I have read that Johnny showed this video to his daughter. Apparently she told him; "It is almost like you are saying goodbye." He replied with "I am"....
June died 3 months after the song was released from complications of heart surgery, and Johnny died 4 months later. Whats so sad is that all the pain he is talking about was in the 1st half of his life. A heroin addict, an alcoholic, destroying peoples life's, constantly in jail, then finally prison. Then June set out to save him, and in the process fell in love with him and resurrected him. But in doing so she took on a load of guilt herself because she was still married and thought it was a sin, but couldn't help herself. That's what led her to write Ring Of Fire. Yet all the great things he did in the last half of his life didn't allow him to fix any of the harm he had caused in the first half. Trent Reznor provided him a perfect song as a vehicle to communicate how he felt.
@@disturbed4733 your comment explains better than most why the cover is so powerful. not everyone knows the deep and common connection between reznor and cash was heroine addiction.
@@nmt2k2 harmonically... Which is a great call. The song switches between two modes and that chord is used in both with a different context but then it ends in that chord... If it continued, it could go to major or minor, but it sits in the middle like a coin that landed on its side. Leaving what comes after entirely up to you. He says its unresolved because of this, it never really tells you which of those two colors is the dominant one, it just sits in the middle without making its mind up leaving it up to you. And yes I totally agree that is the best way possible to "solve" it :)
This song means so much to me. Johnny Cash means so much to me. I have a picture of my young mother, in her 20's taken in 1957 smiling with a young Johnny after a show in our town. I lost my mom when she was 60, 22 years ago. This song reminds me of my mother. It's such a moving epitaph.
I think Trent Reznor wrote poetry, and poetry can be interpreted different ways. When Trent sings it, it's desperation, he's trapped in a place he doesn't want to be. When Johnny sings it, it's resignation, acceptance, but with a sting. They're both valid, and I love them both (there's also a great version that Trent sang with David Bowie that's worth checking out).
That version you can clearly hear where the vocalists are in their life. Trent going through the anguish of addiction, Bowie singing with a sense of hope, that you can get through it, because he had gone through that phase.
I heard Trent Reznor singing “Hurt” at a music festival pre-pandemic. He sang it a lot more like Johnny Cash sang it - more sad than angry now. I guess as you get older sometimes sadness and desperation can overtake the anger we have when we’re young. 😢
Doug, I'm like you and knew the NIN version (far too well probably) and was shocked to hear that Johnny covered this. The I listened to it and cried. It is honest, vulnerable, pained, triumphant, angry, accepting and so much more. Thank you for bringing your insight to this marvelous piece.
I've come to appreciate both Reznor and Cash versions of this song on its own merits -- Reznor is showing us a man wracked with regret and self-loathing at his own self-destructive spiral; Cash is showing us a man reflecting on the regrets and pain of a man looking across a lifetime. Incidentally, I think that the song is poetically appropriate for this season of the Jewish calendar -- may your fast next week be meaningful, and may you be sealed for the next year in the books of life and blessing.
Crying, of course. He was losing control of his hands, but still had his voice under iron control. You could see June (his wife watching him) was worried about him; he put her through a lot of grief, but she stood by him and I think he always knew she would forgive him anything. When he closes the piano at the end, he says a loving farewell knowing he would not open it ever again. Still crying...
For my money, this is the single best video ever. The first time I saw it, I was about to head out the door to work. My commute was about an hour each way, and I couldn’t get it out of my mind the entire way in. It’s just brilliant and never fails to move me.
I am from Germany. In november 2006 my mother died. Caused by grieve and burnout after this i had a long time to recover. In spring 2007 during recovery i heard this song first. It was the old and vulnerable voice which got me. And every time i hear it i can't hold back my emotions. It did not get me up, but it is a great hangout for my soul. A catalyst for my soul. I get 60 in two weeks .
This has to the most moving songs ever performed. Mr. Johnny Cash delivered a stunning testimony of his journey that is so relatable. Regret and redemption. The imagery was deep and universally understood. He was humble, honest and transparent, but reminded us that Jesus died to pay for our sins. The guitar and piano along with Johnny's still strong but aging voice was just perfection.
I remember hearing this song for the first time. I didn't realize it was a cover and was blown away. Found out it was a cover, listened to the orginal and fell in love with that as well, but not quite as hard as the Cash version. Then I saw the video. And it completely broke me. I had a slightly improved listening ear by that time, so I noticed things I didn't on first listen. Specifically, that pounding piano chord that is just hammering throughout the chorus. I've tried to explain why that sticks out to me, and I really can't, but your use of the word "relentless" is perfect.
Not only one of the greatest covers, but one of the greatest videos ever made. Love how Trent was hesitant to Johnny doing this song, but after he heard it, he gave it to him- it was now his song. Such a powerful eulogy from Johnny.
