Understanding "Hurt"
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- Опубліковано 4 січ 2018
- We're back, and we're looking at one of the most haunting songs of the 90s Alt Rock movement, Hurt by Nine Inch Nails. It's a very sparse, minimalist song, and it uses very few compositional elements to make its point, but the ones it uses are unique, and they fit perfectly with Reznor's vision. Plus, we look at one of the most unexpectedly beautiful covers I've ever heard.
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Last: • How To Modulate Anywhere
Hurt, by Nine Inch Nails: • Video
Hurt, by Johnny Cash: • Video
Script: docs.google.com/document/d/16...
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Hey, folks! These analysis videos are based on suggestions from our Patreon patrons, so if you have a song you'd like to suggest, just head on over to www.patreon.com/12tonevideos and pledge at any level! Anyway, here's some more thoughts on this song:
1) Like I mentioned, it was hard to find good, trustworthy transcriptions for this song. I did my best, but it's more likely than usual that I made a mistake somewhere. I'll update this post as I find out about them.
2) The verse actually alternates between two patterns, but the only difference seems to be whether the last D is played below the E or up an octave. I used the version that made my points clearer, but that occasional super-high D is also an important part of the feel of that part because unusually high notes tend to make us feel uncomfortable.
3) It's worth noting that part of what makes Cash's cover so haunting is the fact that it was recorded so close to his death. He knew at the time that he was dying, and you can hear that in his performance. I left that out of the main video because it's not really a part of the composition itself, but it's certainly a relevant part of why it feels the way it does.
4) Some commenters have pointed out that the prechorus progression can also be viewed in the key of D major, with the A5 pedal representing the V chord rather than the I, and I think that's a really clever analysis and probably better than mine. It turns the underlying harmony into a V-VImi-IV-I progression, which is a simple permutation of the infamous I-V-VImi-IV progression that dominates a lot of pop and rock music.
I was just thinking about suggesting you analyze this song so thanks for doing it.
I would have loved to see you talk about how you could have gone two different ways with a cover/reorcastration with the version that Eric Whitacre recently put out and how you can either expand on the original artists ideas, or how you can change the song to make your idea more precise with your take on it like cash's version.
....reorcastration?
MAN TRA He meant Reorchestration
I know :) Epic typo though
I grew up on the Nin version. When Cash covered it, it blew my mind. Here we had the same song with 2 entirely different meanings. Really shows the power of the 2 performers.
Check out Cash's version of "Rusty Cage" by Soundgarden.
Paul Guy I think Cash's version of "Personal Jesus" is also amazing... Johnny Cash has made so many covers I didn't even know he did...
Let's not forget that Rick Rubin was Cash's producer at the time while covering all three of these songs and he was really instrumental in helping translate them to Cash's voice.
There's something about Cash's version that just demonstrates the weight of his pain vs Reznor's. Just how much older and heavier it is.
@@twothreebravo lets not forget Rick Rubin gave Cash the idea to cover this song.
"Hurt" is not a standalone track, it's the finale of a story. It's impossible to truly understand it without talking about the album preceding it.
Which most music nowadays can't even do anymore
@@rmejiarosales no, you just don't listen to enough modern music
i love how Johny almost completely changed the meaning. the NIN version seems to be about someone with extreme depression while Cash's version is more about how old he is and what life really is in the end
I dont appreciate the cover because he changed the meaning.
@@danielgriffith8911 then what is the point of a cover?
@@danielgriffith8911but wouldn’t the refusal of appreciation be more appropriate if the cover just copied the original without deliberate changes or effort? A cover like Cash‘s prospers because it brings a song about one theme (depression/self harm/ drug abuse) into a completely different context (existential dread/aging/self reflection), giving one song two meanings
In this case I would say NIN‘s Version makes you experience and understand the singers pain
Cash‘s cover makes you try to understand yourself through the regret and reflection of an old man who saw so much of what could happen in life
I'm disappointed that you didn't bring up the harsh distorted ending of the song, where those power chords come in out of nowhere and proceed to linger on for a minute and a half.
The ending shakes my core
kulerage ...and makes you jump out if your fucking skin when you have the song on full volume in your headphones 😂😂
the first time i listened i shat bricks
I think it's supposed represent a gunshot.
