Full episode with Rick Rubin: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/fsWjrcie3bbHhH0.html

Johnny Cash's performance of that song is potent medicine... it's there when you need it, but take it sparingly or it'll mess you up.

Speaks to the depth of what Trent was going through, a song seemingly written for an old man during his last days, but he was a young man, already feeling like he was dying.

The fact Cash was able to open his mind to Trent's music is one of my favorite things about this song. Usually you hear of people growing old and sticking to their ways and preferences. Cash taking this song on adds to the beauty.

Man Rick Rubin is partially responsible for so many good songs we all love. Much respect and thanks goes to him.

I always thought of this song as Johnny Cash's eulogy to June and himself. He knew he was finished and this is a swan song. After decades, this video still gets me.

Not many songs make me feel such emotion like this one. His cover has made me cry more than i would like to admit.

I lost my father 6 years ago when I was 16 and I hadn’t listened to much or any of Cash’s work beforehand but Id listen to this song everyday on repeat for months and the emotion he portrayed really helped me cope with the pain and emotion I was feeling. It truly is a deeply beautiful song.

After watching the video of Johnny singing “Hurt,” Trent Reznor said “that song isn’t mine anymore.”

What Rubin did with Johnny Cash is some of the most universally loved music from the 90's/early 2000's. I almost never hear anyone say they don't love Cash from that era. It's just so amazing, and touching. And the sound of his voice, old, and crusty and beautiful.

The voice perfectly reflects the man, where he's been and where he is which pairs perfectly with the lyrics This is true art but not the kind that is the result of a person's effort, it's the nature of humanity laid bare and vulnerable through honesty It's like a sunset over an ocean

When my grandma died, I listened to that song all day long. Great piece of art.

When my mom passed away when I was 21, I played this song on repeat. Johnny was able to articulate my pain and why I Hurt when I was incapable of it. Such a surreal experience. No song will ever hit like this one does, especially when life takes away the ones you love the most.

While Johnny Cash's rendition of this song has a special meaning, I don't think people give enough credit to NIN's original masterpiece. The industrial and distorted overlays, especially at the end of the song as it decays, bring the lyrics alive.

One of my top 5 favorite songs. To describe Johnny Cash's performance in one word it'd be heartbreaking.

What is most powerful about JC cover of this song is simply this. I believe him, he lived it

Just burst into tears, a song that reminds me of my childhood friend, who died at 46, 8 years ago. Profound song.

The original was a seminal song for my generation, but I totally understand why many didn’t find it compelling until Cash’s version. It articulates the same human condition from two different vantage points on life’s arc. Cash completed that picture, which is even more heartbreaking.

I've never seen Lex like this.. This song is truly powerful.

My father was a broken and defeated man towards the end of his life, I remember him referencing this song, and remember him telling me how he felt it every day

Johnny Cash took that song to a whole new level that will never be accomplished again.

I absolutely love the Johnny cash version. Incredibly melancholic. But I adore the pure pain and discomfort that nine inch nail provides in the original. It honestly goes to show how great of a cover it is, as it’s a completely different type of turmoil/emotional pain that’s been portrayed to us. Such a raw capture of a man who knew exactly where he was in his life. And what he had accomplished. And what he had regretted.

Impossible to listen to without being consumed by the feeling you feel before you cry. Well done. Thank you.

Johnny took that song on another level.

Lex hit play and I was immediately shivering with goose bumps. Man such beautiful tribute to a life. Actual art can be spontaneous or it can take a lifetime to achieve. IM grateful we were able to be given this by Mr. Cash, truly beautiful.

Amazing piece. Lyrics: 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'm 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

Trent Reznor wrote it, Cash solidified it. Emotion is everything and this rendition is the epitome of the performing arts. Pure magic.

The fact Trent Reznor wrote this so young and it speaks to so many people on a deep level proves he is on a different level to most.

I absolutely agree with your assessment of Hurt being performed by Johnny. I am 70 and when I first heard this it consumed me like no other song. When I saw the video I openly wept. I cannot unhear that song…I cannot unsee the video. The emotions well up at every listen. I hurt…but I’m so thankful for the gift he gave us.

