Kudos! While Johnny didn't write this, it resonated with him and he did his version. For Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) it was written about his struggles with addiction, depression etc..... For Johnny, it was a reflection of his life, his regrets, an apology and a goodbye. He led one hell of a life which included substance abuse, infidelity, and all the typical trappings of the celebrity lifestyle. When Johnny's daughter saw this, she cried and said, "It sounds like you're saying goodbye" and Johnny replied, "I am"..... That was Johnny's wife June Carter Cash standing in the stairs watching him. She died 3 months after this was filmed and Johnny followed 4 months after her. I believe this was a gift from Johnny, the gift of wisdom....
Yeah Mike most people don't even know about the original NIN version b/c it wasn't that big of a hit but it was a great song too! Not better than this one but still great though! :)
Nine Inch Nail's songwriter, Trent Reznor prolifically responded to Cash’s “Hurt” cover with: “I wasn’t prepared for what I saw, and it really then, wasn’t my song anymore.”
@@jonthomas3065 I know! I heard a podcast interview (Howard Stern, I think) where Trent was asked about Johnny's version. Trent said he actually refused to listen to it at first, but then a friend (think it was his manager) showed him the music video for his first "listen".... Trent said it actually brought them to tears. That's when Trent said "It's Johnny's song now". Funny how the same song can come across so different yet be SO equally powerful and moving!
Yeah but the truth is that bith versions are great. Johnny Cash more ballad, the other more rough. But these are Reznor musics and lyrics creator wise. Also for Trent it has different meaning. Both versions are great.
Both songs are beautiful. And even if Cash and Reznor are singing the same lyrics (mostly), they are two totally and completely different songs with totally different meanings. Both have a place.
Trent gave this song to Johnny after he recorded it... Shows the humbleness of Trent and the performance Johnny gave!! Having June in the end... That's what he wanted most! Her!
My daddy is from the Johnny Cash Era I played this for him and said what's your thoughts dad? He said honey to me it's about the end of life sometimes all you feel is the pain of age you watch loved ones die and relize all the hars work you did and things you bought really doesn't matter in the end. We all are going die you just get tired and start thinking what will I be be remembered for but with time we all are forgotten it's just facing the fact there's mistakes, good and bad but one thing no one can escape death in the end we start looking back. My dad's still alive 99 years old and within 2 months I've watched him so downhill everytime they take blood I see him wrench and think of this song about feeling the pain. For me its the watching your last few years, and people die leaving us behind only to follow in their footsteps . Funny thing is my daddy could pass for Johnny Cash look a like. Hars to watch this.
I can't listen to this without tearing up. I'm a 72 year old man and there is so much in this song that resonates with my own life, so many regrets and bad choices, with anything good being very transitory - RIP Johnny, if there is life after death I hope you are back with June
The picture of the woman on the wall was his mother . His wife, June who’s in the video passed away 3 months after it was made and Johnny followed 4 months after her.
Maybe I'm a slow learner, but Johnny's passing is what convinced me that it is 100% possible to die of a broken heart. They say old age, drugs, etc did Johnny in. I'm pretty convinced it was a broken heart.
@@JayLachMe My grandma died only a few months after My grandpa died. She told me she no longer wanted to go on without her love of her life. I believe too that one can die of a broken heart
Although Johnny didn’t write this song, he lived every word of this song . You should research Johnny’s music. He was ahead of his time. He’s truly the Man in Black. He wrote some bangers. This was the last song He recorded before he passed.
That's how you turn an hymn of despair into the death knell for a dying giant. When you run out of time, you can't lie to yourself anymore. Also, that image of June Carter watching the man she loves singing his goodbyes is heartbreaking, little did she know she would go before him. Of course it's rough, it's a man closing the lid on his life. We spend our lives not thinking that they will end someday.
"If you take your time to listen to it, country music is very similar to rap," Snoop Dogg told Billboard last year. "Johnny Cash is the one who stood out to me. I love his style, his swag, the songs he made."
Man I remember when he dropped this. I was like...dude this is a Nine Inch Nails song and was just blown away. This man was, is, and will always be a legend.
