What is "Hurt" By:Johnny Cash about?

Question

What is it about because ppl say it's really SAD!

Answer 1

It is really sad! The way Cash sang this song (shortly before his death and not long after the death of his beloved wife) is so very powerful. He was basically alone without his best friend, and having a lot of health problems. Cash was known in country music for being a little wild and having a lot of skeletons in his closet-drug abuse just being one of them. To me, it's like he's looking back on his life and it saddens him to remember all the things he did, but he can't forget them either. He feels shame when he looks back, but its fresh in his mind-the wrongs he did, the people he let down, and at the same time, he's numb from it. The way he sings it makes me think Cash was tired at the end of his life, just tired of life in general, and tired of remembering. Watch the video if you can-it borders on heartbreaking. I posted the lyrics below:

I hurt myself today to see if I still feel
I focus on the pain, the only thing that's real
The needle tears a hole, the old familiar sting
Try to kill it all away but I remember everything

What have I become, my sweetest friend
Everyone I know goes away in the end
And you could have it all, my empire of dirt
I will let you down, I will make you hurt

I wear this crown of thorns upon my liar's chair
Full of broken thoughts I cannot repair
Beneath the stains of time the feelings disappear
You are someone else, I am still right here

What have I become, my sweetest friend
Everyone I know goes away in the end
And you could have it all, my empire of dirt
I will let you down, I will make you hurt
If I could start again a million miles away
I would keep myself, I would find a way

Answer 2

It is in fact a cover of a Nine Inch Nails Song off of the album The Downward Spiral released in 1994 through interscope/Nothing records. there is another cover song that johnny cash did on that album. it is a Depeche Mode song called Personal Jesus from their album Violator. He recorded it while and after his wife died. take in to consideration that he was dieing as well and did not last long after it was relesed. Is it sad. Yes. go get the deluxe version with the Hurt music video on dvd.

Answer 3

It is a song originally recorded by Nine Inch Nails that talks about regrets. It seems even more poignant with Johnny Cash singing it because he was at the end of his life when he recorded the song. He knew that and so did his audience.

Answer 4

Johnny performed the song, like some one else said it was originally by Nine Inch Nails, I believe about the frontmans drug addiction, but at the same time it could also represent immortality for many people who are older and just looking back over your life at the things you accomplish or regret, That song can be interpreted in many ways depending on your perspective.

Answer 5

Hurt is a nine inch nail song about drugs, but the J$ version is about getting old and the pain that comes with it. It is about all the bad things you do in your life and its about true love.

Answer 6

Actually Hurt is originally a Nine Inch Nails song and Cash remade it ..
It is a song about drug addiction ...

Answer 7

Wait, didn't NIN cover the Johnny Cash song???

Answer 8

"Hurt" is from one of Johnny's American Recordings albums. Most of the songs on them are covers...(ex. Sting, NIN, Soundgarden, ect.) they are fantastic albums, I suggest checking them out, even if you are not a Cash fan

Answer 9

It's a remake orginally sung by Nine Inch Nails. It probly has something to do with too much drug use and how his sense feel numb.

Answer 10

First off, it isn't by him. It's by Nine Inch Nails and Johnny covered it.