This song was originally written & performed by "Nine Inch Nails". It was written about drugs & depression. But Johnny Cash's version is considered the best. His version is more about regret for past mistakes in life & realizing material things & fame mean nothing in the end. When the video was filmed in February 2003, Cash was 71 years old & had serious health problems. His frailty is clearly evident in the video. He died seven months later, on September 12 & his wife, June Carter Cash, who is shown gazing at her husband in two sequences of the video, had died on May 15 of the same year.

20 years old, but still as powerful as when it was recorded. Johnny Cashes way of saying good-bye to his fans, his friends and to the world. A man on the brink of death closing not only the piano, but his life.

If he could live his life again he wouldn't lose himself. He would not lose his way. His sense of self his integrity. He would not have started with the addictions. He would keep himself, he would find a way. He made this song his own a final testament.

Trent Reznor wrote "Hurt" as the final song of a concept album called The Downward Spiral, about a young man's descent into darkness. The first time he heard Cash's version, he thought it sounded weird, "like somebody else kissing my girlfriend". The video was filmed in Nashville at the now-closed House of Cash Museum in February 2003. Three months later, June Carter Cash died. Johnny Cash himself died on 12 September 2003. When Reznor saw the video, he said it shook him to his core. "I just lost my girlfriend, because that song isn't mine anymore."

The song was written and first performed by Nine Inch Nails. Their lead singer, Trent Reznor, after seeing this video, said "that song isn't mine anymore". Original was released in 1995. Johnny Cash recorded the cover in 2002, it was released in March 2003, 6 months before his death.

I think the End means that he has hurt people in his life, including his wife. And that's why he's singing this line.

Hey Debbie, that song will make you cry. I did the first time I heard it. Johnny Cash had his own demons he had to overcome. I think he knew he was dying and chose that song as his way of saying please forgive me for my mistakes in life before he died. The symbolism of him closing the lid on the piano is very haunting. It's like he's saying he's done, there will be no more music because he knew his time was coming. 🥺😪

The way he shut the cover on the piano at the end was kind of like shutting a casket. He knew he was at the end of his life when this came out so that last gesture , the way he shut the cover over the piano , to me represents his own casket being shut eventually soon at that time .

Johnny lost himself in a lot of ways. He’s saying that if he had a second chance he wouldn’t allow himself to get so turned around. He wouldn’t hurt the ones he loved the way he did.

What a deeply moving performance. It turns out that time does not heal all wounds.

His daughter told him that the song sounded like a goodbye and Cash said yes. His wife died, and shortly thereafter he died.

And another reviewer stunned by this superb song. EVERY time I see this video, I just cry.

His farewell video 😭

This one is tuff to hear him sing 😢You can hear the raw emotion in his voice

This was originally written by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. Johnny's version is a song about reflection and regret. There comes a point in life when it really hits you which things in life are truly important and which things are just "dirt" or filler. It's so easy to get caught up in the day to day and lose yourself and forget what's important. That's what he was saying about "keep myself". There's nothing wrong with enjoying all the beautiful and fun things that life has to offer, but you should always take time to slow down and cherish the things that truly matter.

This is one of those videos that is a perfect synthesis of all the elements... the lyrics, his voice, the historic footage, his wife walking in at just the right time... Even though Johnny didn't write the words, he certainly knew what it was to fight personal demons. And, as I understand it, he was living with chronic pain at this point. When she watched the video, his daughter said, "Daddy, it sounds like you are saying goodbye." and he replied, "I am."

"I would keep myself." Meaning he wouldn't be compromise his integrity for fame and fortune.

This is undoubtedly one of the most masterful covers of any song ever made. The video makes it so much more powerful, and boy is it ever powerful! Johnny Cash was making incredible music right up to the end of his life.

I am a 76 year old guy and this song really resonates in my soul. What do I have left? Who the hell knows, 10 years, 10 months, 10 minutes? I look back and wonder what was the point of all this? That "empire of dirt" has a significant meaning. Tears every time I listen to this song

My favorite part of your reaction was your stillness and pause to reflect. My next favorite part was when you questioned the meaning at the end. Children have so many questions, and adults need to be childlike sometimes as well. None of us have all the answers to life's toughest questions. But, to be curious... to seek answers... means we are still truly alive. Thank you for this song and for your sincere reaction.

I've listened to this song at least a thousand times and I still get chills

Listening to Johnny Cash since a kid in the sixties, this song made me cry. Even tho Johnny didn’t write it, the song is his forever. Trent, the writer, even said the same thing.

