Hi jjohnny! Welcome to the Board!
Great choice for a 1st thread!
Hi jjohnny! Welcome to the Board!
Great choice for a 1st thread!
Tell the truth jjohnny- You are the man in black, just looking to have your ego rubbed aren’t ya?
The best review I’ve heard of the tune said something to the effect of “He took ‘Hurt’ by NIN and turned it into a sort of twisted ‘My Way’.”
I bought the cd for my dad last christmas without thinking about it. After hearing this song, I’m going to have to buy a copy for myself, as soon as I can find a copy (stores around here stocked it like a country record from a washed-up act, not like a cd that was going to have a single getting airplay on MTV and “alternative” radio).
I sincerly hope that he gets invited to play it live at the grammies, with the footage from the video playing on a screen behind him. It would sell millions.
-lv
Yes, there is. Up in Hendersonville, TN; just up the road from Nashville. No idea why it’s closed, but I drive by it every once in a while.
I can’t view the video clearly (too fast for my modem), and mayb that holds a lot of meaning, but i have to be a dissenting voice here. I wasn’t impressed. I can see how an old man singing this could be more affecting than a brash young one… but his off-kilter, off key voice just isn’t quite the low-but-sure Cash I know, nor the NIN song I like. His changes don’t do much more me either: “Crown of thorns” is a dull cliche by now, especially in Cash’s line of work.
There was an interview with Cash on NPR when the album came out and he talked a little about each song (available here). Referring to “Hurt” he said it was a song that he wished he could have written when he was younger, as it expressed his experience with drugs in a terribly excellent way.
Thanks, diku.
I think the “off-kilter, off-key voice” is what makes the song. It’s so stark and raw, that voice imploring: What have I become,/ My sweetest friend?/Everyone I know/Goes away in the end.
It combines his awareness of mortality (his and others), the fading of his abilities and using well what he still has, his past glories and mistakes, his faith, and the love and support of his wife.
FTR, Cash sings “son of a bitch” in the Shel Silverstein classic “A Boy Named Sue”. Although it was later bleeped out.
Does anybody know where the crucifixion footage in the video comes from?
The song is great; the video gets me misty. I love how much it resembles a Nine Inch Nails video, stylistically.
Also, I prefer Cash’s lyric “crown of thorns” to Reznor’s original “crown of sh*t”… I always wondered how one could fashion a crown out of feces, much less successfully wear it? I don’t know about anyone else, but my poopoo sure isn’t of ideal crown-making consistency. Maybe if you molded it into a general circle shape and stuck it in the freezer or lacquered it.
It’s because his voice is thin that the song is so powerful. The original (NIN) version sounds like so much other stuff played on the radio. Good song, but nothing special. I think Cash’s version is much more poignant.
It is better if you can see the video. I liked the song when I heard it, and then I tried to view the video online. My connection is also slow, so the video portion did not play. But I looked at it at work, and the images juxtaposed with the song really make it. You see flashes of Cash’s life – his former glory, if you will. Maybe it’s because I can look at my life and remember all of the mistakes I’ve made, the lost opportunities, the things I would have and should have done differently. It strikes a chord.
thank you for pointing this out i downloaded the mp3 like the criminal i am and its great but i laugh when i am being all sixteen years old and crying when i think he says “what have i become my swedish friend”
now scuse me while i kiss this guy
Oh my God. I had no idea Mr. Cash was looking that bad. He used to frequent my bookstore here in Nashville not 9 years ago. He was vital and happy and still coloring his head full of hair black. To see him like that really brought a tear to my eye. Add in that song and I’m about to break down here. I have a feeling his wife June (the woman in the video watching him from the stairs) is showing her real emotions there. It’s not easy to watch him like that.
But dammit, Johnny Cash is still the most amazingly fucking cool man in Tennessee.
The video was just on CMT, and I have to say that this is the first (and probably only) time I have ever cried in response to a music video. I don’t know why I did. I guess it’s from seeing such a great musician in such a frail and weak state.
I don’t normally listen to country music. That said, I appreciate someone like The Man in Black, because there just isn’t anyone in music today who can compare to him. In an era of manufactured pop groups and the bleak wasteland of post-grunge rock, real musicians like Merle, Hank and Johnny would never have had a chance. It’s sad. Sorry about the minor hijack here, but I just needed to say something.
I’m not sure how the un-radio friendly static and slow dischord (which, I notice, Cash has removed in favor of a much more conventional arrangement) could be considered to be standard pop fare.
Apos- have you listened to much of the “alternative rock” stations lately? Dischord and clashing beats are pretty much the standard.
I also noticed when he’s pouring the wine out (great symbology on a couple of levels) that either his hand is shaking pretty bad or he’s just trying to slosh the wine around. I’m hoping it’s the later…
I’m a fan of NIN, and I think this song, with the video, is a more poweful piece done this way. I can’t wait to show my mom this weekend.
How does his cover of Personal Jesus stack up against it, out of curiousity?
Thanks for the link Cazzle. I couldn’t see the video clip, but I did hear the song. It’s hard to believe that’s the same song!!! Whereas Trent sounds whiny and self pitying, Johnny makes me want to bawl. I will have to see the video sometime. I hope that doesn’t mean I’ll have to watch CMT to do so. I abhor country music! Johnny Cash just doesn’t strike me as “country”. I know he’s considered as such by the music industry - and maybe his old stuff is more so - I just don’t see him fitting into any musical genre!
Dang, I need to hear that song again!
VH1 and MTV2 are playing it, so you won’t necessarily have to suffer through modern country dreck to see it. Although I get a sick thrill from seeing CMT go from Cash with such a sad and quietly powerful song (and that Trent Reznor songwriter credit onscreen) to the latest Nerf ball country tune by Kenny Chesney or Diamond Rio. Talk about musical whiplash. Then I change the channel.
scout1222, thanks for the info re NIN and Trent Reznor.
I think the reason the video affected me so much is that it looks like he’s looking back on his life, and finding it … well, rather less than he might have hoped it would be. That’s what got me – that he might really feel that way. That thought gave me the shivers. I’d hate to hit 70 and look back on my life and be able to sing that song with feeling.
Thanks for the link to the NPR story too, panamajack. I’m listening to it now.
Great thread…
—have you listened to much of the “alternative rock” stations lately? Dischord and clashing beats are pretty much the standard.—
Not even remotely the same.
Anyone have a link to an actually downloadable copy? The lovely new “streaming” technology simply delivers little more than a distorted slideshow.
Answered my own question. Here in quicktime (which is kind enough to allow you to backup the whole file before forcing you to play it). You can download it permanently by viewing the source, and then plugging the direct link to the file into your favorite download manager.