If feel sorry for future generations. They won't have this type of music to look back on. Instead they'll have ex strippers and guys with faces covered in tattoos about nothing to look back on.
He's not talking about the people who were fucking with him - he's talking about the people's loved and how he's let them down. It's a song of regret looking back on his life
I think it also about using “needle injecting heroine ( his sweetest friend ) and how escaping. Ruining his life and how his lies and lifestyle has only to hurt everyone even though he has possessions they mean dirt
Let's not forget this WAS actually the first time Stevie saw/heard this (unlike some "Reactors"). I guarantee he'll come back to it again and again, and his insight into the meaning(s) will grow. Love his enthusiasm and openness!!!
@@zackyboi2048 Totally agree. Joaquin is lightning in a bottle in literally every role he takes. In that role you didn't even see Joaquin. It was like watching Johnny play himself.
I can never listen to this song without tearing up... That feeling of total abandonment, total solitude even surrounded by people; that's pure depression and self harm...damn
Everytime I hear this, I tear up, too. I'd heard Reznor's version years ago, liked it. Then I heard Cash's version after working in long term care and hospice for a long time. Now I always hear this and think of all of my dementia patients. It resonates so damned hard for me, knowing what they go through as they struggle to remember things, their spouses, their children, their *lives,* and how they're simply waiting to die.
I think it's also just the entire situation of being at that stage of your life... and essentially just waiting to die. Health is starting to go, you've accomplished all you've wanted to/could do... now you wait for the end, looking back and thinking about your legacy.
Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) actually wrote the song. Here's what he had to say about Johnny Cash's cover: I pop the video in, and wow... Tears welling, silence, goose-bumps... Wow. [I felt like] I just lost my girlfriend, because that song isn't mine anymore... It really made me think about how powerful music is as a medium and art form. I wrote some words and music in my bedroom as a way of staying sane, about a bleak and desperate place I was in, totally isolated and alone. [Somehow] that winds up reinterpreted by a music legend from a radically different era/genre and still retains sincerity and meaning - different, but every bit as pure.
Johnny Cash and his second wife, June Carter Cash, lived in this lakeside mansion from about 1969 until she died about three months after this video was filmed. She wrote one of his greatest hits, "Ring of Fire." Johnny wrote songs also. Their son, John Carter Cash is shown in the video as a baby and as a boy of about 9. The interior of their home was fit for a king. After John and June died, that home was lost in a fire. Another reminder that all is lost eventually.
@@matthewbrug6337 You'd have to really understand how Johnny was with his family (or more so how he wasn't) to realize he wasn't "dad" an he knew it hence the song being so perfect for is "goodbye".
@@WatchingFromWork6636 bull, she said daddy in the originally quote. She almost always called him dad still does, in public. At home, he was daddy. June wasnt her mom, thats why she called her June... as Carlene called him john since he wasnt her father... and june was momma
This was the perfect song for him at the end of his life. Johnny Cash had a crazy, interesting, sad, complex life and he'll always be one of my favorite artists.
Every time I hear this song it is so cathartic for me.. Trent managed to express some serious feelings and thoughts and then to have Johnny do this cover so beautifully at that point in his life just gives it even more depth. It's seemingly simple but you can get lost in it. Just so very touching.
Didn't write it. A NIN song from the 90's that addicts clung to so they weren't alone. A copy without acknowledgement of true original is a slap to the face.
This song was written by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails (NIN). The NIN version is also fantastic but different. Johnny Cash did a cover of it and made it his own as part of his American Recordings series produced by Rick Rubin (Def Jam, Beastie Boys etc...). When Trent heard Johnny’s version and saw the video he was shook. It is so powerful if you play it all the way through without stopping. The transparency and experience in his vocal is haunting. If you want to hear a great Johnny Cash record written by him do Ghost Riders In The Sky - absolutely haunting.
Tried to listen to the original after hearing Johnny’s, does not hit the same lol. The cash version is far better IMO. Great reaction as always Stevie keep putting in that work
Johnny didnt write Ghost Riders in the Sky. The original version by Stan Jones was recorded in late 1948 or early 1949. A recording by Stan Jones and his Death Valley Rangers issued on Mercury 5320 in May 1949. Fellow songwriter Eden Ahbez sent the song to Burl Ives, who recorded his own version in early 1949. Also in 1949 The Sons of the Pioneers released the song,which made a huge hit.
