Hurt

I don't think I will embed music videos in my blog very often, but I was thinking about what some of the best songs I've ever heard are and I realized that very few actually come to mind. I suspect that there would be a couple dozen where I'd say "oh yeah! That's a great song!"

But Hurt by Johnny Cash? Great song and great video. Coming in the months between the death of his wife and his own death, Hurt is minimalist pain at its finest. Intercut Cash the old man with a younger vibrant Johnny Cash and images and video of his life and his wife looking over his shoulder as he sings this song of pain...

Damn.

I heard the song for the first time on my way home from work. I was stopped at railroad tracks and the road was otherwise empty it seemed. Then comes this crushing, beautiful song.

That last minute of the song, when June is introduced and the pounding of the piano gets ever louder and more insistent...