I´m not the type of person that cries easily during the day or even in sad moments, but this song among some others and some movies has the potential to make me cry every single time. And that experience provides a very cathartic and peaceful feeling. It´s a song that allows me to soak in sadness.
Great review Doug 😁👍,When I first heard and saw this video it hit me to the very soul of my being.Watched it many times and still has a deep impact.This video of Johnny Cash will touch and haunt many generations.Haunting in a positive way.
My grandfather inlaw just got rushed to the hospital and was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer. Hes 82 and has been playing music his whole life. He has a similar voice to Johnny. This was very hard to watch. Thank you Doug got all you do.
my mother had just died when this came out . its a verry important cover for me . one of the best ever ! i always will be greatfull to Trent and Johny ! peace x
This is one of the few songs coupled with video that makes me tear up, Especially towards the end. Johnny made this is own and it belongs to him now. Bearing and coming to terms with his past, his loving wife that passed and knowing his time is nearing too. It’s a somber memoir in a song for The Man in Black.
Love Johhny! Grew up with his music. His live album on vinyl is still one of my fav's. Love NIN who I discovered through the album Pretty Hate Machine. That album helped me through the worst heartbreak in my life.
I agree.....images of my Father fill my head every time I watch it.....I have a hate relationship with time......if only I could go back and just simply hold him. I think of Einstein's famous quote "Among Physicists like us, time is noting but a stubbornly persistent illusion". For the bulk of Humanity, it continues to be. Dad, wherever you are, I love you.
One of the best reactions you did your homework work as a Johnny Cash fan so many other don’t get the full impact of this because they know nothing of the story around the video and around the man. Thank you for doing this right.
This reaction is a good example of what I enjoy about your channel. It makes me want to understand music on a technical level but your videos are about emotional, personal connection to music.
the song reminds us of our own mortality and how isolated we feel,especially if you're the last man standing in your group of friends and family. i have watched so many of my loved ones leave this world before me,and the "hurt" get more unbearable each time. i wonder how much more sadness i can take,and why am i still here. if only there were a way to start again,a million miles away.
There is a way to start over and God promises it in the resurrection back to earth after the great tribulation. Ask me how and I will tell you where to look. I felt just like you until I found the truth. By the way, if you find it you will be able to see Johnny and all your loved ones again. The best to you!
This song gets me every time I hear it. Whenever I see the video, it gives me goosebumps. It also reminds me of the people that I hurt as a young, stupid man.
This song meant little to me 20 years ago…2022 the kid is grown, husband dropped dead, and the past few years divide of family/friends/nation really changed my perspective. I’m just tired now and ripped to shreds emotionally. Just take me home Lord.
What always got me about this video in particular was knowing that he lost June not long after this was released. Makes the scene with them together all the more poignant.
There's something about him singing, "my sweetest friend" right after the shot of June watching him from the stairs that kills me every time. What more can we ask from life, or from marriage, than to have a sweetest friend? 💔💔💔
Johnny's version of Hurt (especially with his video) says to me that in the end, all of the material riches of this world, all of the fame and glory of this world, ultimately comes to nothing. And even those whom we love with all our heart will be with us only for a short time in this world. Johnny had all of the worldly things that anyone could wish for -- fame and fortune like few others. But in the end, fame is fleeting, and money doesn't mean much when you are old and broken and facing death. And if we live long enough, we will be forced to say goodbye to many of the people whom we love the most. But even in the midst of this devastation and despair, there is reason for hope! A clue to that hope can be seen in a few quick cuts near the end of Johnny's video.
I first saw this video in a hostel in LA having just flown in from Perth. At the time I put the tears I wept down to being a little over-emotional due to jetlag, but I've had the same physical reaction a number of times since.
All the time I watch this song+vid, I can´t hold on. I love this version so much. Thank you Jonny and rest in peace and thank you Rick for recording this masterpiece.
I spoke with June at the Johnny Cash Museum in Nashville before the opening. Press was not allowed yet. I cannot describe the intense emotions I felt when I saw the Cash-family starting holding their hands when we went slowly to that very special black corner where the story of Hurt was 'told' (almost without words), but described and visualized with some huge original studio photo's of Johnny Cash and Rick Rubin. Only the Grammy Award stood in the center, isolated with respect. A few years later I interviewed Johnny Cash his son in Amsterdam for the Belgian TV (because my father introduced the first country songs in West-Europe in 1948). Some details in this video, like the damaged Columbia record are sometimes questioned. But his son was very clear about that: Johnny Cash did not broke that golden record due to his issues with some records companies or so, it just felled on the floor while moving. Tons of other golden and silver records are still intact. If you can, go and visit that Museum once in your life, it's amazing. TS, Belgium
no one has ever explained that song in the depth as you just have. Makes the song have so much more meaning, especially how you explain that it ends unresolved.....
