Johnny Cash - 'Hurt'

Click here to watch the video clip of 'Hurt' by Johnny Cash.

Hurt

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

The needle tears a hole
The old familiar sting
Try to kill it all away
But I remember everything

Chorus

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

I wear this crown of thorns
Upon my liar’s chair
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair

Beneath the stains of time
The feelings disappear
You are someone else
I am still right here

Chorus

If I could start again
A million miles away
I will keep myself
I would find a way

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Johnny Cash's life is chronicled in the film 'Walk the Line', which opened across cinemas in Australia this week.

The film follows the journey of Johnny Cash (played by Joaquin Phoenix), his relationship with June Carter (played by Reese Witherspoon) and his rise to fame in the American country music scene. Growing up dirt poor as the son of a cotton picker in rural Arkansas, the death of his brother at an early age impacted him profoundly in a spiritual way.

Fuelled by his own rocky personal life and spiritual path, much of his music, especially that later in his career, echoed themes of sorrow, moral tribulation and redemption.

During his adult years and his career, he also struggled with drug and alcohol addictions. It was during this time that he refound his spiritual roots - with his religious convictions deepening further still in the latter years of his life and this was no doubt reflected in the videoclip 'Hurt'.