Richard Roberson I think it’s the gunshot of someone taking there own life
Fun fact, the radio version of the original Nine Inch Nails song really was, "I wear this crown of thorns." It was actually the imagery of Cash's video that cemented the notion of his version having an alternate meaning.
Well, that and deciding not to end the song on a 2 minute scare chord.
Emotionally, Reznors and Cashes versions are very different. Cashes Is a stripped down version of an old man looking back on his life. Simple but powerfull. Reznors however is a song of a young junkie overdosing, thinking what could have been if he didnt. He wrote it soon after relapsing on heroin. With all the out of chord notes and drones in the background its the uncanny valley of songs. Also you forgot to mention the genius part at the end where all the instruments kick in for the last note, after a more hopeful version of the chorus, signifying death. He never actually sings the last two words
Reznor never did heroin, that Fragile overdose accident happened cause he thought it was coke. This is a big misconception to think that Reznor was a smackhead.
Fill Spectre you are correct, I mixed my drugs up. (Someone told me its not smart to mix drugs)
I dont think its about drugs. The end is supposed to be a gunshot, at least thats what it sounds like to me.
@@iNi_music90 thats why you should taste it before doing it!
@@richardroberson2564 its definitely about drug addiction. " the needle tears a hole, that old fimilar sting." I heard him talk about writing hurt and how it was really a bedroom confessional about being an addict and the loss that comes with it.
I usually love cover songs but this one completely blew me away. I actually love both versions so much and, like you say, they are like two different paintings of the same scene.
For me the differences of the two versions make sense in both lyrically and musically. Trent's version is more in the moment, everything is falling apart now, it is more a realization while being in the thick of it, the murky perspective making the dissonance fit.
Cash's version is retrospective, he shares many feelings of the original, but looking back at it with the clarity of an old man who soon will die, his perspective is clear.
Cash's version of Hurt is one of my favorite things to play on guitar. It just feels so powerful.
YOU HAD ONE JOB! TO FINALLY PUT AN END TO THE ENDLESS "WHAT IS THE LAST CHORD IN THE SONG" DEBATES!
This was a new song to me so I went and looked to the Cash version and you are totally right about being able to hear how he knows he's about to die in the song. It reminds me of the Glenn Campbell Song "I'm not gonna miss you" It's haunting.
I'm not gonna miss you.... insane. Took my Friday to dark place.
I hadn't heard that song before. Wow! Thanks.
Never clicked on a video quicker. I love Nine Inch Nails and have always loved this song and tried to understand the theory behind it. Great Job.
In my soul this song will always be the story of a dying old man, reflecting on the trail he’s blazed. RIP Johnny Cash.
One thematic musing I’ve always thought about this song: the chorus sounds so hopeful, like it’s pushing through all the suspensions, desperately trying to find a solution but getting pulled back into the same cycle, until it finally gives up and resolves back to the dissonant minor (forgive any technical errors of that analysis, I only have a basic understanding of music theory). This song is so poignant and beautiful to me, because it feels like a musical representation of the way depression feels-the desperate, tense climbs yearning for joy and stability that often fail, sending you back to a place of lethargy, dissociation, and confusion until you muster the will to start climbing again. It gives me chills to think about.
That’s why I love the NIN version so much. I love the Johnny Cash cover too, but I relate so much more to the musical expression of this theme that’s emphasized by the NIN song with the dissonance and arrangement.
Reznor and Cash are legends, but Kermit's version is by far the best.
Man I had no Idea this song was so complicated.
blalo'u The thing is, it was probably so natural for Trent to make this song too
Soooo happy you covered Cash' version as well. After the first 5 minutes I was thinking about how Cash took out the weirdness because he was going for a different kind of hurt for his "Hurt".
0:50
AH! CTHULUPHANT!
Often after your analysis videos I'm always left with the nagging question of "did the artist really have all that theory in their head when they wrote this?" and the answer is probably usually no. In your Smells Like Teen Spirit video for example, I'm fairly sure Kurt Cobain saw that riff as 1st fret power chord on E, 1st fret powerchord on A, 4th fret powerchord on E, 4th fret powerchord on A and was done with it. There's nothing wrong with that. However Trent is/was a classically trained pianist and whilst I doubt he went into as much detail as you did I'm sure he had a fair idea of what was going on theoretically. The dissonance seems too weird and deliberate to be accidental.