Man….. I remember exactly where I was when I first this song. It literally stopped me in my tracks, I stood there and just listened, I walked away damn near in tears. I felt him giving in, looking back and I felt as I lived 1000 lives in a matter of 3 mins. Wonderful version
I'm still infuriated that a no talent hack like G-Eazy would have the gall to cover Lazarus. The song is holy ground. It was a legend saying good bye, and it should NEVER be covered EVER! Covering it showed a definite lack of class. ruclips.net/video/igxj6l_J6PY/видео.html
If anybody truly knows Johnny and Junes story, that image of him singing this song while she stood over him looking down on the stairs.... that just hits right in the chest
That was actually an accidental shot. She had come to check on him, because he hadn’t been feeling well, and didn’t realize they were shooting and she was in the shot. That’s why she looks so concerned. When footage was reviewed, the director decided that it was the most honest shot of them they’d get and kept it in.
@@kristinkeiner6547 please do not spread missinfermation if she was not ment to be there she would have left right away she was there for multiple shots camera focused on here she would have been blured out a bit due to lenz focus she was ment to be in it " June Carter Cash who participated in the video (shown gazing at her husband in several sequences) "
In my mind, this is the greatest cover song of all time. Trent Rezner wrote this song and origionally performed it as Nine Inch Nails, but reportedly when he heard this version years later he said, "It's Johnny's song now".
Only the Man in Black could sing someone else's song on a steady key making it so powerful and his own just by putting his life and experience behind it. The song gives me chills each time I hear it even years later.
Original song was made by Nine Inch Nails. But after Johnny Cash did this, Trent Reznor loved it so much when he watched the video, that he cried and declared this is his (Johnny Cash) song now.
this song wasn't about people against him, it was for the people that were with him no matter what, his wife and mother and everyone else, and his sorrows outliving them, its an old man wishing he could start over and make better choices. he is regreting the choices he made in live and wished he could have made differently
You are right… he didn’t write it… but it sure does fit… and this isn’t about people against him. I like the nine inch nails original but I have to say I prefer Johnny’s rendition
Johnny and June is one of the most iconic true love stories. That is most definitely his wife. She saved him in more ways than one. Watch the movie I walk the line.
Amen! Walk the Line is a fantastic film! Right up there with Ray in many ways. Joaquin Phoenix at his finest. Johnny Cash has music that only gets better with time and perspective.
100% sister!! The movie "Walk The Line" is a MUST!! Johnny and June's story is incredible... She was a great woman and he, a great man.... Together, they were epic!!
@@goldengreen7763 She was a wonderful and talented woman.We were all lucky to have her, her music AND her influence on Johnny and his music!! May they rest easy together in eternity... They will live on forever in their music for generations.... Peace and light to you and your family. :)
Still remember when this song and music video first dropped and how powerful his cover of NIN's song was. It was sad because this song took on a whole new meaning when he covered it, and right after his wife passed away, then a few months later he passed away. The amount of love he got that year was beautiful, just a reminder of the influence that he had on people.
So this was basically his self eulogy of his life with a nine inch nails song, his wife passed away right before this was let out which makes it even more soul ripping.
@@Zikliv, the photo is his late mother-in-law, Maybelle Carter, whom he was extremely close to. His wife, June Carter Cash, is the woman in the video who is standing on the stairs.
Taking a stroll back through Johnny Cash's life and catalog, this song becomes more and more impactful. Like others have mentioned, this is a cover of a Nine Inch Nails song, but as you can tell from Johnny's delivery and video this song really hits home for him at this stage of his life (he died shortly after recording this). Keep expanding those horizons bro! I hope you'll dip your toes into Metal at some point (start with radio-friendly bangers like "Sad but True" from Metallica)
Yes, that was his wife June Carter in the video. She passed away not too long after the video & Johnny followed her later that year. Even though he didn't write the song, it was a sort of representation of his life & how in some ways he messed things up. Watch the movie Walk the Line and you'll have a better understanding of who he was.
