Hurt by Cash

This started as a quick link, but it got too long not to have a title:

I’ve been thinking about Johnny Cash’s performance of “Hurt” for the last couple hours for no particular reason:

I really don’t know what brought this song to mind1, but I finally broke down and watched the video. The video is even more haunting than I remember, especially considering that Cash died shortly after recording it. The Last Supper scene really intrigues me every time I see it: I wonder what other artists trying to pull it off would look like; I suspect not well which begs the question why? I mean what is so different about Cash? For some reason the word “sinner” popped into my head when I typed that but it could just be “Walk the Line’s” influence on me. Maybe it’s because Cash died right after the video, making it prophetic? Who can really say?

I wasn’t really thinking about death, or relationships, but its hard to ignore those topics given the lyrics:

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

If we could start again indeed.

  1. A very different Cash song came up on my music shuffle earlier and I guess that must be the actual catalyst.