You're probably right that most of the rock/pop music composers featured on this channel didn't put the same thought into the composition that 12tone does in his analysis. But I always understood these videos as understanding what's going on musically and harmonically in a song rather than trying to figure out how various composers wrote their hits.
You're not wrong, but that doesn't make the analysis any less valid. Music theory is largely descriptive; it explains why music sounds the way it does (and makes us feel the way it does). The fact that most music can be analyzed within this framework, even if the artist wasn't conscious of it, speaks to how powerful a tool it is.
They might have had that all in their head, but it's more likely that they PRACTICED the theory until it became SECOND NATURE.
I know it's tempting to look at how effortless professional musicians appear to play and write, and decide that the way to be a good musician is to avoid education and practice. You can't see all the practice, reading, and analysis that they did in the woodshed.
scott holyk Practice, yes. Reading, maybe, it depends. No musician "analyzes" their own song, so to speak. They don't create a song, then think "this song makes you feel this way for this reason." There isn't any reason to it in the first place, it's all up to the audience to determine. The musician just writes what sounds good and feels right to them, and all music theory does is interpret that. 12tone even says it himself: "That's one way to look at it."
Even as a classically trained pianist I doubt Reznor really put that much thought into the details of it. What he put thought into was his intent behind the song, and the way it should sound, and once he got that down he probably just played around with a piano until he got something that fit that. Yes, his experience meant he didn't mess around with things he knew for certain weren't going to work; that's where the practice comes in. The reading, maybe he used classical music notation, maybe he didn't, music doesn't have to be written down any which way you slice it. Analysis, though, didn't happen. If he wanted to make music just to analyze it himself, he would've just written out what he was thinking.
Not necessarily your own music, but an important part of studying music theory is analyzing other people's music. You're probably right about how much thought went into the musical details during composition, but you have to understand that nothing comes out that hasn't already gone in.
We've studied language by reading books. We've studied grammar and spelling. I'm not thinking about any of that when I'm composing this comment. I only think about the idea I want to express, and all the details of how the language functions is organically coming out the way I internalized them. I could learn about a new word, study how it's used in sentences and how to spell it, and once internalized that word will start coming out in my writing without planning it or thinking about it.
If you sit down at the piano and just make up some music, it will be made up almost entirely of compositional elements you have internalized. You won't hear the next part in your song include (for instance) a tri tone substitution unless that is something you have practiced and internalized in some way.
You can learn about a new compositional element, study how it works, practice the calculations and how to play it on your instrument, and once internalized it will then be able to include in your compositions without trying to use it. It is just added to the musical vocabulary that swims around in your head.
In fact, any new aspect of music theory you learn ever, one fundamental thing to do is figure out how you're going to practice it so that it will be internalized and come out naturally without trying.
John Coltrane just thought about the melodies he wanted to play and they came out. He was able to do so because he studied music theory and figured out a way to internalize these things.
I remember when Johnny Cash released the music video for Hurt. I was like 6 and my mom used to put on this one cable channel that played country music and showed their videos. I'm not the biggest country fan, so I mostly ignored it when it was on, but I remember seeing Hurt's video begin and stopping in my tracks to watch it. I don't think I really understood what it meant at the time, but I felt it. I think its the first piece of art that ever really effected me.
Hearing both songs just always brings me down, but in a good way. Amazing analysis.
Keep up the good work!
A lot of people miss the significance of Hurt as the closing song on The Downward Spiral. It works so much better in that context.
Holy crap, that was awesome. I've been meandering around the Net for days looking at "how to analyze" music, but that question never seems to have a simple answer. Thanks so much this - now I'm off to watch more of your stuff!
thanks 12tone I love nine inch nails and this song proved to me that music can be perfect.
Love your analysis of what makes a good cover thrown in there at the end. Kinda hit the nail on the head
I really appreciate that, even though you're an academic theorist, you don't just recite the academic consensus, you make a convincing argument for your interpretation of a given song. It's awesome.
