SONG ANALYSIS

Johnny Cash –
HURT

By Daniel Adame González

 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

Despite the fact I am about to analyse Johnny Cash`s song “Hurt”, It is worth
mentioning a few curiosities about this track. “Hurt” was originally written by Trent
Reznor, founder of the band Nine Inch Nails. In 2002 Johnny Cash versioned this song
with the contribution of Rick Rubin, one of the most privileged record producers in the
USA. The song was accompanied by a video made by Mark Romanek, who used real
images and videos of Johnny Cash´s life in order to make the experience even more
realistic and moving. During my analysis, I will use the original video to connect the
ideas from the lyrics to their meaning in order to make the connection clearer and my
arguments stronger.
I will proceed as follows, Firstly, I will focus on the song´s genre, and then I will be
analysing each stanza by providing not only my ideas but also images from the original
video that will help to understand my point.
Johnny Cash´s song “Hurt” belongs to the autobiographic genre. There are many
reasons to justify its genre.
The song was produced in 2002, when Johnny Cash was 71 years old. By that age,
Johnny was really weak due to some issues dealing with his health. He was so weak that
he had to record not only the song but also the video in his own house because of
mobility difficulties. In the video, we can clearly see how the autobiographic content
comes into stage. There are several contrasts between images from the past and images
from the present, and the lyrics reflect how time have affected himself and everything
he used to be.
The first stanza goes as follows:
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

In this stanza, there is an autobiographic concept called Experience as Interpretation,

in this context, it would be related to the process of change that Johnny Cash has
experienced because of natural facts such as age and health. When he says “to see if I
still feel” could be a clear reference to his own experimental life story, and how age
takes away so many things from him.

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
In the second stanza we can identify several concepts related to the autobiographical
genre. In this stanza, the speaker seems to be talking in 2º person, he seems to be talking
to himself or to the person that has changed over the years. In fact, I would say that the
one who is talking is his own mind. His mind is the one who is talking to himself. At the
beginning of the stanza, there is a reference to Embodiment. When he says “what have
I become” I would support the idea that he is talking about his physical change during
the years. As the stanza follows, there can be found some elements by the name of
Memory as meaning-making . As Daniel L Schacter says, “we construct our
autobiographies from fragments of experience that change over time”. When he says
“everyone I know goes away In the end” it makes reference to how people in his
surroundings have changed over the years, not only physically but also mentally. People
who once were friends or had some kind of close relationship could let you down at
some time. Finally, as the stanza ends, it is his mind who is talking to himself in order to
make him remember, what causes him suffer from it. We could identify the concept
Memory as contextual as the stanza concludes. That is, the act of remembering takes
place in particular circumstances. Who once was the great, young and healthy Johnny
Cash is now and old man, who is suffering health issues. In the video, the act of
remembering takes place when he starts playing instruments such as the guitar or the
piano, which makes him remember about the past. And, as we can see, “and you could
have it all/my empire of dirt/I will let you down/I will make you hurt” it is the mind
who takes the role of the speaker and tells him how much did he had or achieved and
the little things that still remains with him, so he suffers when realising that change.

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
As we continue with the forth stanza, the video shows moments in which we can
recognise how time has passed by when taking a look at Johnny Cash and his wife, June
Carter. This is a very self-sentimentalist stanza in which the speaker, who I still believe
it is his own mind, talks about how time has changed him physically but his identity still
remains. Again, at the beginning, the concept of Experience as Interpretation. Johnny
Cash has his own reflexive interpretation of experience and age as something negative.
There is also a reference to the suffering he has when remembering when he uses the
expression “I wear this crown of thorns”. This is a religious symbol that refers to
suffering, as Jesus Christ suffered on the Cross. I would say that the chair he refers to
when he says “upon my liar´s chair” is the Cross from the previous reference. The
following 2 lines, as I said before, are the interpretation of how time has affected him in
a negative way, “full of broken thoughts I cannot repair, beneath the strains of time the
feelings disappear”. When the stanza is about to conclude, the last 2 lines when he says
“You are someone else I am still right here”, it is the mind who becomes his own
identity, as a process of Identity as an act of Identification. As time passes by, he
suffers many changes, not only physically but also mentally. However, no matter how
radical changes might be, the identity of a human being will always remain the same, no
matter what happens.

If I could start again

A million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way
The last stanza ends with the idea of preservation of identity. What he means to say in
this stanza is that if he was about to be born again, we would maintain his own identity
because is what really makes him unique. Again the concept of Identity as an act of
identification comes into stage when he says “I would keep myself I would find a way”
As a conclusion I would like to mention the fact that this song has a main genre which
is autobiographic, but there are other subgenres seen throw the song such as tempus
fugit, sadness and identity, which are worth mentioning. I have always interpreted this
song as a very moving experience, not only for the lyrics but also for the video itself.
The video is known to be one of the most famous musical videos ever recorded,
actually, the video won a Grammy award as the best musical video in 2004.

Bibliography
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/the-story-
behind-johnny-cash-s-hurt-still-the-saddest-music-video-of-all-time-a6683371.html

https://spinditty.com/genres/Johnny-Cash-Hurt-The-Story-Behind-The-Video

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/the-story-
behind-johnny-cash-s-hurt-still-the-saddest-music-video-of-all-time-a6683371.html