Johnny's voice had certainly changed over the years, but remember, he was on stage and performing for decades as a singer and a story-teller. He had craft, and he is using it in this song. That's not a weak voice; that's Johnny Cash.

This and David Bowie's "Blackstar" are definitely some of the most poignant glimpses into an artists life and their mind right prior to their death and ultimate demise. They both took their last figurative breaths and made a show and project out of it all, like genuine artists to the last minute.

Dude Lex is such a pure genuine soul. I think he has a heart of gold

That Johnny Cash video makes me cry every time. We can all relate to it, we will all age, we will all have regrets. The director did a brilliant job, it should be right up there as one of the best music videos ever! I actually love watching reaction videos on KZfaq of this song, every single one cries, Every. Single. One.

Rick rubin is literally the guy that made every big album i listened too as a kid, guys a goddamn genius, whether its hip hop, rock or metal, he just knows what to do

There are a lot of moments in that music video that stick with me, but none more so than at the end when he closes the lid to the piano, and caresses the top. It was like he knew it would not be opened again by him.

I don't want to steal the light from Johnny but I would like to show my appreciation towards Trent Reznor for this. Yes, this songs now belongs to Cash, Trent himself says that. It's his song now. But Hurt does not exist without Trent. Johnny's rendition just enriched the words a 100 folds.

this song never ceases to give me chills. And the video imagery is top-notch as well. A fantastic cap to an amazing legacy.

Lex is a master at keeping his mouth shut and listening at just the right time. That's what makes these interviews so fantastic.

I knew the song earlier, but the feeling and perspective that Johnny Cash added hit my soul like a hammer. I was going through some really dark times, and I have never or will find a friend that I can bare my soul to like this(my sweetest friend). Every thing about this recording is flawless, the performer, the deliberate pace, the instruments and building to a crescendo(not unlike the last gasps of breath). Thank you for this song!

Beautiful. Showing the depth of humanity's emotion at its best.

It makes me cry so much about my uncle that took his life and my divorce a few years ago. Thank you, Mr Cash.

The first time I heard Cash’s version of that song I god full on goosebumps when he sang the first line “I hurt myself today”.

Every sentence is like a sledgehammer. It's the most powerful song that I have ever heard. It will bring out powerful memories and emotions! If you have a soul it will make you cry!

Props to Rick for making this song possible. 🙏

I would love to have 30 minutes with Rick. Not to explain me how he sees the world but to help me explain myself. My absolute idol!

I cannot listen to that song without crying, for me it perfectly encapsulates the human experience, the passage of time, regret, suffering, love, respect, deep life long reflection. Stunningly beautiful song. The souls journey..."I would keep myself, I would find a way"

Trent is the hero here …. Incredible lyrics - and arrangement- his performance equally as powerful

His hands shaking while pouring the wine over gets me every time

Stunning. Brave. Beautiful. Sometimes music just shows us something we cannot see any other way. This is just a gift to all of us. Thank you thank thank you to all involved. RIP Johnny.

This song is dangerously powerful; Like I feel absolutely wrecked with grief and despair if I listen to it fully. Even in small doses I have to take a minute. Lex, fantastic interview with this absolute legend.

it's a beautiful poem of life, love, regret, lessons, pain, grandeur and desperation. makes me tear up everytime, hits all the nerves, all the humanity

IMO one of the best lines ever: if I could start again, a million miles away, I would keep myself....I would find a way.

The way he closed the piano then rubbed his hands across the lid is exactly the way I have seen old people rub their hands across the casket of their dead husband or wife as a final physical contact.

the synchronicity of this coincides with me taking half my library to half price, going in sunlight, coming out to the threat of rain and dark skies. Letting go of books came after a dream of letting go of past home I will never see again, friends and family I will never see again, and sometimes it all seems unbearable- and why i couldn't fathom carrying those books any further than I did to part with them, and hope, someone might find them as lovely as I did. Everyone and everything goes away in the end, this empire of dirt is the dust I cleaned off empty shelves... Good ol' Johnny Cash!

Trent's version is heartbreaking, Johnny made EPICALLY heartbreaking.