I think it is amazing how Cash’s version got so much emotion out of the simple piano drone. I enjoy how very simple stripped down music can sometimes be the most interesting to listen to.
Love your channel man, keep at it
This came up on my suggested video since I am an hardcore NIN fan. I am so glad I clicked it. I expected someone analyzing the lyrics. Which are pretty straight forward if you ask me. I did NOT expect an intelligent person analyzing the notes. As a former band nerd I really loved this video. You are completely correct about it being the same painting by different artist. I have both versions of song, but they are both on different playlist depending on my mood. All art is subjective so you can never say one version is better than the other. One of the reasons i like Reznor is because of the multi layering of his music. I would love to see you do one of his songs that multiple layers, tempos, and dramatic tone changes. You get a sub and a thumbs up from me. Now I am off to watch some of your other videos.
Probably the best video you made... All others are really good, but this one you explained even better than the others
Congrats from Portugal
A great, unbiased, and informative analysis. Thank you.
I'll have to watch more of these videos. I can't read sheet to save my life however it's very inspirational to look at the detailed composition of songs we otherwise just love to listen to.
my new favorite channel right there !
Love both versions of the song. Each has their own personality. Thanks for the analysis! Also, love that you said "elephant in the room". I want elephant puns every video. Lol
Holy shit I was waiting for this ever since I subscribed a few days ago. Perfect timing on my part, I'd say.
Wow, this was really good. Thanks for understanding these things and explaining them 😊
I agree with your analysis of the verse and your insight into the pedal tone in the prechorus is spot on. However, the progression in the prechorus isn't a harmonic trill. It's a four-chord pattern in the key of D and the pedal is D's V chord, A, which is adding the hanging feeling you get in that section. Love your anlyses!
Amazing song (both versions) and great analysis! Well done!
I love the way you analyze music
Oh boy!!! Finialy my favourite band!!!!
Your videos are so engaging, I watch them halfway and then stop and hate myself for not learning how to read music.
I've been getting back into playing pokemon again, and one thing i've noticed is that a lot of music - and by that i mean A LOT - of it uses Phrygian instead of plain minor.
Perhaps this could be to convey a sense of being trapped inside a battle, given how close Phrygian's second is to the root in comparison?
8-Bit Music Theory (another music channel on UA-cam) has a video on Pokemon battle music where he discusses that Phrygian harmony for a bit, as well as other common Pokemon song trappings. You might find it interesting; I don't remember him talking about exactly why it might have been used, but that "trapped in battle" idea seems like a fair shot. It's right here: ua-cam.com/video/fWrcc9VSc5Y/v-deo.html
I know nothing about music theory but as a musician I love these videos and find it interested to understand just how songs work
I still think you should analyze something by prince. Maybe "Computer Blue", or "Trust". Some of his lesser known works, but still the very best of what he produced.
Are you always listening to my recent music playlists? Every time you upload a new video is more often than not a song I've been listening to recently. Great video once again!
First: This was really well explained and an overall great video!
Second: I'd love to see an analysis on any Ratatat song.
i've waited so long for this episode
"I am the Walrus" or Elenor Rigby" would be cool songs to breakdown!
Your statement about Trent Reznor's creative control is accurate, however "Actually just one person playing all the parts" is an insult to Chris Vrenna, Charlie Clouser, Flood, Danny Lohner, and countless others whose fingers and brains imprint on Nine Inch Nails.
That said, yeah it's mostly TR's playing/programming.
Hard to forget Adrian Belew, who's contributions are always worth the listen
Reznor is quite a one man army although he does bring in folks to also help.
I don't find what the uploader said as a insult to the other participants but perhaps he could of worded it better. I do see how folks can see it as one
forgotting Finck is like forgetting the perfectly ripe avocado in a jam packed california roll... that sometimes is replaced with off season hydro avocado... never forget the avocado... least they mentioned Alan Moulder... sort of.
Insult hahaha
I make Hip Hop but NIN are a huge influence. Especially the playing all the instruments part.
Yooo but why no videos man, I was about to listen to the goodie goodies!!
A beautiful video - good job!
A video about one of the most interesting harmony of one of my favourite band by one of my favourite youtuber.
Very very interesting video.