Thank you for this Doug. Certainly one of the best covers ever but with a lot of originality. Cash had the ability to make a song that he didn't write His Own. The visual of this video is extremely powerful, a closing retrospective on his respective career, life; cuts me to the core. Love Johnny and June ❤️❤️❤️
Never been a fan of country music (Classical, Jazz & Prog rock for me). My wife is, but I have to admit this one really got to me on an emotional level
I like both versions of this powerful song, but Cashs cover sounds so honest and pure.. combined wirh this video it feels to me like someone sharing the story of his life, it's bright and dark sides alike and beeing ready to finally face his fate. It makes me feel nostalgic for events I haven't experienced, looking back and drawing conclusions about a life that I haven't even led myself. Amazing lyrics and an absolutely incredible performance. Eventhough it really hurts quite a bit...
I started listening to NiN in early 1991 and knew this song like others have said. The fact that Johnny, and I'm guessing his producer, chose to cover this just floored me. It picks up on that same pounding in your head feel the farther it goes along, just as the original does, but Johnny's phrasing makes it all his own. Just brilliant. I also loved the Rusty Cage, Soundgarden cover he did.
Great analysis/reaction Doug. Nice background on the song as well. It would interesting to know how Johnny Cash came to do a cover of a Nine Inch Nail song.
He was being produced by Rick Rubin, famous for producing huge rap and alt rock bands. He introduced JC to this type of music and Cash grew to like it. JC doing U2's One is very good too.
Doug, I don't get around to all the reactors I want all the time, because well, I do other stuff sometimes (🤣🤣). However, I just wanted to reach out and tell you, I come and see your reactions as often as possible, I have the utmost respect for you and your work, and I'd really like to see more people say that to you sometimes. Even though we don't really know each other (except what little we get through this channel), I feel you are a good friend that I can always come and share the love of music with. That's a rare thing in these days of isolation. I just needed to tell you, I appreciate everything you do and are trying to accomplish. Be good and stay safe, my friend, and thanx for the great reactions.
As my father God bless his soul used to say that song is a heart shaker that's a tune that reaches into your chest grabs a hold of your heart and just shakes it around a little bit just a let you know what's happening
This is probably the all-time best cover. Gilmour's cover of Unicorn's "No Way Out Of Here" and Isaac Hayes' cover of "Walk On By" are right up there for me, personally. CCR's cover of "Heard It Through The Grapevine", Metallica's cover of Diamondhead's "Am I Evil"... Across genres and eras, this is hard to top.
A really beautiful and heartbreaking reading of an amazing gravitationally heavy song. I remember the sobering and sad feeling from the first time I saw this video and really marking how Johnny Cash made it about his mortality. I remember hearing the original NIN version and hearing it when I was an angry teenager who had lost a loved one to suicide, and that version will always have a place for me. But the Johnny Cash version is like for someone in a much different phase of life, a different but no less powerful impression of grief. That whole album (American IV: The Man Comes Around) is a masterpiece. I'd highly recommend a reaction video for I Hung My Head, which just gets me every time I hear it; and First Time Ever I Saw Your Face is quite moving too.
The beauty of this cover is how I didn't really know much about Nine Inch Nails other than that he did Quake video game soundtrack which kicked ass, but I for the longest time had the impression that it was Johnny Cash's song and NIN had covered it (you know metal guys like to cover their idols, the lighter music they listened to growing up so it made so much sense to think like that). And I don't think there's many covers that owned the original song on that level where the song is the same but sounds completely different and sounds original in a way that it works perfectly, but not only that: transforming the meaning of the song as well. That is a feat that hasn't been achieved many times. The only song I can think of coming even close to having done the same might be when Jimi Hendrix covered All Along the Watchtower. Johnny Cash and people who worked with him at the time of the song said it was an old man looking back to his life and having regrets but also accepting the life as imperfect thing, being ready to let go. That it was sort of his last note to the world, autobiographical (that's what they say the music video brings up front so well). Freely phrasing. I can look at this and see the years of being the star but making music other people wanted, then in his late age turning to people who allowed him to make his own music, the songs he always wanted to sing and be reborn as himself, be full of joy of expressing his own music. And how this was almost premonition when his wife died in the following years and he worked furiously to not leave right after her. I feel like Children of Bodom did great justice when they covered Billy Idol's Rebel Yell. It was clearly different from the original but it wasn't awkward or unfitting for the song, it worked very well. Not a band with music style that I'd expect to fit Billy Idol, but their origins listening to all of 80's rock as their musical upbringing was the magic trick. Another beautiful cover was when Opeth did Remember Tomorrow by Iron Maiden. I wouldn't have guessed it was an Iron Maiden tune, although the original was also a bit different from Iron Maiden I know. And their cover of Bridge of Sighs by Robin Trower was just as well something I wasn't expecting until later when I found out that Åkerfeldt loves that kind of music. Mikael's voice is also fantastic for the song, it really does sound like an Opeth song. They're in my opinion quite good at making everything sound like their own. Continuing with metal artist covers, Ihsahn doing Manhattan Skyline by A-ha! is worth listening, not depending on if you like Ihsahn or A-ha! The interesting thing in that song is how it sounds like one of those scandic pop songs of the time, yet the arrangement has heavy hitting low guitars. They never sound out of place, edgy or forced. Amazing arrangement understanding by Ihsahn. And so frail and beautiful vocals, emotional strings and synths.
