Analysis of JOHNNY CASH - HURT Official Music Video

A swansong of sorts, Johnny Cash's 2003 single "Hurt" features a medley of archived and contemporary footage to represent, in essence, a human life. Arguably, the modern footage is tinted sepia in order to add a retrovert touch and better meld together with older excerpts featured elsewhere throughout the video. Johnny cash himself is featured, aged significantly from as his original audience remember him, alone, in a darkened home, bustling with antiquities - connotations of a life exhibited are clear.
A picture of his mother hangs on the wall behind him, perfectly in-keeping with the blunt truth of the lyrics: "Everyone I know goes away - In the end," is but one of many examples to suggest nostalgia as a burgeoning theme featured. Many other examples are carefully strewn throughout of such reminiscence. Footage of Cash's wife June Carter, both in her younger days and featured in photography in her latter years, is presented in a montage, adding greatly to a sense of wishful reminiscence as opposed to what might be construed as merely pangs of remorse. Cash continues to break the fourth wall almost continually when present in the video, adding greatly towards an emotive and personal performance.
As Cash sits alone at a banquet table, still amongst shadows, the video once again aligns itself with the lyrics to present a simple honesty - that "...you could have it all" - that possessions, regardless of physical value, are of little worth when one's confined to isolation. In a similar fashion, the value of Cash's coveted Golden Record reward, in Cash's own eyes, is clear - lying shattered in his "closed to the public" memorial museum - another paramount testament to his opinions on the importance of physical belongings and renown. This belief is solidified in the now iconic lyric, "My empire of dirt."