Awesome! Love this track!
Thanks!
Hey, it would be sweet if you made a video about the middle eastern quarter-tone maqam scales.
Absolutely fantastic video, subscribed !
This is amazing :D I wish I had this back the in the day to get me more into music which .. I found tedious and unhelpful when taught in school.
These videos are great. Love it.
Great video as always. There's a lot I really love about the Johnny Cash version but check out Eric Whitacre's arrangment. He keeps the tritone in his, which I really feel plays a large role in the overall message of the song and how it realtes to the lyrics.
I first found Reznor via Quake, and stayed because of "The Downward Spiral". The whole album just resonated with my life at the time. "Hurt" is the perfect ending to the spiral, yet it always leaves me with hope.
You Nailed it!
Somehow I was researching wolf tones and ended up here. I like the breakdown, nice work.
Fantastic video!
Can you do understanding Mortal Kombat's theme song?
Great breakdown. You should look into removing moire, it'll fix the oddities in the staves.
Beautiful job
What I most like about this song is that, beyond all the harmonic analysis and the logic behind those chord progression, is the symbolic weight of it: the final song, those final words.
Just like a film director tries to translate an emotion in image, my thoughs about this is that Trent Reznor has, very successfully, translated the emotion of complete loneliness and depression in those arpeggios. For example, the fist chord can be seen like an augmented chord justified like this: the protagonist of the song sings "I... Hurt myself today". We can see clearly the emotional unstability of the character. ¿And how can, musically, translate that unstability? Moving the fifth, the most stable note, in one semitone: to an unstable one.
Also, the first chords has no thirds, so... We can't really know, again, musically speaking, if he's "happy" or "sad". He is, now, unstable and there's suspended chord (the third, the emotion, is suspended).
I don't know if this kind of analysis has passed through his head, but this is art, and the art has the precious thing of multiple interpretation. And I like to think that there's a symmetry between the psychology of The Downward Spiral's character and the music, and hoy the chords and the timbre reflects that downward spiral.
But what about the end thoug? You know, when he goes "I will find a way" with super distorted guitar? That's like the most interesting part
Great analysis ❤❤❤
You should look at the David Bowie version of Hurt.
Trent plays with him while he sings it. But his vocal style over the original is amazing.
Can't believe you did this song so weird, I only recently found it and then here you are
Do Alice in Chains
I don't think Trent Reznor put as much thought into the chord progression as you did but this analysis is still great.
The scare chord and feedback in the end of the NIN version is my favorite part.
AMAZING
In the A section of the NIN version, the extra notes are anticipations, not extensions. The E isn't the 9th of the D chord, it's anticipating the root of the next chord. Same with the D in the E chord: it's anticipating the b3 of Bm.
Also, in the Johnny Cash version the D chord is (add9). It's hard to hear but there are two acoustic guitars. One is playing a D triad with an F# on top and the other is playing a Dsus2 triad with an E on top.
I love how this song can be view in many different ways depending on whos singing it like for the NIN version: Trent is singing from a drug addiction point of view but when Cash sings the line 'The needle tears a hole
, the old familiar sting' it suddenly took on a whole new meaning which in Cash's perspective is about him injecting insulin into the bloodstream to try to increase his blood sugar
very charming analysis
Just shows you how creative you can be with music, nothing seems by the books with trent
Dang.. it makes so much more sense when you just break it up as common chords and power chords... cuts right to the heart of the true harmonic intention
Please have a go at "You keep me hangin on", a multi-covered song with lots of harmony trickeries behind the catchy tune.
This analysis is fascinating. But when I saw the elephant with a shark's dorsal fin on its head, I had to stop the video for a little while so I wouldn't miss any of it while I laughed uncontrollably. Thanks for all you do!
Woooo more song analysis!
This reminds me of ViHart. I love it!
The thing i'm surprised you didn't bring up is both versions having this clarion bell sound that's just relentless until the final crash at the end..
with Reznor's version (a guitar note) it makes me think of a bell listing all of his sins and calling him to hell. yet in Cash's version (played on the piano) it strikes like nails in a coffin telling him his time is up.
You should do a video on coda for the damaged, I find that song sooo interesting!
