Pain and sorrow are just two emotions which you experience when hearing the raspy cracking voice of Johnny Cash. The proof of this is shown throughout many of his videos but, it truly shows in his last music video he has to his name, the video for the song, Hurt. This video was filmed just weeks before the death of his wife; the famous June Carter in May 2003, then Johnny following just months after in September of 2003. For those reasons I believe this video and song have a strong final message from Johnny Cash. The video shows all scenes from throughout his life; scenes from movies he has been in, clips of his concerts to clips of his everyday life, even capturing the house in Kingsland, Arkansas which he grew up in. All of these moments in the video show me that this music video was meant to be his final message to his fans. The lyrics show that he was content with how his life had gone up to this point and that he would not change any aspect of his life if he could go back and do it again. 

Before we go any further, a little bit of background on the song Hurt is that it had been originally written for and sung by the band Nine Inch Nails. This being said the two takes of the song, Nine Inch Nails’ version and Johnny Cash’s versions differ in many aspects. One of those aspects being that the original version of the song seemed to come out with a dark take on it, anger raging throughout. Cash’s version of the song comes out in a sorrow tone, you can hear the rasps in his voice, you can feel his actual “hurt”.   So I do believe Johnny Cash taking over this song from Nine Inch Nails was definitely a good call. It worked especially well in Cash’s case being that this did come off as his farewell to his fans. The lyrics paired perfectly with the route which Johnny Cash took with the direction of the video and the message that was encompassed throughout the video too. 

“If I could start again a million miles away, I will keep myself I would find a way.” This is a line in the chorus of Hurt, to me this single line sums up the whole song along with the emotions which are expressed in Johnny Cash’s voice and his emotions shown in the video. In this one line it shows that no matter what he did throughout his life in the past he now sees that he would not change anything, he is content with how life has ended up for himself. “If I could start again,” and “I will keep myself” those two little lines tell it all. Everyone has thought about going back in time and restarting, Cash has many things in which he was looked down upon for in the past when he was at the “high” of his fame even being literal with the term in some cases, but saying “I will keep myself” shows that he has overcome his obstacles no matter what they were and Cash knows that he is happy and content with where he is in his life. Going back and changing one simple thing in the past could ruin so many other things in the present, so why risk it? Be the better you that you can, be happy with all the memories you have, that is what matters; this is what Johnny Cash shows in this song and throughout the videos images.

All of the images used throughout the music video along with Cash’s words in the chorus of the song saying how content he is with where he stands in life shows me that he knew this would be his final music video. This video is meant to be a farewell to his fan base with the whole video coming off as a memorabilia video since it is consisting of all these different clips being from the concerts Johnny has put on, movie scenes he has appeared in, and everyday life clips from his childhood up till the filming of this music video. Another thing shown is Cash’s awards being taken down and memorabilia being put away. To me it tells that they, Johnny and June were done, they were ready to be finished with their time in the spotlight, they were tired and it showed. The awards being taken down and things being put away to me is showing that they saw all of the awards as not being of significance to them especially at this point in their lives, as if the memories they have in their minds being of the most importance Johnny saying, “Beneath the stains of time, the feelings disappear…. “but I remember everything.”” not objects being what is of importance but their memories and experiences. 

The Hurt music video captures two fast glimpses of June in the end. This came as a surprise to many fans at the time this video was released, June and even Johnny hadn’t been seen much before this video, they had had a break, then out of nowhere this video came about. Fans had been especially shocked by the events happening soon after the video was published, these events being the death of June soon after this music video was released.

Hurt is a video to fans, Johnny and June were saying their goodbyes. It gives a final message to fans and tells that Cash did not see himself as having regrets in life. He was who he was, the video proves that statement with giving a recap of his life throughout the fame. Even recapping back to the roots of his life being in his childhood home and town in Kingsland, Arkansas. “I will keep myself, I would find a way.”