Johnny Cash is an American singer, song-writer, actor, and author. He is considered as on of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. He wrote hit after hit such as "Burning Ring of Fire" and "Hurt", and many more. he got caught up in drugs and other bad things and that is why he created the song "Hurt". Hurt originally was written by a band called "Nine Inch Nails". They did the song because Cash's health had rapidly been declining. Some people call this video the saddest music video of all time. The meaning of it is very deep and depressing.
I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that's real
He is depressed so he is hurting himself to see if pain is real anymore to him, he thinks the only way to see if emotion exists is to hurt himself.
The needle tears a hole
The old familiar sting
Try to kill it all away
But I remember everything
He pokes himself with a needle, and feels the sting of it, because that is the only way he knows that his life is "real" he is translating emotional pain into physical pain, he used to be addicted to heroin, so every time he pokes himself the sting is similar to his old habit. He tries to erase his past but no matter what he does he can't forget it.
What have I become
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know goes away
In the end
He is saying that no matter what he does everything he does, ends in the people he cares about is driven away because of the drug addiction.
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
He has nothing, when he says his empire of dirt, he is saying it is equivalent to dirt, he is willing to give this up to make up for his past.
I wear this crown of thorns
Upon my liar's chair
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
He is saying he wears the crown of thorns kind of like Jesus did. In these four lines he is talking about his depression.
Beneath the stains of time
The feelings disappear
You are someone else
I am still right here
He is saying that his feelings pass away as time goes by. He is saying that the person he is singing about (His sweetest friend) has moved on and Johnny is still sitting where he was at the beginning, still depressed.
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
Once again saying he has nothing, and would give it away to start over with his life.
If I could start again
A million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way
He is saying if he could start again a million miles away he would change what he did, he lost himself in all the drugs, he is saying he would find a way to to keep himself the person he should be, he would learn through his failures, he would do everything all again if he got the chance.
