Hurting

 

What hasn't this guy been through?

We watched a lot of music videos on Thursday, and all were exceptional. Each showed incredible amounts of creativity and dedication from both the musicians and the people behind the creation of the videos. From the light-hearted A Million Ways to be Free to the somber and provoking The Man Comes Around, I was impressed with everything we saw.

But I am never going to forget Hurt.

Not being that big a fan of music, I often hear tunes I like from video game and movie trailers. I heard Hurt for the first time in a trailer for Prototype 2 (which I really, really don’t think understood all of the emotion and story behind the song), and immediately looked for the song on Youtube. I was absolutely stunned.

I have trouble talking about Hurt; there is so much to it, both on the surface of the video and in Cash’s background. Whatever you interpret from the video, there is no denying the emotion in Cash’s performance or his surroundings. This man has seen terrible and experienced terrible things and has far too many skeletons in his closet. He’s at the end of his rope, and he’s ready for what’s coming. It’s a haunting vision, and it’s easily the most powerful cover of any song I’ve ever heard. Then again, very little Johnny Cash sings isn’t powerful, and this video and this song is the ultimate testament to his talent.