Rick Rubin is a LEGEND. But to have worked with Johnny Cash in his last years is something that most can only dream. Great Lyrics, Great performance and engineering to get that song with so much emotion throughout. Fantastic Video concept and production and direction. 10/10 on all. Cheers

I rarely ever cry for anything but this song man... it just hits different. You can just sense that it's coming straight from the soul

Honestly made me cry every time. Hard to face the past when the future is always so uncertain.

It’s strange for me, as an avid NIN fan, Trent bled that song, poured that song out of his soul. He shared his feelings on stage at every live show with Hurt. I was a teenager at the crux of my vulnerability, shame and depression when I heard that song. Hurt carried my pain and sung it back to me in Trent’s voice. Putting that in front of me to face it, was some of the greatest therapy one could have. It will always be my favorite rendition as I am pretty sure it offered me the tools to spare my own life. Now…I love Johnny Cash. However, I feel Johnny sang HIS pain to himself and we got to witness it. Which is beautiful, but it isn’t relatable as he is THE Johnny Cash. Which on any given day sounds better than being ourselves. That being said, I never understood why radio DJs would say “Now here’s Johnny Cash with his new song ‘Hurt’”. I thought it perverted the original and was disrespectful to take that song’s credit from Trent. Aaaaaand then Trent came out and said “it’s Johnny’s now” LOL. Well whatever ! 😂HAHAHAHA. Still learning from Trent to not take myself too seriously. :)

Lex, you just hooked my loyalty and love forever, for this one, that surprised me. I grew up as a young kid who pretended to be the Man in Black, because I loved Everything about him and his music, specifically, that my parents lightly teased me about, in good fun. This video broke me out of a terrible time when I first heard it, seeing him giving his truth with powerful emotion.

Exactly the words I'd described it - you just feel that this is not only a song - its his requiem, sung by himself. He knew his time will be gone very soon, when he recorded it. And you just can hear that he meant it, with every word.

If I could start again. A million miles away. I would keep myself. I would find a way. The way Cash sings that, for whatever reason always makes me break down

I have a difficult time crying and this song helps pull it out of me without fail. I'm 31 right now and I already know that it will have deeper levels of meaning as I go through life. Hurt by Johnny Cash and Changes by Charles Bradley.... nothing short of therapeutic for me.

Some singers transcend genre and Johnny was one of them. He wasn't country, he wasn't rock, wasn't blues or indie. Johnny Cash's genre was Johnny Cash. His sound was his own, even when singing covers.

I have to thank Rick Rubin for recording those songs with Johnny Cash. Hurt is magnificent.

One of the most beautiful and painful songs of regret I have ever heard. Something about the haunting vocals over such simple instrumentation really gives it a deeper, more timeless quality.

I love both versions of the song, they are great. I connected with the song when it first came out on Downward Spiral, and while written by a young man, the wisdom and sorrow in it were outstanding and applicable to becoming an adult and making mistakes and regretting them. But then the Cash cover came, and added a whole new depth to it, the ending of life and the inability to recover, all the that has been lost and no time to rekindle or find anew, the seemingly pointless nature to it all. Brilliant work, on both parts. Sometimes can't even listen to the song it is that powerful.

I think of Eddie Guerrero and Raw after his passing when I hear this song. I remember watching that show live and it was obviously very sad but when they played that video package of his life with this song, just started weeping.

Rick hit the nail on the head @7:28, looking back over your life with regret, at the end of your life, is brutal. There is no more time to figure it out, you're done.

I’m a huge music fan with interests in most genres and yes there’s something about this song and the way it’s portrayed by Johnny Cash. You just feel it on a different emotional level. Great to listen to Rick Rubins added input on this topic to. Love it 👍🏼

The song is great & but the deliverance & performance from Mr. CASH is purely amazing & soul touching

"I hear anger and frustration! It's so simple" lol

It’s his goodbye to the world and his family… Johnny’s family and especially his daughters didn’t want the song released, They said to Johnny “dad it feels like your saying goodbye it’s to sad for the family” Johnny said “I am saying goodbye my love” His daughter says it in an interview!! So cathartic!!

Cash’s rendition makes me feel like a person has comes to terms with who they are…. As sad, as hurtful, as tragic as a life can become has come to terms with reality

I share a deep love for this song. I didn't know until now it was a cover and I can't imagine anyone else doing it, let alone a young person doing it, because it's so holyshit overwhelming.