Another song that has been making the rounds of reactors that is gut wrenching is called Pain Remains I: Dancing Like Flames. It's by the band Lorna Shore. They are very heavy, but the message of the song is universal.
You want to get a few INSANE yet not crazy well known covers…. check out Walk Off the Earth….pretty much anything… Someone That I Used To Know, Hey Ya, Shape of You… their musicianship and arrangements are crazy awesome
Really enjoyed that, Doug, as well as you obviously getting into the music and the visuals. Your analysis after the video is over, however, is the best.
Any man of a certain age can look at this video and see himself in Cash's position - an elderly man looking back at his life, loves and work, being young and vibrant, yet regretting the flaws and mistakes he made along life's journey, wishing he'd done some things differently. Why spend your life building an empire, acquiring power and money, if that empire in the end is hollow and worth no more than 'dirt' to the soul? You can't take it with you when you die, so make sure the riches you leave are the love of family and friends rather than trinkets.
It hit me without warning then what the old man was singing. To this day, it still chills me every time I hear Johnny Cash's version of "Hurt.". There is nothing that you can compare to this song in the version of Johnny Cash.
I have read that Johnny showed this video to his daughter. Apparently she told him; "It is almost like you are saying goodbye." He replied with "I am"....
I did not know that. Thanks for the new understanding. Another layer of meaning to this piece. Wow...
Was just gonna say this.
I would remove, "almost". Sad
June died 3 months after the song was released from complications of heart surgery, and Johnny died 4 months later. Whats so sad is that all the pain he is talking about was in the 1st half of his life. A heroin addict, an alcoholic, destroying peoples life's, constantly in jail, then finally prison. Then June set out to save him, and in the process fell in love with him and resurrected him. But in doing so she took on a load of guilt herself because she was still married and thought it was a sin, but couldn't help herself. That's what led her to write Ring Of Fire. Yet all the great things he did in the last half of his life didn't allow him to fix any of the harm he had caused in the first half. Trent Reznor provided him a perfect song as a vehicle to communicate how he felt.
@@disturbed4733 your comment explains better than most why the cover is so powerful. not everyone knows the deep and common connection between reznor and cash was heroine addiction.
When he rubs his hands on the piano lid after he closes it it's almost like closing a coffin to me that gets me every time
And Doug said unresolved? How much more resolution is there besides the closing of the lid of a coffin?
@@nmt2k2 harmonically... Which is a great call. The song switches between two modes and that chord is used in both with a different context but then it ends in that chord...
If it continued, it could go to major or minor, but it sits in the middle like a coin that landed on its side. Leaving what comes after entirely up to you.
He says its unresolved because of this, it never really tells you which of those two colors is the dominant one, it just sits in the middle without making its mind up leaving it up to you. And yes I totally agree that is the best way possible to "solve" it :)
@@nmt2k2 He missed it because he was too busy talking over the video
@@Mark_-jq6wg It's almost like he was talking about the music and not the video.
@@nmt2k2 - Doug means it's unresolved musically
This song means so much to me. Johnny Cash means so much to me. I have a picture of my young mother, in her 20's taken in 1957 smiling with a young Johnny after a show in our town. I lost my mom when she was 60, 22 years ago. This song reminds me of my mother. It's such a moving epitaph.
I think Trent Reznor wrote poetry, and poetry can be interpreted different ways. When Trent sings it, it's desperation, he's trapped in a place he doesn't want to be. When Johnny sings it, it's resignation, acceptance, but with a sting. They're both valid, and I love them both (there's also a great version that Trent sang with David Bowie that's worth checking out).
That version you can clearly hear where the vocalists are in their life. Trent going through the anguish of addiction, Bowie singing with a sense of hope, that you can get through it, because he had gone through that phase.
@@zacharyalvernaz7916 I love that! It's that exactly.
