In 1994, Trent Reznor composed the song "Hurt" for his group Nine Inch Nails. The piece became one of the band's highlights and headlined the album "The Downward Spiral." The original "Hurt" maintains the constants of industrial rock from the 90s: depressing lyrics and fluctuating rhythm.
Some time after its commercial release, the song caught the attention of a living legend of music: The great Johnny Cash (1932-2003). The great Arkansas-born performer had been away from the stage for years, but had never stopped releasing studio albums. When his manager handed him a new list of songs to cover, "Hurt" quickly caught the artist's attention and he decided to make it the flagship of his album "American IV: The Man Comes Around."
The arrangements made in the song accentuate if possible the sadness and melancholic feeling. Small changes were also made to the lyrics to replace the profanities and accommodate Cash's deeply Christian legacy. But make no mistake, the fundamental ingredient to turn this version into a song for history was provided by the singer himself with his heartfelt and heartrending performance.
Johnny Cash had almost fifty years of career when he faced the recording of the single. His great career constantly swung between the country , the rock & roll , the folk, the rockabilly and even gospel. But in addition to his proven versatility, Cash stood out for being the most alternative and dark of the group of solo singers that emerged from the Sun Records studio in Memphis, which was led at the time by legendary producer Sam Phillips. In the mid-50s, future stars such as Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison and Carl Perkins, among others, met there. Johnny Cash shared with them all kinds of moves, substance addictions and endless tours around the country. However, he always kept in the depths of his soul some inner demons, originating in the bosom of his family during his childhood and adolescence, which gradually emerged to give his musical production a dark and enigmatic character. All this was not at odds with success since Cash is one of the most successful and award-winning singers in history (18 Grammy Awards, more than 90 million records sold worldwide). In addition, he also stood out as an actor in both film and television.
However, that hard emotional charge was always present in his career. His tortured psyche was added to his natural talent and the unmistakable deep voice that he brought from the factory. Over time, he allowed music and drug and alcohol addictions to be his vehicle for exorcising repressed feelings of frustration that came from various fronts: an authoritarian father, the harsh living conditions in the countryside in the midst of economic depression, and especially , the tragic death of his older brother while working in the cornfields of Arkansas.
Cash recorded "Hurt" at the end of 2002 and went before the cameras to film the video clip in February 2003. His health was already very precarious after being afflicted by ailments that were the result of the excesses committed during his youth and maturity. . He was aware that his end was near and he saw in this song the possibility of weaving an invaluable part of his musical testament. The content of the letter fits so perfectly to its vital moment that anyone could say that it seems composed by itself. Cash blends with the material to, through his voice, embed himself in the meaning of the lyrics and take stock of his life and the current state that presides over his conscience before an upcoming end. The first paragraph is hugely paradigmatic:
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
The constant trip to the past to relive memories is another of the characteristics of the song, but in the next paragraph the bitterness and absence of those who have shared the same path also erupts:
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
The final paragraph before the final chorus alludes to the inexorable passage of time and the open wounds that have not been able to close. Life is complex and people make mistakes that they must continue to live with:
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
In light of this powerful message, the director of the video clip, Mark Romanek, decided to place Cash among his own memories by recording much of the content in the singer's house museum, which had been closed for years. Memories of a life that fade while the protagonist of these vindicates his powerful legacy from the assumption of decrepitude. As images of Cash's life flood the screen, we also see what was the great love of his life, his second wife and great country singer June Carter. June watches him accentuating the gloom and twilight feeling that floods the scene.
Especially symbolic are the images in which a young Cash visits what remains of the small Arkansas farm where he was born and raised. As success came to him everywhere, he could not separate himself from an emotional drag that continued to be very present throughout his life.
Unfortunately, the saddest omens were fulfilled when, three months after the recording, June Carter and later Cash himself died. The singer continued recording until the end and that was how three albums were released posthumously in 2006, 2010 and 2014. This song won him a Grammy Award in 2004 as the best video of the year.
Here we leave you the video so you can enjoy it.
Comments