The bit ‘you are someone else, I am still right here’ is actually him talking to himself in a way. He’s saying his body, everything about him externally is someone else (has aged, changed beyond comprehension) but he (on the inside) is still right there, no change’.
This is a cover. The original is by a band called Nine Inch Nails. Trent Reznor, the heart and soul of that group, wrote it from his perspective, the perspective of a young addict that has basically given up on himself and Johnny Cash took it and turned it into the last hurrah of a man knowing his days were numbered, which they were. Both haunt me for completely different reasons; the first because that could‘ve been me and the second because it could be me decades upon decades from now.
Lol Trent Reznor is THE ONLY MEMBER of NIN. He only hires musicians when he tours. All of his albums are recorded solely by him. Vocals, instrumentals, everything is just TRENT
I grew up listening to classic country and it always felt like it melded into my love of rap seemlessly. It’s hard to pinpoint, but it’s palpable. There is a shared experience of hardship and hearing how folks have grown, succeeded, and celebrated the struggle has always been refreshing. You’re a GOAT in these breakdowns Stevie. Keep it up.
@Stevie Knight You're so on point when reviewing this and not one time did you mention the color of his skin; nor did you bring your own into this. Some similar content creators would have put in the title "Black Man Reacts to Johnny Cash" Which to me is mostly obvious from a thumbnail. In your case it was just one man in great detail... reviewing another man's performance. We need more of this, not to say we don't have issues or problems with relations - but as you've done to respect a piece of music & give your honest feelings to it without any preconceived ideas. Very refreshing, Subscribed & will enjoy binge watching many of your other reviews, you're one in a million, thanks for this.
This comment is part of the problem it raises. Your preconceived title, that you came up with, is what irks me about your willingness to be the one who jumps in and leads the charge on these matters.
@@tbone7463 There is one race, the human race, the more that it is left out of click bait videos reactions the better. Not sure if you meant you were irk'd by others who proceed in a manner or the fact it was pointed out. NWA put out music that represented the street life they lived... Johnny Cash wrote about his life traveling making music. Neither one has to be reminded of melanin along the way. Who feels it knows it. No need twist a comment on a video and be irk'd just have a good one & realize it was in support of your constant fairness when making your titles.
@@tbone7463 Also, my title wasn't preconceived, it is a title that exists, you can search using that exact title and find a minimum of 4-5 videos. I don't see a problem with people making a living with click bait, at some point they may actually have something worth saying.
He said one of the realist things you could say “idk shit about Johnny cash but the fact that I know of him means something” but the original is by nine inch nails
Let me just say.. you're one if the most intelligent reactors out there.. to all types of music and bars. I like getting your perspective.... you should see the Johnny Cash movie " WALK THE LINE" . I wasn't a big Johnny Cash guy... but now knowing the story..and what he went thru. It's pretty dope.. he was diffrent... anyway.. great reaction SK
This legend of a man whas very old when this video was made. I'am a guy from the Netherlands and even i have vinyl and CDs of this God of a country music. There are a lot of great mucisans. But nobody can reach the level of johnny Cash. I'am a real guns n roses and Rammstein fan but above my 🛌 is a signt poster of this men. Legend legend for ever. Greets jacco from Holland 🇳🇱
He covered this song and afterword Trent Reznor said that this song belongs to him now. His wife died shortly after this video was made and he followed her 4 months later. I lived close to him. The day after he died, I drove by his estate. I've never seen so many flowers and teddy bears in my life. His gate was covered. I drove by the House of Cash every day. Now they've moved it to Nashville and you can tour it. I am proud to have been alive when such greatness was around.
I loved the song when Nails did it.. When Johnny Cash did it.. my soul moved and cried..his wife died.. he did this song and died. I believe this was a farewell 😢
Johnny Cash was a legend. There will never be anyone that done what he done during is career. He really made this cover feel like it was written for him even though it wasn’t. R.I.P June and Johnny
This is the first reaction to this song I felt actually warranted a comment from me. When you gave the explanation of the line "You are someone else, I am still right here" that was the first time I interpreted it that way. I always envisioned he was talking to his past self-- this person he no longer identified with or recognized, yet has to live forever with the consequences of their actions. Anyway, thanks for opening up an alternative door for that line.