I heard Trent Reznor singing “Hurt” at a music festival pre-pandemic. He sang it a lot more like Johnny Cash sang it - more sad than angry now. I guess as you get older sometimes sadness and desperation can overtake the anger we have when we’re young. 😢
Cannot watch this without my heart bursting and breaking down in tears. Epic song and probably the most emotive cover I have ever heard.
I pull this up and watch it when I need a good cry
Doug, I'm like you and knew the NIN version (far too well probably) and was shocked to hear that Johnny covered this. The I listened to it and cried. It is honest, vulnerable, pained, triumphant, angry, accepting and so much more. Thank you for bringing your insight to this marvelous piece.
I've come to appreciate both Reznor and Cash versions of this song on its own merits -- Reznor is showing us a man wracked with regret and self-loathing at his own self-destructive spiral; Cash is showing us a man reflecting on the regrets and pain of a man looking across a lifetime.
Incidentally, I think that the song is poetically appropriate for this season of the Jewish calendar -- may your fast next week be meaningful, and may you be sealed for the next year in the books of life and blessing.
@@phred23 Thank you my friend. May we all know another year of sweetness and blessing. 🙏
As you may know, Trent Reznor said that Johnny Cash’s version was superior to his own!
Crying, of course. He was losing control of his hands, but still had his voice under iron control. You could see June (his wife watching him) was worried about him; he put her through a lot of grief, but she stood by him and I think he always knew she would forgive him anything. When he closes the piano at the end, he says a loving farewell knowing he would not open it ever again. Still crying...
I always cry when I hear this song.
This and I See A Darkness always get me.
Yup🥲
When June with her beautiful blue eyes breaks down watching Johnny sing, it pushes me over the edge and I join in the crying ...
There’s only one song that makes me cry, it’s called “Teddy Bear” by Red Sovine
He says, "my sweetest friend"....and I feel every word, every note
For my money, this is the single best video ever. The first time I saw it, I was about to head out the door to work. My commute was about an hour each way, and I couldn’t get it out of my mind the entire way in. It’s just brilliant and never fails to move me.
He captured the last time he would close his piano
Simply, one of the greatest covers ever.
Hurt has to be one of the best covers of all time. Even Trent Reznor acknowledged its not his song anymore.
I am from Germany. In november 2006 my mother died. Caused by grieve and burnout after this i had a long time to recover. In spring 2007 during recovery i heard this song first. It was the old and vulnerable voice which got me. And every time i hear it i can't hold back my emotions. It did not get me up, but it is a great hangout for my soul. A catalyst for my soul. I get 60 in two weeks .
This has to the most moving songs ever performed. Mr. Johnny Cash delivered a stunning testimony of his journey that is so relatable. Regret and redemption. The imagery was deep and universally understood. He was humble, honest and transparent, but reminded us that Jesus died to pay for our sins. The guitar and piano along with Johnny's still strong but aging voice was just perfection.
one of the most moving song ever written ! bring me tears every time I listen to Cash version of this song
I remember hearing this song for the first time. I didn't realize it was a cover and was blown away. Found out it was a cover, listened to the orginal and fell in love with that as well, but not quite as hard as the Cash version.
Then I saw the video. And it completely broke me. I had a slightly improved listening ear by that time, so I noticed things I didn't on first listen. Specifically, that pounding piano chord that is just hammering throughout the chorus. I've tried to explain why that sticks out to me, and I really can't, but your use of the word "relentless" is perfect.
Not only one of the greatest covers, but one of the greatest videos ever made. Love how Trent was hesitant to Johnny doing this song, but after he heard it, he gave it to him- it was now his song. Such a powerful eulogy from Johnny.
Jaw-dropping... so raw.
I´m not the type of person that cries easily during the day or even in sad moments, but this song among some others and some movies has the potential to make me cry every single time. And that experience provides a very cathartic and peaceful feeling. It´s a song that allows me to soak in sadness.
THIS is how you Deliver a Message! RIP Johnny...
When you think that him closing the lid over the keys might have literally been the last time that he ever did it....I'm not crying.
Great review Doug 😁👍,When I first heard and saw this video it hit me to the very soul of my being.Watched it many times and still has a deep impact.This video of Johnny Cash will touch and haunt many generations.Haunting in a positive way.
raw emotion. Mr. Cash made this song his own.
This just tears my heart out - it's a phenomenal song. The first time I saw it, it touched me in a way no other song had.
My grandfather inlaw just got rushed to the hospital and was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer. Hes 82 and has been playing music his whole life. He has a similar voice to Johnny. This was very hard to watch. Thank you Doug got all you do.
my mother had just died when this came out . its a verry important cover for me . one of the best ever ! i always will be greatfull to Trent and Johny !
peace x
God this cover always kills me, I’m not crying, my eyes are sweating from all the blinking exercises I did
This is one of the few songs coupled with video that makes me tear up,
Especially towards the end. Johnny made this is own and it belongs to him now. Bearing and coming to terms with his past, his loving wife that passed and knowing his time is nearing too. It’s a somber memoir in a song for The Man in Black.
