Matthew Noble

Professor Reynolds

English Composition II

5/1/2022

Visual Text Analysis

"Hurt" by Johnny Cash is a refreshing new take on the song written by the Nine Inch

Nails and takes on a more personal approach in the new music video, portraying something

much more sincere and powerful than the original. The music video for the original version is

much darker, but the visuals on Cash’s video fit the theme more and feel much more relevant

to what is being sung in the lyrics. The two videos are similar but they have some pretty

significant differences. Both songs sing about death and destruction, but they approach these

themes in very different ways. Many would say that these two versions are completely

different songs, despite one being a cover of the other.

The Johnny Cash version of “Hurt” has a strong visual style that features clips of a

museum dedicated to Cash bathed in a dark, yellow light, as well as clips of him and his

family, and of a reenactment of Jesus’ crucifixion. The items in the museum share pieces of

his life with the audience, giving off an almost nostalgic feeling, and resembling Renaissance

era still life painting. The video switches between this and videos of Cash and his wife along

with clips symbolic of death, namely the aforementioned crucifixion reenactment. The Johnny

Cash version is also a fully produced music video released on his own YouTube channel,

whereas the NIN version is not on their own channel and does not seem to have much of a

design behind the video. The Nine Inch Nails version sports a central color and basic theme of
death but it is very broad and general, and not super personal. It shows a lot of symbols and

videos in black and white but it doesn’t really tie into the lyrics as well, with the lyrics being a

lot more about one person’s struggle with self-destruction more so than with death. The Cash

music video includes these clips that relate to himself and his life in order to contribute to the

strong visual style and tie well with the theme of the song as Cash plays it.

That theme is that of a man nearing the end of his life, remembering a legacy he has to

leave behind as he leaves the world, while simultaneously remembering the mistakes he’s

made along the way. This theme is much, much more personal to Cash than the original

version is to anyone in particular. The video serves to strengthen that theme, as it includes

Cash looking off longingly into the distance as it plays videos of him and his wife in black

and white. It is also very cute to hear Cash refer to his wife in the song as “my sweetest

friend”, and it puts the song into better context. It feels like a conversation between a man on

his deathbed and his wife sitting beside him. The changed lyrics between the versions also

illustrates this theme a bit better than the original did.

The lyrics are almost exactly the same between the two versions, but the difference in

singers is what gives this song a brand new, fresh interpretation. In the original, the lyrics are

the same but Reznor, the lead sing of NIN, sings that he is wearing “a crown of shit”, which

sounds like something a depressive younger person might say, The swearing makes it sound

more like a kid trying to be hard on himself. The older, more religious Johnny Cash changes

this line to “a crown of thorns” which has more symbolic meaning as it ties with Jesus and his

crucifixion, which ties further into the music video. This single difference is representative of

the difference in interpretation between these two songs, as it shows how Trent Reznor sings

as a young self-hating drug addict, embittered by the hurt he has caused others. It also shows
how Cash represents the song as a wiser, more metaphorical take on old age and the mistakes

you make as you go through a long life and the pain you are bound to cause others in that

stretch of time. Johnny Cash is famous for his strong bass voice, and it works with this

melody so well. In one song, a younger man despairs over everyone and everything he has

leaving him and going to ruin because of his actions, and in the other an older man despairs

over the pain of losing everything to entropy and illness.

Both songs are creative takes on sadness and the emotions you feel when you cause

others pain, but with a change in the singer making all the difference. Reznor himself has

stated that Johnny Cash now owns the song, as he molded the song into something completely

new and meaningful with his singing and accompanying music video. It is not often that a

cover can outperform the original so well, but Cash did it by making it his own. Utilizing

pathos in his video and strongly appealing to the emotions of its viewers, it has become one of

Cash’s most famous songs. The strong visual style of the music video, the emotional theme of

the song and video, as well as the lyrics that work so well with Cash’s signature singing are

what truly make his version of “Hurt” the hit that it is.
 Works Cited

Cash, Johnny. “Johnny Cash – Hurt (Official Music Video).” Youtube, music video by

Johnny Cash, Remastered September 13, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=8AHCfZTRGiI

Garate, Cesar. “Nine Inch Nails Hurt official video.” Youtube, music video by Nine

Inch Nails, September 12, 2009. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbHz9p7Z4OU