Task 2 - Research Into Existing Products: Johnny Cash - "Hurt" analysis

Johnny Cash was an America songwriter in the 20th century. His work is considered one of the most influential and inspiring music for future generations. Despite his heavy devotion to the Country genre of music, due to his upbringing in Arkahnsas (Southern America), his music has fallen into in other genres such as Jazz, Rock and even Gospel. Unfortunately however in the last 1950s, Cash experimented with drugs to help him stay awake during tours, which eventually led onto an addiction with very dangerous drugs.

Hurt

I hurt myself today (Imagery created here can be reflected of both self abuse and heroin. Comparing on of the most notable and destructive elements of celebrity lifestyle, with damaging the human body)
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain   
The only thing that's real
The needle tears a hole (Cash is clearly showing how he's revisiting old demons of his past)
The old familiar sting
Try to kill it all away
But I remember everything (Connoting that the more he does to stop the pain, the worse he feels)

[Chorus]
What have I become
My sweetest friend (In reference to numerous people; a personified addiction, family, fans, children)
Everyone I know    (Connoting ideas that Cash's drug problems are perhaps the cause of everyone he knows leaving him)
Goes away in the end
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt (In retrospect he's comparing his achievements to nothing because of his inner pain)
I will let you down
I will make you hurt

I wear this crown of thorns (Various religious references in allude to him being an idol of worship, his Last Supper, and being crucified, put on trial by media, critics etc.)
Upon my liars chair (False portrayals have made him a false idol)
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair (Insinuating that the damage is irreversible and has left him with one option, walk away)      
Beneath the stains of time  
The feelings disappear
You are someone else (This perhaps suggests that this "someone" had changed, for better or worse, and yet Cash remained where he was, not making any progress from his drug                 addiction) 
I am still right here  

[Chorus]

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 will keep myself (Implications that if he had the chance to start over he wouldn't "sell" himself to the public eye and the media and he'd find a way to be successful without essentially giving himself away)
I would find a way

At the beginning of the music video, various shots of gold ornaments and luxurious fruits are shown, to which could either convey how wealthy Cash has become in his career but also being deeper in showing how Cash is surrounded by all this wealth, but still feels a heavy degree of pain inside of himself, 'Hurt'.

Cash's museum is shown to be 'closed to the public' which can convey heavily that Cash choose to be a very private celebrity, despite various critics saying how inconsiderate that was to his loyal fans. This attitude to fame however became a trope of who Cash was, even gaining a large following due to the fact he was never seen.



Here Cash is pouring and wasting away his, presumably expensive wine. At first it may seem that Cash is perhaps bragging about how much money he has and that wasting a few cups of wine clearly isn't going to affect his wealth. But after digging a little deeper, it seems that all of the things his money has been able to buy him (food, clothes, houses etc.) literally has no value to him due to the fact he feels so empty inside.