Many Thanks for your sweet high sensibility, Doug! ... Yes, our live is often "Full of broken thoughts ...we cannot repair"!
Love Johhny! Grew up with his music. His live album on vinyl is still one of my fav's. Love NIN who I discovered through the album Pretty Hate Machine. That album helped me through the worst heartbreak in my life.
Great cover! Johnny makes this song into a religious experience with all the Christian imagery in the video and in the original song.
A version of this song sung by Johnny Cash was used at the start of Person of Interest, s3e10 - devastating accompaniment to powerful images.
When you lose a parent, this version deepens into the psyche. His voice conveys everything, in any of his songs, it's otherworldly.
I agree.....images of my Father fill my head every time I watch it.....I have a hate relationship with time......if only I could go back and just simply hold him. I think of Einstein's famous quote "Among Physicists like us, time is noting but a stubbornly persistent illusion". For the bulk of Humanity, it continues to be. Dad, wherever you are, I love you.
If this song doesn’t move you, nothing will 😢
Didn't seem to have that effect on the reviewer. Always amazes me!
One of the best reactions you did your homework work as a Johnny Cash fan so many other don’t get the full impact of this because they know nothing of the story around the video and around the man. Thank you for doing this right.
tears me up every time.
This reaction is a good example of what I enjoy about your channel. It makes me want to understand music on a technical level but your videos are about emotional, personal connection to music.
The way Trent described hearing his song done like this was honestly just as emotional as Johnny's rendition.
Love this song. His version of Soundgarden's "Rusty Cage" is also well worth listening to.
the song reminds us of our own mortality and how isolated we feel,especially if you're the last man standing in your group of friends and family. i have watched so many of my loved ones leave this world before me,and the "hurt" get more unbearable each time. i wonder how much more sadness i can take,and why am i still here. if only there were a way to start again,a million miles away.
There is a way to start over and God promises it in the resurrection back to earth after the great tribulation. Ask me how and I will tell you where to look. I felt just like you until I found the truth. By the way, if you find it you will be able to see Johnny and all your loved ones again. The best to you!
That is an amazing version. I loved it from the first time I saw or heard it.
Yup..., it's Johnny Cash knowing "Hurt" will be his last great song. RIP Mr. Cash & thanks for..., you.
This song gets me every time I hear it. Whenever I see the video, it gives me goosebumps. It also reminds me of the people that I hurt as a young, stupid man.
This song meant little to me 20 years ago…2022 the kid is grown, husband dropped dead, and the past few years divide of family/friends/nation really changed my perspective. I’m just tired now and ripped to shreds emotionally. Just take me home Lord.
Alternative Rock radio here in Pittsburgh still plays Cash's version of this song.
This is really one of my favourite songs
I get emotional everytime I hear his version. Real and raw people always recognize their own..
What always got me about this video in particular was knowing that he lost June not long after this was released. Makes the scene with them together all the more poignant.
June looking down at him from the stairs... the expression on her face... tears my heart apart.
There's something about him singing, "my sweetest friend" right after the shot of June watching him from the stairs that kills me every time. What more can we ask from life, or from marriage, than to have a sweetest friend? 💔💔💔
Johnny's version of Hurt (especially with his video) says to me that in the end, all of the material riches of this world, all of the fame and glory of this world, ultimately comes to nothing. And even those whom we love with all our heart will be with us only for a short time in this world.
Johnny had all of the worldly things that anyone could wish for -- fame and fortune like few others. But in the end, fame is fleeting, and money doesn't mean much when you are old and broken and facing death. And if we live long enough, we will be forced to say goodbye to many of the people whom we love the most.
But even in the midst of this devastation and despair, there is reason for hope! A clue to that hope can be seen in a few quick cuts near the end of Johnny's video.
This whole album is iconic. I adore his music in general but this album is my favorite.
I first saw this video in a hostel in LA having just flown in from Perth. At the time I put the tears I wept down to being a little over-emotional due to jetlag, but I've had the same physical reaction a number of times since.
His version of that song simply resumes the whole story of being human: honesty, strength, deception and vulnerability. Amazing!
All the time I watch this song+vid, I can´t hold on. I love this version so much.
Thank you Jonny and rest in peace and thank you Rick for recording this masterpiece.
Not a fan of Cash but this cover is one of the best covers ever. The emotion is dripping from it. Brilliant.
not a fan of cash????,what is this nonsense you speak of
@@stanh288 hahaha, not because i dislike him or anything, I've just never really listened to him but i love this cover.
