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Ian Wadsworth

Prof. Freeland

English 1201

2/8/22

Comparison of “Hurt” by Nine Inch Nails and the Cover by Johnny Cash

“Hurt” by Nine Inch Nails, and “Hurt” by Johnny Cash use the same lyrics to create

different messages. The original song is used to convey self hate and suicide caused by drug and

alcohol abuse. With a beat made from a synthesizer, a bass guitar, and a drum, the track is

riddled with fuzz and distortion while Trent Reznor’s voice flows over the accumulating noise.

Johnny Cash’s version that was released in 2003, though, uses a smoother background track with

less fuzz in order to help create a message about the fear of aging, and remembering past

experiences. So, the cover of "Hurt" by Johnny Cash is a more soothing version of the original

song by Nine Inch Nails that focuses on coming to peace with the fear of dying and looking back

on the experiences created during life.

The tale behind the original song is one filled with depression, suicide, and self hate.

Nine Inch Nails released the original song as a part of their album “The Downward Spiral,” in

1994 which topped European charts. The last song on the album, “Hurt” closed out the series of

songs which played in order tell a story of a man who attempts suicide, but fails. Realizing his

mistake he attempts to build his “Empire of Dirt” since coping was not working. The track is a

simple beat made of a synthesizer, a bass guitar, and a drum, but the most overpowering piece is

the fuzz created in the background. Throughout the song it slowly gets louder and louder until

the end of the song in which it is just static noise. This pairs well with the music video as
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disturbing black and white photos of the aftermath of war and its effects fill the screen, creating a

deep eerie feeling within the audience. The helps to deliver the blatant message of self hate, and

suicide created in the opening lines of the song. “I hurt myself today, To see if I still feel, I focus

on the pain, The only thing that's real.” There are no real main characters created within the

music video, although pictures are shown, as no one person is seen multiple times. Rather, a

variety of images are used to tell a single story.

The cover of the song “Hurt” by Johnny Cash tells of a different message. Although the

same exact lyrics, except for one line, are used between the two songs, the music video that goes

with Johnny Cash’s version creates a much different tone. By softening the distortion from the

original and changing the key to A minor, the feeling of the song is changed from eerie, into a

more mellow feel. The accompanying music video shows Johnny Cash with a guitar walking

around his home and sitting at a table full of food while the video cuts from present day to

highlights of his career as a singer and actor. This is what causes the feel of the song to be so

different as instead of the lyrics talking about self hate and suicide, they become more about the

fear of old age and losing everyone around you. The end of the video shows Johnny Cash

closing the keys to the piano and patting the top, creating a very symbolic gesture to death as

only months later both he and his wife would pass away.

The main rhetorical appeal used in “Hurt” by Nine Inch Nails is pathos. This is because

of a flurry of things. The music video used with the song shows scenes of the aftermath of war

and its effects, making people think about if that happened to somebody they knew. The track

behind the lyrics uses distortion and fuzz to create a very eerie feeling that sticks with the

audience, especially as the fuzz continues to get louder, eventually becoming just static noise at

the end of the song. The actual lyrics of the song, “I focus on the pain, The only thing that's real,
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The needle tears a hole, The old familiar sting,” adds to the eerie feeling of the music by talking

about topics such as self harm and drug abuse. These pieces create a song that is directed towards

those that have dealt with self hate and drug abuse, or those who have seen it happen to people

close to them, helping them understand they can get through it and build their “Empire of Dirt.”

The main rhetorical appeal used by Johnny Cash in his cover of “Hurt” was pathos. This

is because although the message was drastically different, the elements that make up the song

create the same reaction within the audience. By softening out the fuzz in the background and

making the guitar more prominent the beat becomes mellow. This paired with the music video

of Johnny Cash walking around his home reliving his best moments in life give the lyrics of the

song a much different meaning. This created an entirely different audience that was composed

of the older generation. The song being about getting older and showing old memories, it would

spark those watching the video to do the same, with the most effect coming from those that have

lived a long life, and created a lot of memories to relive.

The cover of "Hurt" by Johnny Cash is a more soothing version of the original song by

Nine Inch Nails that focuses on coming to peace with the fear of dying and looking back on the

experiences created during life going into old age. Although both songs used almost the entirely

same lyrics the message and tone created between the two were drastically different. The

original appealed towards those who had dealt with drug abuse and self hate, and created an eerie

sense paired with a video about the dreads of war. The cover, on the other hand, had a much

smoother tone that portrayed a message of getting older and reliving your memories of a younger

age with both the music video and beat helping to signify this point as memories of Johnny Cash

flash across the screen. So, Johnny Cash created a modernized message of aging out of the same

lyrics used by Nine Inch Nails 9 years prior to tell the effects of drug abuse and self hate.
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Citations

Howlett, Alex. “Be a Global Citizen.” Subscribe to Read | Financial Times, Financial Times,

2019, https://ig.ft.com/life-of-a-song/hurt.html.

“Nine Inch Nails Hurt Official Video.” YouTube, 12 Sept. 2009, https://youtu.be/PbHz9p7Z4OU.

“Johnny Cash - Hurt (Official Music Video).” YouTube, 13 Sept. 2019,

https://youtu.be/8AHCfZTRGiI.