What he ment was if he could start life over because he lived hard & him closing the piano was him saying his final goodbyes to the world

Nine Inch Nails (the original version) was written from the perspective of a drug addict. Addiction rules your life. It also removes you from reality. It makes you feel great when things are not great. You loose yourself to it. If he had another chance, he would want to start far away from those things that led him in to the drug world. So, he would find a way to keep himself. Johnny Cash sings the song from the perspective of a star,, an icon at the end of his life. He questions what was of value in his life. He gave himself (and maybe lost himself) to fame and fortune. But at this point, he doesn't really value his fame, wealth etc.

Johnny cash is a man of all people. I love him dearly.

This is one of only two songs on Earth that can make me shed tears every time I hear it. The other being 'Lightning Crashes' by Live.

RIP MAN IN BLACK! I know, I believe you and your beloved June are together!

I grew up with this song with Nine Inch Nails. This is my first time hearing this version. Sad for sure when you realize in the end things don't matter. Building relationships and uplifting and teaching others is the greatest reward.

I really love your reactions You’re very genuine… Thank you

It’s important to remember that Johnny didn’t write the lyrics. Nine Inch Nails made the song but Johnny found a way to apply the lyrics to his own life in a different way

He was 73 at the time this video was made. According to his family, he was in constant pain for 10 years prior to this due to his diabetes. The video was shot in his home because he was not able to get around very much. His wife, June Carter Cash (part of the country music family The Carters), died just a few short months after this video was made. Johnny soon joined her just a few months later. Keeping himself meant he would not put out what everyone wanted him to be; he would do things the way he wanted to do them. Record companies were always dictating to singers and managing their careers. Johnny chafed at this and did a lot of things the record companies and record managers weren't always pleased with. He was born in in rural Arkansas to poor cotton farmers. He never forgot his roots and was always sympathetic to the poor and working class. He was The Man In Black. He was also very sympathetic to Native American causes. He also sympathized with prisoners and played to live audiences of prisoners: Folsom Prison, San Quinten and several others. He was heavily addicted to amphetamines and barbiturates. He eventually was saved and baptized and credits his faith (along with June and June's family) for saving his life. He dealt with depression nearly all his life. His family's home was flooded out and, later, in 1944 his brother, Jack, was cut almost in two by a table saw he was repairing at work . He died a week later. Some family members have said that Johnny's father blamed him for his brother's death. He, Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis were sign to Sun Records at the same time. He has the rare honor of having hit records in country music, rock and roll, and gospel; earning Hall Of Fame inductions in each. This song is a cover. Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails wrote & recorded this song for their album, The Downward Spiral. I love the dichotomy of this song that truly transcends age. Trent is a young guy looking forward; staring into an abyss. Johnny was an elder looking back on his life. Both of them consider what they have is dirt; has no meaning. Trent is looking out from isolation. Johnny is looking toward the end of his life.

That last scene was filmed in his living room, at his piano. When he closed the lid on it at the end, he never touched it again before he died. He saved the best for last, I'm glad he took the time to say goodbye...

Rip Johnny him closing the piano was saying he wasn't long for this world that's what him closing the piano ment

Now you can comfort someone else that needs comfort 🌺 ☀

The angels in heaven are now his audience. RIP Johnny.

Btw I think he liked the lyrics so much he made it iT)his Requiem

I think thisnis the most powerful song/video ive ever experienced. Especially knowing the story before and after this video was made... in fact there is no word to express this,.powerful isnt even powerful enough to describe it... as for keeping himself, at this point only he knows but the music industry and fame can turn you into something you regret and id guess that is what he was leading to.

When daughter" heard it she said it sound like you are saying goodbye", he said " I Am". Started watching this to try put things in prospective. My oldest bother passed away 12 days ago and just got the news that my sister-law, his wife passed has away also. It was her youngest daughter that called to tell me it me like a brick, both gone just like that.😩 We are all devastated. My niece told me that she believes she died of a broken heart.

I'm a grown man and I still cry when I see this video. I know that Johnny did not write the song, but I believe when he sings "I will keep myself..." that he is saying that he wouldn't change a thing. Even if it is terrible and painful in the end.

Everytime i listen to this song. I cry because of 2 thing. 1) how beautiful the song is 2) how we lost a legend n icon R.I.P johnny cash

What is hart wrenching is the way he ends it closes the lid of his piano and his career he knew he was sick andsliping away obe last gift from a legend to his fans and the world so soon after he sliped in to the great mystery gone forever

Heart-wrenching is the perfect description...as you said. A VERY emotional performance...Johnny took that Trent Reznor song and made it his own. One of the best covers EVER in music IMO. Cheers!

When he closed the piano lid it was symbolic of the lid being closed on his casket. He knew he was dying as i know so am i cancer is a vicious disease and i can't beat it. i go to his grave twice a year nothing is more humbling than standing in the presence of greatness. Awesome reaction love to you from the one and only Memphis Tn.

