In 1995 “Hurt” was released by Nine Inch Nails on the album “The Downward Spiral”. The song was written by Trent Reznor and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Song in 1996. In 2002 Johnny Cash recorded a cover of that same song which quickly became an ode to his life and death. The two versions of the song, much like the artists who provide the versions, are completely different yet, still the same. The song takes on new meaning when performed by Johnny Cash, however, it still retains the same connotation. Both Reznor and Cash have been in a place where they can relate to each other as people and as artists, this song was their way of sharing that with the world. It just proves that music across genres can speak to different people. …show more content…
The original recording of “Hurt” has lead to controversy among fans as some say that it is about a man battling his heroin addiction and inflicting self-harm, while others say that as the final song on the album it is the suicide note left by the protagonist in the song.
The reality is that it means something different to everyone, but the underlying tone is a song written from a dark place about pain. The song opens with one minute of distorted machine sound, it then transitions into a slow building (1:11) where the drums eventually come in with a strong beat (1:59) that gives the song a feeling of angst and guilt. The distorted electric guitar reappears (2:30) using the technology of the time to create a raspy and sinister sound. The song begins and ends with the buzz of an amp that feels empty and hollow as if reflecting on the emotions of the artist. His voice is soft and whispered and almost creates the imagery of the voices or demons in your …show more content…
head. In Johnny Cash’s cover of “Hurt” he uses an acoustic instrumentation as opposed to the technology-heavy original. Cash removes the profanity from the song, changing “crown of shit” to “crown of thorns” which gives the song a biblical reference and is a nod to Cash’s rich Christian background. Johnny Cash’s cover is about the emotional pain of getting old and reflecting on the life he lived, talking about some of the struggles he went through and the things he’s not proud of. Cash sounds much fuller and you can hear the raw emotion thick in his voice. The repeated guitar riffs and piano chord (2:50) crescendos until it reaches that final moment of monophony (3:30) where just his voice is left to ring. Johnny Cash’s aging voice seems haunted, it is reflective of the sins of his past and sounds tortured by time. The chord progression used throughout this song is nostalgic of the country blues influence of Cash’s past. If you were to listen to the original recording of “Hurt” and then the cover, I don’t know that you could immediately pick up that they are the same song.
The most obvious similarity between them is the lyrics. The lyrics are all but identical except that Johnny Cash removed the profanity from his cover. The song structure is also the same, it is a contrasting verse-chorus form. The music is performed on a minor scale that portrays the heartache, mourning, and despair that we have come to associate with those notes. Nine Inch Nails and Johnny Cash both perform the song remarkably well, but they are just so different that it almost doesn’t seem fair to compare them. They don’t even fit into the same
genre. Johnny Cash was memorialized through this song that he didn’t even write. When asked about how he felt about Cash’s cover, Reznor said “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. Some-fucking-how 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.” (Alternative Press, 2004). Two versions of the same song that should essentially be the same, are completely different. Although they have almost the same lyrics, the same song structure, and the same connotation that life is painful, everything else is a complete contrast between the two. I think Bono summed it up when he said “Trent Reznor was born to write that song, but Johnny Cash was born to sing it, and Mark Romanek was born to film it” (Romanek and Bangs, 2005).
It mainly uses metaphors and similes. For example, the song says “The air around me still feels like a cage.” This song also uses several cases of religious symbolism and other poetic elements throughout it. This song has really weird rhyming patterns. However, they really help the flow of the song and emphasize certain parts.
The lead singer of the band Train, Pat Monahan revealed in an interview that this song is about the death of his mother. In the interview Monahan stated, “ Loss of the most important person in my life was heavy on my mind, and
“Hurt” a song originally recorded by Nine Inch Nails which portrays self-harm and heroin addiction has been covered by many great artists including Johnny cash. When Johnny cash covered this song I got a deferent message from the lyrics while he sings it, maybe it is because of his voice or how he lived his life, but when he is singing this song I get a sense that he is singing about a loved one that has passed on, growing older, and his legacy.
Listening to “Witchcraft” in a way feels like being in the shoes of a woman suffering from violence by someone close to her, from a relative like her husband or boyfriend. Witchcraft’s first lines start in a very subtle way given it a peaceful tone, the singer starts by singing “it’s in your eye, a color fade out” “looks like a new transition,” he is making it sounds like someone is changing or starting a new chapter in their life. They emphasized this on the next lines (3-4) specially in line 4 where it suggest that by just turning her head in different direction she could start a new different life “turning your head to see a new day calling.” Although the first four lines the singer expressly talks about a change, the second verse starts by asking you a question about your feelings “Does it feel like a head to lean on?” the singer makes this question because although you can be very strong and might not need help from anybody else, there is help out there despite you do not wanting any help. The song continues at “I’m looking for your hand in the rough, You’re caught in the wire. Well, I’ll lift you up” The singer implies that you
I believe that this does a fantastic job when it comes to showing the metaphorical meaning behind these lyrics. In conclusion, I believe that the way that I interpreted the lyrics to: “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” shows the deeper meaning on how I see it. Just because I see it one way does not mean that other people cannot see it a different way. That is the great thing about analyzing songs is that the person analyzing it can express freedom and their opinions on the
Even though there seems to be many translations of this story which all seem to be slightly different, they do seem to come together in some odd way. The story does not have to mean one thing or the other. It can have multiple meanings depending on the point of view of the reader. This could be a tragic story of rape and murder. It can be a social commentary on the evils of drugs and rock and roll. It could be a fantasy which is fueled by drugs, or it can be a lesson on life and who we should trust.
