I’m feeling tired today so I’m in the mood for some Johnny Cash to smooth the day away and what better song to listen to than one of the great man’s final recordings on the American IV: The Man Comes Around album, his cover of the Nine Inch Nails song ‘Hurt’.
The song won the Country Music Award for Single of the Year in 2003 and was voted Country Music Television’s top video for 2003.
If you haven’t seen the video before I’ve embedded a YouTube clip below - it’s a truly superb short movie about Cash’s life condensed into 4 minutes directed by Mark Romanek:
If, like me, you’re trying to learn the guitar I’d recommend ‘Easy Songs for Beginners # 24‘ on the Guitar Noise website which has chord progressions for the Hurt song and - if you have the voice - sing along with the lyrics below. Enjoy!
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 am 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
Related posts:
- Why walk the line with the Johnny Cash machine?
- Buying a guitar (with bonus Songs of the Wild West)
- Songs of the Cowboy: The Camp-Fire Has Gone Out
Tags: Johnny Cash | Music | Video
