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Andy Gibson

James Johnson

English 1201

18 June 2021

Hurt
The song I chose to do my essay on was "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails and Johnny Cash.

"Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails and Johnny Cash both share the same theme of people being hurt and

suffering through damage. Both videos are very similar. The major difference is in Nine Inch

Nails the video is a guy singing and showing events of hurtful people. Johnny Cash has an older

man singing the lyrics and shows objects of interest. So therefore, "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails and

Johnny Cash both share the same theme of people being hurt and suffering through damage.

Hurt by Nine Inch Nails has a more depressing tone than the Johnny Cash version. It has

a very depressing tone. The purpose of the video is to give a realistic version of the hurt that is

happening in our society. Our society is suffering a lot of pain. It is our duty to try and stop it.

That is the message of Hurt by Nine Inch Nails

Hurt by Johnny Cash has a more uplifting tone. One of the lyrics is “What have I

become”. This shows the hurt that has taken a toll on him. It has changed him into something

unrecognizable. This is the hurt and pain that is happening in our society. It has changed him.

Both videos support the theme of people being hurt and suffering through damage. This

is proven in the lyrics. For example, “What have I become” shows the toll the pain has taken on

the older man.

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The main audience of both songs is anyone that has or is suffering through pain. This is

shown through the video with all the bad things happening to the people. The lyric “I hurt myself

today” convey a meaning that the older man is hurting.

Both songs convey that they have failed. This is conveyed in the lyrics “I wear this crown

of thorns. Upon my liar's chair. Full of broken thoughts. I cannot repair”. This shows that the

men singing the songs have failed at what they're supposed to do.

Both are great and incredibly depressing but for different reasons. The Nine Inch Nails

version for me is a lot darker as it's about a young man's suicide after a short but terrible life and

seeing no release from it, whereas the Cash version is a poignant reflection about an entire man's

life and the bitterness he feels about everything.

Some people argue that the song may be a sort of suicide letter; while others believe the

song is actually about a man finding his reason to live. The dichotomy between possibly living

and dying could be the reason Trent considered the song his “most personal.” There is a line in

the song: I hurt myself today/to see if I still feel (“Hurt Lyrics, 2012). Reznor appears to be

referring to feeling numb, emotionless; with the only feeling left to feel is pain. Could it be

possible that “hurting” himself is in preparation for his suicide? Is he testing himself? The final

verse of the song brings a hope that is not present up to that point in the piece: If I could start

again/a million miles away/I would keep myself/I would find a way (“Hurt Lyrics, 2012). The

final verse of the song sounds like a man who wants to live, start new, and find a way to make it.

The Johnny Cash version has a more hopeful tone than the Nine Inch Nails version. Nine

Inch Nails is more about a suicide letter. The ending of the Johnny Cash version involves more

of a better, hopeful ending. In the end, the man is hopeful and talks about starting anew.
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Nine Inch Nails appeals to a younger, more modern crowd of listeners while

consequently, Johnny Cash, because of his musical career, appeals to the more mature listener.

Nine Inch Nails came onto the music scene some 40 years after Cash making Johnny’s recording

of the song that much more appealing to those of us who did not have the opportunity to get to

know him all those years ago (“The Nine Inch Nails Wiki,” 2012). Trent Reznor was born in

1965 while Johnny was born in 1932. Each man had his own difficulties growing up; Trent had

the separation of his parents and Johnny lived through the depression on a cotton farm (“Johnny

Cash,” 2012).

The Nine Inch Nails version is definitely about drug addiction as a way to cope with

depression and bleakness. It's full of anger, like a person who would just as soon hurt the world

as himself. Self-destructive behavior is what this person sees as tethering them to reality/life.

Destroying those around him is a byproduct of his nature.

Johnny Cash seems to sing it from a vantage point of regret and forlorn nostalgia. A man

not sure he has made all the right choices in the past and now is left alone to ponder the life he

led and what it means about him. His love is gone and he is left with numerous and constant

reminders that the person he left everyone behind for is gone and he must cope until he, too, can

rest. The self hurt is to see if he still can feel like he used to, something he thinks he may have

lost.

Both videos mainly appeal to pathos or emotion. Both videos describe the hurt that is

happening to them and our society. This appeals to emotion because it makes you feel emotional

over the two guys singing the lyrics. The Nine Inch Nails version is all about anger, depression

and bleakness. The Johnny Cash version is all about regret and nostalgia.
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Works Cited

Nine Inch Tails, “Hurt” 2009, Nine Inch Nails Hurt official video - YouTube

Cash, Johnny 2019, Johnny Cash - Hurt (Official Music Video) - YouTube