My First Ever Song Lyric Sunday

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I don’t often post on consecutive days, but WordPress’ new feature of showing our posts from this day in years gone by threw up a kind of milestone one for me. Well, that is what it has since become, as it was the first time I ever posted for Song Lyric Sunday which, as regular readers will know, has become a major feature of my blogging week: I wouldn’t be without it. So I decided to be self indulgent and share this one too. I promise not to keep doing this, but this one is special for me. As with yesterday’s I’ll return at the end for a few closing words but for now, first posted on 5 June 2022, this is

SONG LYRIC SUNDAY: HURT

I’m trying something today that I haven’t done before, and will be interested to see what response it generates. I was prompted to do it by a post from Paula Light, of the Light Motifs II blog. She referenced in her post that Song Lyric Sunday (SLS) is led by Jim Adams and, having looked at his blog, it was a no brainer to follow him and join in. If you follow that link to Jim’s blog you will see that his theme for us today is to feature songs which deal with primary emotions, like guilt, shame, regret etc. I could think of several possibilities for this, but decided that for my first SLS post I’d go with something searingly honest in its emotions. This one:

I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that’s real

I don’t know of many songs which begin with a more arresting first verse than that. You are instantly brought into to the singer’s world of torment, and the video really brings that home. Just in case you didn’t get the message, the song goes on to say:

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

The song was written by Trent Reznor of the band Nine Inch Nails, and was the closing track on their second album The Downward Spiral, released in March 1994, which got to #2 in the US and #9 here in the UK. The band didn’t release this as a single and, to be honest, I never paid that much attention to them until Johnny Cash released his version of this song, with that video which now has more than 158m views. Johnny’s version was on his album American IV: The Man Comes Around, released in November 2002, a mere ten months before his death. I think you can see the signs of what was to come in his appearance here. The album peaked at #22 in the US and #40 in the UK, and was part of a series of six he made in his later years in which he (mostly) visited other people’s songs. They are a fine body of work with which to end his career – the last two were issued posthumously. This song was released as a single in February 2003, making #56 in the US Country listings and #39 on the main UK chart.

When Trent was asked if Johnny could cover his song he was quoted as saying he was flattered but thought it might be a bit ‘gimmicky,’ though he still gave his permission. When he saw this video it brought it home to him: “that song isn’t mine anymore… It really made me think about how powerful music is as a medium and art form.”

I could say more about this song but I don’t really think I could do it any better than Trent did. The song’s emotions, its expressions of guilt and shame for the damage the singer has done to himself and to those who love him, is so raw, and Johnny’s video lays it all bare.

I hope Jim and Paula feel that my first foray into SLS has been both appropriate and worthwhile, and that you do, too. This video stops me in my tracks every time I watch it and, believe me, I’ve seen it a few times.

……………………………………………………………

And this is me again today. I had to do a little editing with that, as Paula is no longer on WordPress and the links I included in the original post no longer work. But she is still out there blogging somewhere, and has made a couple of recent re-appearances for Song Lyric Sunday, so I’m hopeful that we will see more from her. As I said at the beginning, SLS has become an important part of my weekly blogging schedule, and reminding myself that it was four years ago today that I added it to my resume is a good feeling for me: long may it continue. I know from my Tuesday Tunes series that it isn’t always easy to come up with a theme for music posts, and Jim does a sterling job with that in hosting the weekly link up. And in case you were wondering, those 158m YouTube views for that video are now up to 338m – clearly an important song for many.

And as I also said yesterday, before this late change to the programme occurred, I’ll see you again in a couple of days for a new Song Lyric Sunday 🤣

40 thoughts on “My First Ever Song Lyric Sunday”

  2. Absolutely love Johnny Cash, He is the reason behind me taking up Faith again, been through all His Albums, still studying His life to this day. In fact that’s the reason that brought me to your post, thanks so much for sharing this video, it gave me goosebumps, watching Him again.

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  6. Clive, Johnny Cash’s final couple of albums won awards. This was after being dropped by his record label. This is an example of the meaningful songs compiled on them. What amazes me is the number of young people who know and appreciate his work. By the way, my wife and I saw a pretty cool museum to Johnny Cash in Nashville. It showed all the performers who recorded and worked with him including Bob Dylan. Keith

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    • That full set of six ‘American’ albums was magnificent and deserved every award going. I think the ‘Walk The Line’ movie helped create awareness of him and maintained that after his death. That museum sounds great – I wish I could see it!

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      • Clive, it was excellent. I find it interesting he has a museum there, as he often was at odds with the Nashville establishment for his passions to help prisoners and Native Americans get more humane treatment. Keith

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  14. Hurt: You know how good a song is when it can go from one artist to another and not lose it’s strength even grow stronger.
    Two very talented artists walking a very painful delicate path.
    Another one that is just not going to grow old.

    Roger

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