It might be the half a dozen beers I've had but I well up every time I hear this song! What a legend!
I spoke with June at the Johnny Cash Museum in Nashville before the opening. Press was not allowed yet. I cannot describe the intense emotions I felt when I saw the Cash-family starting holding their hands when we went slowly to that very special black corner where the story of Hurt was 'told' (almost without words), but described and visualized with some huge original studio photo's of Johnny Cash and Rick Rubin. Only the Grammy Award stood in the center, isolated with respect. A few years later I interviewed Johnny Cash his son in Amsterdam for the Belgian TV (because my father introduced the first country songs in West-Europe in 1948).
Some details in this video, like the damaged Columbia record are sometimes questioned. But his son was very clear about that: Johnny Cash did not broke that golden record due to his issues with some records companies or so, it just felled on the floor while moving. Tons of other golden and silver records are still intact. If you can, go and visit that Museum once in your life, it's amazing. TS, Belgium
Trent from nine inch nails said, after hearing cash's version, said it's no longer mine, its yours now Johnny. Such a great cover!
I need about 10 minutes of reflection after that
Well done. Thank you for this.
Heart-breaking, beautiful, Magnificent cover. The man....
This cover was like catching lightning in a bottle. ⚡ It's just so poignant.
no one has ever explained that song in the depth as you just have. Makes the song have so much more meaning, especially how you explain that it ends unresolved.....
Trent's version got me through certain hard times. Johnny's got me through others. Thank you. Both of you.
Thank you for this Doug.
Certainly one of the best covers ever but with a lot of originality. Cash had the ability to make a song that he didn't write His Own. The visual of this video is extremely powerful, a closing retrospective on his respective career, life; cuts me to the core. Love Johnny and June ❤️❤️❤️
The greatest goodbye of all time. ❤
Never been a fan of country music (Classical, Jazz & Prog rock for me). My wife is, but I have to admit this one really got to me on an emotional level
20 years?!?!? WOW. I had not realized it's been that long.
I seen a bunch, but you have the best breakdowns of music on the entire YT community - love it!
Thanks!!
@@Doug.Helvering Yes you broke it down but you have no emotions. Anyone who can watch this without a tear is heartless.
I like both versions of this powerful song, but Cashs cover sounds so honest and pure.. combined wirh this video it feels to me like someone sharing the story of his life, it's bright and dark sides alike and beeing ready to finally face his fate.
It makes me feel nostalgic for events I haven't experienced, looking back and drawing conclusions about a life that I haven't even led myself. Amazing lyrics and an absolutely incredible performance. Eventhough it really hurts quite a bit...
The preacher proclaimed, "Vanity of Vanities, all is Vanity."
I started listening to NiN in early 1991 and knew this song like others have said. The fact that Johnny, and I'm guessing his producer, chose to cover this just floored me.
It picks up on that same pounding in your head feel the farther it goes along, just as the original does, but Johnny's phrasing makes it all his own. Just brilliant.
I also loved the Rusty Cage, Soundgarden cover he did.
Some artists like Mr. Cash are something else. He would have been able to sing the Teletubbies theme and make you cry.
One thing that stood out to me when I first heard it was how he changed the expletive to a less offensive word but it was still just as effective.
The piano playing is the best and most emotional aspect of the classic
I cry every fookin' time.
Great analysis/reaction Doug. Nice background on the song as well. It would interesting to know how Johnny Cash came to do a cover of a Nine Inch Nail song.
He was being produced by Rick Rubin, famous for producing huge rap and alt rock bands. He introduced JC to this type of music and Cash grew to like it. JC doing U2's One is very good too.
Joni Mitchell's performance at this past year's Newport festival, especially "Both Sides Now", is just as moving as this.
Doug, I don't get around to all the reactors I want all the time, because well, I do other stuff sometimes (🤣🤣). However, I just wanted to reach out and tell you, I come and see your reactions as often as possible, I have the utmost respect for you and your work, and I'd really like to see more people say that to you sometimes.
Even though we don't really know each other (except what little we get through this channel), I feel you are a good friend that I can always come and share the love of music with. That's a rare thing in these days of isolation. I just needed to tell you, I appreciate everything you do and are trying to accomplish. Be good and stay safe, my friend, and thanx for the great reactions.
Very well said, Doug!
One of the best covers ever.love it.
Sleep Token's cover of Hey Ya is devastatingly beautiful and worthy of an addition to this series
What a song, what a performance.
As my father God bless his soul used to say that song is a heart shaker that's a tune that reaches into your chest grabs a hold of your heart and just shakes it around a little bit just a let you know what's happening
I consider this one of the greatest videos on the toob.
Great cover, very emotional, and touching...
