A cover of Hurt by Johnny Cash has gone down in history as one of the best covers of all time.
But listeners are only just realising a heartbreaking detail which serves as the song’s emotional core, which Cash was aware of at the time of recording.
The Nine Inch Nails track was a “raw and unsettling” release to begin with, but Cash’s cover of the song has listeners realising the Man in Black was grieving his career.
A music video released alongside the song has shed light on this for many, with members of the r/Music Reddit page sharing how the imagery of the song has stuck with them long after its release.
Cash’s cover of Hurt was released less than a year before his death – and fans are finding an eerie meaning in the song.
A fan wrote: “What’s a song you’ll never listen to the same way again after learning its backstory? For me it was Johnny Cash’s version of Hurt. I’d always known it as a Nine Inch Nails track, raw and unsettling.
“But when I found out Cash recorded it near the very end of his life, the whole song changed. His voice cracks, the imagery feels heavier, and the video plays almost like a farewell.
“It stopped being just music and turned into a confession. It made me wonder: how much does knowing the story behind a song reshape the way we hear it?”
Other listeners were heartbroken to learn about Cash’s cover of Hurt – and most importantly, where the music video was recorded.
The video, recorded by former Nine Inch Nails collaborator Mark Romanek, takes place in the House of Cash museum. At the time, it had been closed to the public for several years and left in a derelict state.
A fan wrote: “Another tidbit on Hurt… The music video for Cash’s version largely featured the long-closed and derelict House of Cash museum. That imagery really struck me.
“He hit the peaks of fame, had a museum built for him, and then lived long enough to see his fame diminish and his museum shut down before he had even gone.”
Another heartbreaking detail was shared by another fan, who added: “June Carter Cash died 4 months after the video was filmed and Johnny died 3 months after her. Cash’s home outside Nashville was sold to Barry Gibb, but it burned down in 2007.”
Even the song’s original writer, Trent Reznor, was blown away by Cash’s cover. He recalled: “I’m in the studio in New Orleans working on Zack De La Rocha’s record with him; I pop the video in, and… wow. Tears welling, silence, goose-bumps… Wow.
“I just lost my girlfriend, because that song isn’t mine any more. Then it all made sense to me. It really made me think about how powerful music is as a medium and art form. I wrote some words and music in my bedroom as a way of staying sane, about a bleak and desperate place I was in, totally isolated and alone.
“Somehow that winds up reinterpreted by a music legend from a radically different era/genre and still retains sincerity and meaning – different, but every bit as pure.
“Things felt even stranger when he passed away. The song’s purpose shifted again. It’s incredibly flattering as a writer to have your song chosen by someone who’s a great writer and a great artist.”