YouTube - Johnny cash-Hurt
the story behind the video(wikipedia):
The music video was directed by Mark Romanek who sought to capture the essence of Cash, both in his youth and in his frail older years. In a montage of shots of Johnny's early years as an icon, twisted imagery of fruit and flowers in various states of decay, seem to capture both his past and the stark reality of the present.
Romanek on his decision to focus on the House of Cash museum in Nashville:
"It had been closed for a long time; the place was in such a state of dereliction. That's when I got the idea that maybe we could be extremely candid about the state of Johnny's health, as candid as Johnny has always been in his songs."
71 years of age at the time of filming, Cash had serious health problems and his frailty is starkly evident in the video. June Carter died 3months after this video, he died 4 months after she did. "Hurt" is considered by many to be Cash's epitaph.
When Rick Rubin asked if Cash could cover his song, Reznor said he was "flattered" but worried that "the idea sounded a bit gimmicky." He became a fan of Cash's version, however, once he saw the music video.
Trent Reznor:
"I pop the video in, and wow... Tears welling, silence, goose-bumps... Wow. [I felt like] I just lost my girlfriend, because that song isn't mine anymore... It really made me think about how powerful music is as a medium and art form. I wrote some words and music in my bedroom as a way of staying sane, about a bleak and desperate place I was in, totally isolated and alone. [Somehow] that winds up reinterpreted by a music legend from a radically different era/genre and still retains sincerity and meaning — different, but every bit as pure."