This is probably the all-time best cover.
Gilmour's cover of Unicorn's "No Way Out Of Here" and Isaac Hayes' cover of "Walk On By" are right up there for me, personally.
CCR's cover of "Heard It Through The Grapevine", Metallica's cover of Diamondhead's "Am I Evil"...
Across genres and eras, this is hard to top.
A really beautiful and heartbreaking reading of an amazing gravitationally heavy song. I remember the sobering and sad feeling from the first time I saw this video and really marking how Johnny Cash made it about his mortality. I remember hearing the original NIN version and hearing it when I was an angry teenager who had lost a loved one to suicide, and that version will always have a place for me. But the Johnny Cash version is like for someone in a much different phase of life, a different but no less powerful impression of grief.
That whole album (American IV: The Man Comes Around) is a masterpiece. I'd highly recommend a reaction video for I Hung My Head, which just gets me every time I hear it; and First Time Ever I Saw Your Face is quite moving too.
Unrelenting is the perfect word Doug, you nailed it while describing this song there…
I hope live in grace like Johnny Cash did.
Amen, brother...amen
The beauty of this cover is how I didn't really know much about Nine Inch Nails other than that he did Quake video game soundtrack which kicked ass, but I for the longest time had the impression that it was Johnny Cash's song and NIN had covered it (you know metal guys like to cover their idols, the lighter music they listened to growing up so it made so much sense to think like that). And I don't think there's many covers that owned the original song on that level where the song is the same but sounds completely different and sounds original in a way that it works perfectly, but not only that: transforming the meaning of the song as well. That is a feat that hasn't been achieved many times.
The only song I can think of coming even close to having done the same might be when Jimi Hendrix covered All Along the Watchtower.
Johnny Cash and people who worked with him at the time of the song said it was an old man looking back to his life and having regrets but also accepting the life as imperfect thing, being ready to let go. That it was sort of his last note to the world, autobiographical (that's what they say the music video brings up front so well). Freely phrasing. I can look at this and see the years of being the star but making music other people wanted, then in his late age turning to people who allowed him to make his own music, the songs he always wanted to sing and be reborn as himself, be full of joy of expressing his own music. And how this was almost premonition when his wife died in the following years and he worked furiously to not leave right after her.
I feel like Children of Bodom did great justice when they covered Billy Idol's Rebel Yell. It was clearly different from the original but it wasn't awkward or unfitting for the song, it worked very well. Not a band with music style that I'd expect to fit Billy Idol, but their origins listening to all of 80's rock as their musical upbringing was the magic trick.
Another beautiful cover was when Opeth did Remember Tomorrow by Iron Maiden. I wouldn't have guessed it was an Iron Maiden tune, although the original was also a bit different from Iron Maiden I know. And their cover of Bridge of Sighs by Robin Trower was just as well something I wasn't expecting until later when I found out that Åkerfeldt loves that kind of music. Mikael's voice is also fantastic for the song, it really does sound like an Opeth song. They're in my opinion quite good at making everything sound like their own.
Continuing with metal artist covers, Ihsahn doing Manhattan Skyline by A-ha! is worth listening, not depending on if you like Ihsahn or A-ha! The interesting thing in that song is how it sounds like one of those scandic pop songs of the time, yet the arrangement has heavy hitting low guitars. They never sound out of place, edgy or forced. Amazing arrangement understanding by Ihsahn. And so frail and beautiful vocals, emotional strings and synths.
Another song that has been making the rounds of reactors that is gut wrenching is called Pain Remains I: Dancing Like Flames. It's by the band Lorna Shore. They are very heavy, but the message of the song is universal.
Im glad Trent didn't react in anger by Johnny making this song a legend and sad story of his broken life
Johnny Cash was one of a kind. Bigger than his art.
You want to get a few INSANE yet not crazy well known covers…. check out Walk Off the Earth….pretty much anything… Someone That I Used To Know, Hey Ya, Shape of You… their musicianship and arrangements are crazy awesome
Really enjoyed that, Doug, as well as you obviously getting into the music and the visuals. Your analysis after the video is over, however, is the best.
you can't enter the same river twice cause river changes instantly
Any man of a certain age can look at this video and see himself in Cash's position - an elderly man looking back at his life, loves and work, being young and vibrant, yet regretting the flaws and mistakes he made along life's journey, wishing he'd done some things differently. Why spend your life building an empire, acquiring power and money, if that empire in the end is hollow and worth no more than 'dirt' to the soul? You can't take it with you when you die, so make sure the riches you leave are the love of family and friends rather than trinkets.
It hit me without warning then what the old man was singing. To this day, it still chills me every time I hear Johnny Cash's version of "Hurt.". There is nothing that you can compare to this song in the version of Johnny Cash.