One of my brothers favorite artists.🚶
I always liked the original way more just because of that tritone in the verses tbh. I freaking love stuff like that.
II believe the A5 is a transition chord to the phrase Bm-G-D-A for the chorus, which is a fairly common progression in popular music. This also puts the chorus in B minor, which is the same as the verse.
If you revisited Trent, that might be nice. I feel like you have grown tremendously since making this gem. Anyways, thanks for the great videos!
So I have been keeping up with your videos for a little while now and I've been curious as to why you draw the the pictures right to left versus drawing notes left to right. Does it have to do with something in the music industry or just a way to express ideas? Keep up the awesome videos!!
Nah, nothing that complex: It's 'cause I'm left-handed so if I work left-to-right I wind up covering up the things I just drew.
Oh okay! Thanks for clearing that up!
I had a print-out of a piano transcription for this song that I found for free, but I have no idea if that website's even still up
You’re drawings are actually very creative and out of the box. I like how you drew a Hydrogen atom to symbolize commonality.
Very precious song to me
FINALLY some appreciation for the original. Both versions are a 10/10, but the NIN version is one of the best songs of all time.
Can you analyze Two Fold Pt. 1 and 2 by Haywyre?
Here's a question I don't know how to solve, and if I need to pay 2 months subscription on patreon to get it made i'll do it. Since you've done an episode on non-octave composing a la Wendy Carlos, is it feasible to create music where the root is not a frequency we're used to? like starting a melody somewhere in the 1/4-flat range?
I don't hear the chorus in the key of A. I actually still hear it in the key of Bm or maybe in its relative major (actually, probably the latter, so it would be V vi IV I in the key of D - and actually I would say the phrase starts on the Bm chord and the A major is the last chord in the progression). This is the "infamous" four chord progression.
Also, the intro of Johnny Cash's version has two guitars in it, and one of them plays what's notated here, but the other plays a D major chord instead of a Dsus2. So it has kind of a "Dorian" vibe to it.
Yeah, there is a lot that's wrong in this video. The chorus is definitely not in A, it's in Bm like the rest of the song. The first chord of a progression does not have to be the tonic and this is an example of that. The progression is made somewhat weird and deceptive because he keeps playing a higher A over most of it, but really we never hear this as the tonic despite the fact that it's there the whole time. B is really the tone the whole thing resolves to.
Absolutely this; the A is just a bridge/interlude. Chorus starts on the Bm. It's just the 4 chord trick with a pedal.
very nice video, full agree but, if I may, I do consider the 2 visions as an harmonic one, based on functional chord progression and orchestration/voice leading, where you can organize and build lines. The 2 dimensions of musical writing somehow.
Love you vids by the way, they're all spectacular. I feel like I know everything I need to konw about music from you and that Jake guy.
Anyway, got to comment on Cash's version here just for the heck of it. I probably really got into NIN about a year or so before the Fragile dropped, so TDS was the meatiest thing I had to chew on at the time, although I would go on to appreciate Broken and then PHM is a whole different sort of masterpiece...TDS is - arguably - Trent's magnum opus. I know most of you will reserve that title for The Fragile, but meh. ANYWAY, having listened to Hurt thousands of times by ~2003 when Cash's version dropped, I just couldn't get into it. You like to say he took some of the weirdness out and I guess I agree, only I think that weridness is what made it special and memorable and not just another mopey song trying too hard to be sad or bleak or whatever.
Trent can say what he wants about Cash's cover - he's either being modest or disingenuous. Cash captures the general sonicality(?) of the song but he doesn't even approach the sort of stark, emotional depths that Reznor takes it to. Hurt is one of those songs you can't just go in and cover note for note. I know Cash was barely hanging on back then but I would've been more interested in him going in an Outlaw Country direction with it instead of just softening some of Trent's dissonance.
If anyone tries to do any part of Hurt like NIN did it, they will fail, because it was never sound as good as when NIN did it in 94. The best hope you've got is to revamp it completely. Country music can be extremely bleak and depressing, certainly more than rock and pop as a whole, and I wish Cash had channeled his 50+ years in the industry to *truly* give us Johnny Cash's version of Hurt instead of Johnny Cash's version of NIN's Hurt.