Just making this confessional video at the close of his life shows you the kind of man he was. Rest in power Mr. C

Brings tears to my eyes every time

Music that touches the soul is the most important kind of music.

Not to lose yourself means...not to get caught up in the crazy things that happen in a life span!! To stay grounded & not lose your way in life!! 😮

Johnny Cash, I'm sure as heaven he is at peace. A complicated life filled with regret and pain but he is at rest in the savior's hand.

JC has so much more than just those old songs that were on the radio 50 years ago.

Johnny Cash never opened that piano lid again. There is real finality. God Bless You Johnny.

I interpret the ending lyrics that he lost himself in the alcohol, the drugs, the fame all the vices and lost all the things that really mattered that he can't get back, time lost, memories lost, health lost, life lost

What is also added to this his wife June Carter Cash died about 6 months after this cover and he died about 6 months later

I imagine it’s easy to lose yourself when your name is constantly preceded by “the one and only”. You have all the money in world to chemically convince yourself that it’s true.

This has to be the greatest cover of all time.

The first time i saw this video it left me speechless. Really powerful.

A great reaction, thank you ma-am!.

Johnny was a Prince of a Man. A champion of the "less than". Once on tour, his bus stopped in a small town where he walked into a little deli and ordered up some ham for some sandwiches. The clerk of course recognized him and had a zillion questions, so Johnny spent like a half hour chatting with this fellow and sensing he had satisfied the man simply said......"now what about that ham?"

7:01 I hear that like I hear the phrase “No matter where you go, there you are”. He’s lamenting all of the pain that he’s caused, all of the pain that he feels. Even if he could go away and start over, he’d still carry the pain and be the kind of person who’d cause it all over again. That’s how deep his regrets are. That’s my interpretation.

A song of regret, remorse, and mortality.

Excellent reaction. This is definitely an overwhelming video. It's brutal. A beautiful gift he gave us before he left us. There has hardly ever been a better pairing of one man's song with another man's performance. There's a point in the final montage where he's just breaking down, and you have no idea why, but he's shaking with tears, and it just breaks my heart every time. And the guy getting nailed to the cross, and the hammer hits over and over and over and over. That's brutal too. What a masterpiece.

He would keep himself means he wouldn't change. It would just be the same over again.

There comes a time that gold loses its luster and all that is left is ones love for their family.

He was saying goodbye. My mom saw him live in a small bar while he was going home during a Christian ture. It's on KZfaq somewhere. Great reaction.

Thank you so much for sharing your reaction.

Most of his empire in Hendersonville has turned to dirt. His house burned to the ground while Barry Gibb was revovating his lake house.

I'm a musician and I would always think johnny cash was a lucky stiff until this!!! He showed me he was much . Much more than lucky, he earned his place in the hall of Fame.

He wants to keep himself because he won everything in life, but lost himself.

Perceptive interpretation. "I will keep myself" could mean he would take more responsibility for himself, control himself. As I recall, much of his life seemed out of control. I agree with you, every word was powerful. Looking back on our lives as we approach our end could be raw and unforgiving. There is no one else to blame. He exudes being heart broken.

If anyone can watch this and not feel anything. You are an appliance.

I'm a 30 Yr old grown man, every time I listen to this song it feels like it's me singing and next thing I know is a tear rolling down my cheek, even now when I'm typing this comment

When Johnny passed away . The song and video were No1 through out the Land .

He's talkin about regret both for selling his soul. In your classic crossroads- Faustian deal, and also for breaking his promises, lying and hurting the people that mattered to him the most. Knowing he can not repair broken relationships for example his children. He is sad that he'll never see any of them again. His wife, his mother, or any of his children. He's saying goodbye to his kids, and he does not expect to see them in whatever comes after. It's really very tragic 😶😔

You see June come sit on the steps...while Johnny was filming this, she had just returned from her Dr with her terminal diagnosis. Kinda changes how you see this... I saw NIN perform this live a bunch...its so powerful!

At the end, the closing of the piano lid is more representative of the closing of a coffin lid.

It means he's on his liars chair. All the people he did wrong with his drug addiction and regrets in his life

The most impactful thing I have ever experienced in a musical video..

The Question Queens, it means he would rather live a different life, instead of fame, fortune and drugs.

Oh I love me some Johnny Cash ❤

Every reactor to Johnny Cash's Hurt I've seen have pretty much had the same reaction as yours, its powerful stuff, doesn't matter how many times you listen to the song you feel the same time &time again

“This above all, to thine own self be true.” W. Shakespeare

This was his farewell..

