Posted on 11/21/2005 3:52:24 PM PST by rhema
A man in his prime contrasted with the end of life.
Devastatingly beautiful and terrible.
What spooked me was June looking down at him from the stairs.
Her expression seemed to say she *knew*.
I'm glad they're together again.
If I could start again
a million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way
yes, Johnny's cover of "hurt" is eerie. It is eerie in a deep soul touching way. He really truly seems to embody that song with every fiber of his being.
Well, it sure humbled Trent Reznor.
I think he realized he hadn't really written that song for himself after seeing that version.
mmmmm, that's deep! gives me goosebumps!!!
Yup.
Trent's is nihilistic with little sense of the repentance or regret one might feel to a much greater degree when nearing the end of one's life.
In this case, Trent wrote it but Johnny lived it.
Reznor's a dark, demented genius but this song just wasn't his to keep.
It had a life of its own.
Can you tell me the best way to view this video? I would really like to see it.
Click this link
http://www.losthighwayrecords.com/e/cash11403.html
and choose WM hi or WM lo, depending on your connection speed.
You'll have to choose WM Hi.
The WM Lo link is dead.
Thank you so much for the info!
No problem....:)
Thanks for posting this. I checked it out- and it was AWESOME. My husband and I both agreed it was better than the original (and we both love early Nine Inch Nails.)
They had 2 specials on Cash the other night and when they got to the "Hurt" video, the narrator said something to the effect of "most people have now completely forgotten that NIN ever did the song"....;))
[Trent will be fine. He's still got the magnificent visual feast of "The Perfect Drug" to comfort him]
The 2 contrasting approaches to the "meaning" of song are fascinating.
NIN went for a generalized shotgun effect with endless imagery of random, scattered global death and destruction.
It appeared somewhat "political" and judgemental in its intent.
Cash went for an intensely personal, laser-beam focused single shot between the eyes.
Wholesale impersonal death vs. personal, impending death.
[now if we could only get Billy Idol or Type O Negative to cover "Sanctified"]....LOL!
I just saw the movie, and it absolutely blew me away.
I love country music, and grew up with Johnny Cash playing in the background. My parents' generation thought he was all it -- men especially liked his music and his style. He was already an icon in the 70s, but many of us youngin's didn't really see the appeal -- why was he so big? As I got older, and started listening to guys like Cash, George Jones, etc... with adult ears, I got it.
Yet, even though I went into the movie thinking I "got it", I was totally unprepared for what this movie would do. Phoenix absolutely captured that quiet half-swagger and the way that Cash was (on-stage, if not always in real-life) a man's man -- gritty, intense, edgy. No soft crooning going on here.
I realized after watching the movie that I had listened to Cash on AM radio, watched him on TV's with a 3 inch speaker, and even the records of the day didn't begin to approach what it was like to hear live performances.
This movie captured what it must have been like to be there when Cash was in his prime, hitting the stage like something no-one had ever seen before.
As to the religious bit, that is nitpicking. This was a great movie.
You are right about the fact that at the time of the Folsom Prison concert, Cash was not as deeply and openly religious as he was in later years when he was singing at Billy Graham crusades and what-not.
The other thing that should be remembered is that even as a "born-again Christian", Cash was edgy and never felt quite "safe" to those who wanted to pigeon-hole him in their image of what they thought a Christian should be. He didn't fit anyone's mold.
In particular, Cash never lost his sense of the importance of being real, and the importance of understanding and having on compassion on people right where they are in life. Cash certainly regretted the drugs and alcohol that he did and regretted the way he hurt those around him. But I never got the sense that he regretted having made any of the music that he did, since at root he was telling people's stories -- many of which are all too often sad, sordid, tragic, and R-rated.
There is a scene in "Walk the Line" that perfectly captures this sense of caring about people where they are, not where they should be. In it, Cash is discussing his proposed Folsom Prison concert with his record producers. I won't ruin it for you, but it was vintage Johnny Cash.
In the 90s, Cash was playing at acid rock festivals. I remember talking to a couple of teenagers who were going to travel to a big festival. There they were in their black leather and piercings. I asked them who was playing the concert, and one of the names they mentioned was Johnny Cash. Having last run across a Cash performance flipping past a Billy Graham crusade on TV, I did a double-take, assuming I had heard wrong. They told me, "yeah, he's gonna be there... he's the coolest."
When I asked them what they found cool about him, they replied. "He's the original man in black, man... the original man in black. Doesn't get any cooler than that."
And then there was the video everyone is discussing on this thread: "Hurt." Try to fit that one into someone's nice neat pigeon hole.
You will love the movie. When I first heard about the movie, I said, "Yeah, right." Then expectations started to build, and I was prepared to be disappointed. I wasn't.
Great movie about a great man. Johnny struggled with temptation, although temptation usually won in his younger years.
Is it the same "Personal Jesus" as recorded by Depeche Mode?
yea.
To anyone who has reservations about this movie...dont. The movie is an amazing protrayal of Cash. Phoenix did an absolutely astonishing rendition of Cash and his voice is about as close as you can get (they didn their own singing).
Witherspoon doesnt portray June Carter all that well (Reese is just to damn cutsie or something) but her singing abilities are very good. I actually look forward to the "Walk the Line" soundtrack that feature Phoenix and Witherspoon.
Yep. It's a cover of Depeche Mode's song.
Just my opinion, Cash actually makes invests the song with strong feelings.
You can hear a short clip over at Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00006L7XQ/002-8274693-3352835?v=glance&n=5174
Thanks. (I thought Reese was outstanding.)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.