, which only becomes obvious at the end of a life.
In the authenticity and honesty of this performance, Cash reveals his vulnerability, his demons, his humanity. In that raw honesty, the viewer cannot help but feel their own humanity and vulnerability. We grasp our own impermanence. (it's said the young think they'll live forever; true, unless they experience this video.) Thank you for taking this viewing to heart and responding with the honesty it deserves.
That song. While not written by him was Johnnys life! Makes it even more authentic. From the other end of Trent's version. Looking back instead of foreward.
Johnny Cash lived the life of Drugs, Alcohol, Betrayal, Infidelity, Superstardom, Love, Excess, Wealth, Poverty. He had EVERYTHING and could not ENJOY anything because of his DRIVE and Excesses. When he finally began to understand what was really important, he was at the end of an amazing and tragic life.
I don’t know how anyone could watch and listen to this video and not have tears in their eyes or goosebumps. It’s a very powerful song and deep and think anyone can relate to it.
There are many facets to this song that really impress the word "hurt" upon you. The bit that I keep thinking about is Johnny tipping the wine all over his "Empire of Dirt", staring at the camera with those dead unblinking eyes.
I’ve seen several reactors do this song because it was very impactful to me. Yours is the most insightful; and I think most accurate in describing what makes it so compelling. The first time I saw it I was mesmerized through my tears. I could not look away even though it was painful to watch. Thank you for sharing this.
The stunned look on your face was exactly how I looked the 1st time I saw it
When I listen to Johnny Cash I listen for my Father. I know he listed to Johnny Cash. I can feel that same voice in my soul too. Our experiences continue to meet there.
Every time I listen to this song I think of my father and cry. He is in his 80's and declining in health. He is still happy but you can see his pain and regret. I don't know how well I am going to handle the the next few years. Just spending as much time with him as possible.
Cash was a legend! Starting out in the Blues and Rockabilly. He was his own man in an era when music producers wanted to control nearly every aspect of a musician's life. He performed concerts in places most people would not go. He did two prison concerts and released them on vinyl.
Trent Reznor wrote it as a catharsis for his drug addiction. Cash sang it as a close to his life: his regrets, his life and how his life was lived. He was addicted to pills (not heroin) and alcohol. His wife, June, brought him through the tough times. Reznor said he may have wrote the song but Johnny owned the song.
His daugher, Roseanne Cash, when she saw the video told him, "it looks like you're saying good-bye." He replied, "I am."
I still tear up!
He was hurting when he did this, no doubt. But I like to think he was also, even at this point, still excited about recording a great song that was different than anything he'd done before. Excited by the idea that it might reach a new audience, new generations, and maybe even be something that would outlive him. And something that might comfort some people, in a way.
He covered several contemporary songs with Ruben that were way out of his wheelhouse. This, Depeche Mode, Rusty Cage by Sound Garden…
Wonderful reaction to a haunting song. Love that you can be moved by this love you
When Johnny Cash's daughter heard it, she said "it sounds like you're saying goodbye", he replied "I am"
My absolute favorite version of this song, you can feel everything he says, raw emotion
When he closes the piano, it's like he's closing his coffin. Gets me every time.
it was indeed the last time that piano was used and closed. . .
Johnny cash poet artist legend in his time his music will live forever from uk
He covered some songs that related to him and his life. You hear the regret in his voice.
I know exactly how he feels and what it means but I can't explain it. It's so visceral and amazing sung by the late great Mr Johnny Cash. So poignant. Thank you so much for your review. Simply love this amazing interpretation. Fits him like a glove. 💕
"when the man comes around" est magnifique aussi.
I heard that Johnny's daughter watched this video and told him "it looks like you're saying goodbye."
He replied "I am".
The legends didn't have it easy back then. That's why they're legends. ..RIP Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash is HUGE. Always authentic. A classic. You should check out more of him. I'm sure there will be a ton of suggestions. I hope you will take some of them.
He knew this was his last song. The piano closing at the end symbolizes this. He died not even a year later.
'When The Man Comes Around' is another to be checked out.
An extraordinary artefact. A beautiful examination of aging in a way that Trent Reznor didn't quite expect, until this happened. Genuinely one of the most musical and visual representation of how we will ALL end up. We will be there soon enough. Make your life useful before you get there.
Deeply authentic as you say. His wife June appears as he refers to his "dearest friend," Given that Cash and his wife were in failing health and died shortly after the video was released, I would consider alternate interpretations. "everyone I know goes away." Is he pondering that he will soon die... And everyone and everything will be gone? This song and video moves me every time.
When he covers the piano keys at the end, it's like the cover on a coffin. And he died not long after this recording.
Closing the hood on his piano, as if saying goodbye to an old friend he knew he'd never see again....
When he sits at that overboarding table, a luxurious farewell dinner, and with spilling the wine he says "So what? It has becomes useless. I cannot take it along anymore".
I love to see the emotional reaction to this song. It's amazing, but tough.
The lyric, "the needle tears a hole" was originally about heroin addiction. However, the word "needle" can also be interpreted metaphorically to denote regret, loss, loneliness and unfulfilled dreams. Ultimately we break our own hearts. At age 62, that's what this song means to me personally; "I remember everything".
You would think that a man such as Johnny Cash would look back on his life with pride and a sense of having accomplished much more than most.
* A marriage to June Carter Cash that was still intact at the time he produced the video.
* A career that was stellar. More hit records over decades and decades.
* One child a successful music artist. One involved successfully in the music industry.
* Having beaten addictions that might have killed a weaker man.
* Financial security in his retired years.
And yet...he took NIN's lyrics and agreed. He had built an empire that meant nothing when he considered how much he hurt everyone from his first wife to June to his parents to his children to his fans. "I will let you down. I will make you hurt."
His voice, his music, the imagery shows a frail old man looking back over his life with nothing but regret.
Thus is so very difficult to watch through tear-drenched eyes.
Johnny never opened the lid of that piano again. Somewhat profound I think.