One of his children, I think Roseanne Cash asked her father, "is he saying goodbye in this song and video?" Johnny replied, "Yes"

Johnny Cash's been singing since my mother was young during his time in his career I'm sure he lost himself and I'm sure he lost plenty of years where he should have spent with his family he didn't write the song but you feel it that's one of the things I appreciate so much about old-school musicians and old school actors they can actually give you the emotion because they actually empathize with it they've been through it

He closed the piano like they close the lid on a coffin. Looking back on life we all have regrets over the hurt we have caused others, and though we may try and forget we “remember it all”.

I remember exactly where I was standing when I heard this song. It stopped me in my tracks.

I heard he was in pretty good spirits during the recording but he knew anyway, knew this was his goodbye, his wife June wasn't supposed to be in this but out of concern, she came downstairs to check on him and that look of concern on her face on the stairs was genuine. Cash lived 100 lifetimes of regret and sorrow and it showed on his face and yet he overcame it all and in the end achieved total redemption. The video was shot in bitterly cold weather in Nashville in February 2003. Three months later, June Carter Cash, the musician's wife of 35 years, died. Johnny Cash himself died on 12 September 2003, I think he just didn't want to be alone anymore, I saw the 2 of them live June 1980, they did a set in NJ at some kind of festival concert and I walked an hour to the stadium and made sure I got close, about 30-40 feet away I think and there he was, the legend, the man in black with his wife and his band, The Great Eighties /8, I remember being just awestruck and feeling Holy Crap, It's him. Just a highlight of my entire life.

He was saying "good bye".

This was from his last album before he passed. R.I.P

It is a song about addiction. I overcame mine but I understand it deeply the feeling. All the people you hurt, your actions. You try to kill the guilt of your actions the pain, but you Remember everything. E en 20 years later. Even though the feelings have faded by tine they are there. The people you lost along the way, friendships ended, you whatever you have accomplished it is dirt compared to the loss.

Every time i see this video i feel so sad for him . The words The words seem rip your soul to peices.

*Love you Debbie* ! Amazing song huh.? Sad and originally a 9 inch nail / Trent Reznor cover *BUT* made it his own.!!! Thank you 4 this.....

Another beautiful reaction Debbie. This is such an amazing song, from a true master!

From a 70 year old, now knocking at the end of life. He like I, wonder why you have done the things you have done in life, to get what you got, and lived the way you lived, for the sake of others. I now have lost my only son, now three years ago, and now I ask myself, what was it all for, what does all this mean? If I could start again, I would keep myself, the way I was supposed to be, not for others, and what they wanted, and spent more time with my children. That, is, the only true thing, that I could truly call mine. I have everything, and it all means nothing, what was it for? I think until you get to the end, you cannot possibly understand this.

Thus is a cover of Trint Reznors song about drug abuse a struggle Johnny knew well he struggled with addiction his entire adult life

The Man in Black will always have a special place in my heart. He was bigger than life and this song fits him so well. He lost himself along the way and would remember who he truly is if given another chance. Brilliant and emotional song and life story.

Instead of living life with friends and family a large part of johnnies was drugs & alcohol. Realizing later what a loss that you don't get back.

This song was part of the American recordings - produced by Rick Rubin (Slayer, Slipknot, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Mick Jagger, Santana, Beastie Boys)... Songs stripped down to only a few Instruments.... Just a great ( here almost broken) voice and guitar and piano... Another recommendation from these albums is Personal Jesus - original by Depeche Mode...

His wife, June, died a few months after this was filmed and Johnny followed her within 5 months.

Hello there it’s been a while . It’s Eamonn here from Ireland 🇮🇪. Hope your doing very well. I see that your doing a song on Johnny cash. This man is a LEGEND ✌️. I have heard all of his songs and that’s down to my father because he is a big fan of Johnny cash and all American country singer. 🇺🇸. But he put me on to cash just to listen to some of his music and I thought he was great but I’m not into country music till my da put me on to this singer and now I love his music and even got the chance to see the film of Johnny cash’s life story a true story about his life and I think the film was called WALK THE LINE. What a great film. As far as I know this song was the last song he would ever make because I was told he died not long after making this music video. What a song. A very sad but a very strong song about his life. Best song ever. God rest his soul. 🙏🙏🙏. This was a good song you picked for sure. In one word a LEGEND 👏👏👏👏🇺🇸💚. Anyway you have a great day my friend. And every day. Catch up again soon Eamonn. 🇮🇪🇮🇪☘️☘️☘️🇺🇸💚.

It's very rare when a cover version of a song is more well-known than the original. This is one of those times. Trent Reznor even acknowledged that, after hearing this version, it wasn't his song any more.