I have known people personally for whom this could have been written. I am also really taken by the fact that this was performed by a man whose end-of-life quavering voice and weather beaten face only adds a powerful currency to the lyrics and that image can be chronologically transferred to someone almost from adolescence onwards.

One of the many dozens of times I was in rehab we all came together on this song. That time never got me clean, but it set "better living" in motion. I'm not there and hurting bad right now, but I'm close.

It is one of the greatest songs of all time and Cash’s version will literally made you or break you.

If you aren’t shedding tears, you might be broke.

Soulful eyes, so much soul! Lex, Rick Rubin, Johnny Cash and that hauntinly hearthbreaking song!! Thank you!

Johnny could put so much soul and depth into the lyrics that transformed the original songs he covered. The "Break my Rusty Cage" cover of Soundgarden's hit is up there with the Hurt cover. Really brings a whole different understanding of the lyrics.

This was incredible. This song never fails to make me tear up.

This song is something special. It gives me chills. Every song he covered on that album was an immensely powerful reconstruction. 'In My Life,' is my favorite. Hard not to cry on that one. Apart from the covers, I have to say, 'The Man Comes Around' is one of the greatest masterpieces in songwriting. It reveals a mind absolutely saturated in Biblical stories and language, with an extremely intimate understanding of all the intricate symbolism. I can't think of anything else like it.

Johnny Cash, in this song, was standing before the door we will all face one day. We will all stand with one hand on the knob while looking back over our shoulder at all that we have done with this gift of life we were given. His was an evocative appeal to not worry about it. It'll all be okay. There's no need to fear dying. And besides, there's not one god-damn thing you can do about it, so accept it and move along to whatever it is that comes next. In this life you are done. RIP, Sir Johnny of the Cash clan, you did well with your allotted time.

You can tell that Rick would’ve happily sat there and listened to the the entire song. In fact, in no slight to Lex, he’d likely have preferred it.

I remember when that first came out. I was just mesmerised watching the video. Definitely still one of the best. Hits deep.

I once listened to this song 10x in a row and just stared out the window and cried.

I heard this song the first time while driving around with the radio on. Jed the Fish was a radio dj with a syndicated show called “out of order”. He played the current top ten in random order, plus he had the “catch of the day”, one song he felt needed to be heard. He played Johnny Cash doing Hurt. I immediately went to Blockbuster music, to try to buy it. The people in line heard what I was asking for, and one guy asked me if I was serious. I told him I was, and that I just heard it. The lady behind the counter said that the next Johnny Cash album was a year out, and it was called “the man comes around”. A guy in a suit behind me said he had heard it, that he worked for Buck Owens,(this is in Bakersfield, where Buck lived and worked), that he had been been given, or acquired a vinyl version(Buck owned a radio station). I asked if he wanted to sell it, he politely declined, and the questioner was suddenly interested. I told him it was an amazing rendition, he was skeptical, but suit guy was my backup. He told him,”it’s crazy good”. Dude reserved judgement based on consensus, but I assume he gets it now.

It’s amazing that arguably the greatest Country Artist can be full of so much regret

On par with Cash covering "Heart of Gold" by Neil Young with Frusciante's guitar behind. Absolute classic.

That's my post blue collar 8 hour shift song.

Hurt changes every time its sung by another person. those words mean different things depending on where you are and where you've been in life and that's very unique when it comes to art as a hole. Hurt is a song that cannot be artificially redone because the most beautiful things in this world or even in this universe happen by accident, Trent wrote a song that the music industry can't cloned and mass produce which that makes it so much sweeter to enjoy.

We need another podcast with these two. One of my absolute favorites

This hits deep, right in the feels... 🥺

Trent's version, being the original, actually hits a lot harder for me...

Listening to Hurt with the clip gives you an experience like nothing else.

Thank you Alex for this interview I can’t wait to listen to it in total . Thank you Rick Rubin for the music.

Lex you’re an absolute legend, but please be aware of when you’re asking a question to let them answer that question rather then asking another 3 or 4 afterwards. They’re all valid great questions, but I want to know the answer to the first one!!! Great video.

Johnny was a gift to music all over the world.

That song is easily the #1 most moving song I have ever listened to. There's times in my life where I just listen to it over and over again.