The first verse of the song begins by comparing the generals of the United States Army to a group of witches who have "evil minds that plot destruction" and act as a "sorcerer of Death's construction." The songwriters are saying that the generals and politicians meet with each other and think of new ways to cause destruction and chaos for nothing but their own amusement. The last part of the first verse says that they only have hatred for mankind and are trying to brainwash citizens of the United States to think that the war is a good cause so there will not be much protesting and opposition.
There possibly isn't an album in history that is as genre defining as Nirvana's Nevermind. Released in 1991, it single handedly was responsible for the birth of what became to be known as grunge and has gone on to sell over 10 million copies in the United States alone (Stuessy, Joe). It reached number 1 in 1991 and was the first album to bring Seattle grunge to the mainstream audience (Stuessy, Joe). Nevermind is a mix of slow, dark songs and fast paced grunge rock songs. With its grinding guitars, pounding drums, and lead singer, Kurt Cobain's distinctive voice, Nevermind found a distinctive way to fuse alternative punk with 70's rock (Nirvana, Nevermind).
In essence, this song carries various sociological concepts. It concentrates on the main idea about the social construction of reality and talking about how reality is changing. The song questions the actions and mentally of individuals violating the norms and values of society. The band takes into consideration various factors of why it is happening including the media and religion. As a result they talk about such influences taking control building and developing a sense of self. This is a great song about present day problems and how society changes with them.
The song is interesting because reading the lyrics, listening to the song, and watching the music video all give different meanings about the song. Reading the lyrics suggests that the song is a depressing story about the inner turmoil the writer is feeling and how he is not sure what to do with his life. But after listening to this upbeat and happy song, it seems like it may not be as dreary as it seemed at first. After watching the music video the message can be reinterpreted to be about the internal conflicts of a soldier fighting in a war and he does not know what he is fighting for. The fact that the music completely changes how the lyrics are interpreted is interesting. Nate uses many literary techniques to make this song mysterious and open to interpretation depending on how it is experienced.
The man feels abandoned in a corner and he drinks for the sadness he feels. While drinking, he tells himself I do not understand why you left me, if I know she loved me, so if you ever regret your decision he will be waiting for you. Basically, the man feels broken emotionally because the women he loved, left him for no reason. This song to me is not a dancing song, however the song is more about remembering your ex-wife, ex-girlfriend or ex husband and ex-boyfriend. For me personally, this song reminds me of drinking, the title literally means bitter shots of liquor. The way the song shares the hurt the man feels by the women that left him. I could almost picture a man sitting at a bar drinking to his ex saying, “I’m drinking because of you, you caused this”. I could picture that scene in my head because I have seen my friends in Mexico and my cousins in Mexico do
The Jayhawks, “Waiting for the Sun” vs Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, “Mary Jane’s Last Dance”. I was in shock when I heard this one. I love Tom Petty and was surprised to hear how similar these two are. “Waiting for the Sun” is a great song that I have never heard before and I immediately heard the similarity to Tom Petty.
From the first stanza of this song, you get put into a scene. You know almost immediately that it is about someone, and it is the middle of December, but without stating the obvious, it paints a more illustrated picture for you. The first line states, “A winters day, in a deep and dark December” and I could almost immediately feel a cool breeze around me. When I normally think of a winter’s day, I think of people playing in the snow, and having a good time. This may be because I grew up in Southern California where there has been a lack of snow, but in my head, that is what I imagine. Having them state, in a deep and dark December, turns my attitudes to the more pessimistic way of looking at things. The image of children playing in the snow in my head has now turned to cold and dark emptiness. Reinstating my idea of emptiness, the next line follows with the simply statement, “I am alone”. Personally, I hate being alone. So to have the opening words place us in a deep and dark setting, and then state that you are alone, automatically puts me in a negative mindset.
The very end of the song also seems to imitate the instrumental outro of an old-school action movie, with a grand strings exit. On the lyrical side, we are presented with a narrative of a girl with “mousy hair”. From that line alone we get a picture of an average girl, unremarkable and normal. From the line “she walks through her sunken dream” we immediately get a sense of disillusionment. Her life is like a dream, but not the good kind.