This song reminds me everytime of my father in law who was a gentle man who passed 12 years ago at 60. We always sing this to remember him. He died suddenly from asbestos poisoning and it broke his sons hearts so this is a sad but happy listen. Love from Ireland
I've always felt the line "I wear this crown of Thorns, upon my Liar's Chair" Is a reference to how he is a Devout Christian (Jesus's Crown of Thorns) who has known the Devil through his own actions (the Liar's Chair).
‘Trent Reznor was born to write this song.’ “Johnny Cash was born to sing it.” Bono, U2 Trent Reznor didn’t perform this song again live for many, many years. ‘It’s not my song anymore.’
His wife June wasn't supposed to be in the video, she was sick at the time and died shortly after this video, but she came downstairs while he was shooting. He died a few months after she did, so not long at all after he recorded this song.
June Carter Cash who participated in the video (shown gazing at her husband in several sequences) dont spread misinfermation plz they would not have a zoom in cam ready to see her and it would not be focused in a way to see her
He's referring to his wife as his best friend and how life was sweet with her, married 50 years. She got him clean and sober bc he loved her so much. The painting on the wall is of his mother. Trent Resnor of Nine Inch Nails wrote the song and literally gave it to Cash. His wife June Carter died 3 months after this cover and then he died 3 months after. He died from a broken many have stated
He was apologizing to the people he loved that he hurt. Esp. his wife June. Johnny was my favorite country singer. Trent Reznor wrote this. He gave it to Johnny when he heard the way Johnny made it his. Trent said i was born to write this Johnny was born to sing it. Trent gave this song to him. Awesome reaction love to you and your family from the one and only Memphis Tn. i have heard this song many many times and i still bawl.
Reznor wrote it but like when Hendrix covered Dylan's All along the watch tower Cash owns this song now. The weight it carries coming from such a senior, experienced, seasoned artist just makes it hit so much harder. One of the greatest covers ever!
True. I'm one of those who thinks Reznor can do no wrong, but Cash just destroyed this. I honestly think this version is more relatable, but... I can't allow myself to actually say one is better than the other. Cuz...NIN. But, ill say that this version actually brought tears to my eyes and the original didn't. Thats all I'll say
@@MrGloverGlover it is. But even still, Reznor deserves ALL of the credit in my eyes because it IS his writing. However, I do realize that a LOT of people get frustrated with us "NIN SONG! NIIIIIIN SOOOOONG!!" commenters. And I get it. But trailblazers like him are few and far between...plus, I'm just a big fan
Johnny Cash was a alcoholic and drug addict. His wife June in the video died shortly after this video, Johnny died like 4 or 7 months after. Their love story was explained in her song Ring of Fire
Wrong. He wasn’t heartbroken about what others did to him - he was heartbroken at how HE HURT others. He abused his wife, his family, his friends. He was a self absorbed drug addict. Now he had outlived everyone he hurt (and loved and took for granted), and has finally seen how much pain HE caused.
You know nothing about Johnny Cash nevertheless read about him before you say he abused June or his kids you are wrong and plus he didn’t write the song
Johnny Cash did not write this song, but his performance of it made it his! The lady behind him is his wife June Carter Cash. The lady in the red dress in the picture is Johnny's Mother. The first scenes were at the "House of Cash". It was a House/Museum, however he never lived there. The Museum was a history of his career. It was in disrepair as seen in the video, no need to stage it. Symbolic to how the music industry often neglected/forgot the older stars. The older house in the video that he's seen looking in the window is where he grew up. His wife June died a few months after this video was made. Johnny passed away shortly after. Some say of a broken heart. There's even a song written about loving like "Johnny and June" by another artist. Neither was their first spouse, but when they found each other..... The song "Ring Of Fire" was written by June and performed by Johnny, kind of sums up their love.
Johnny Cash passed away about 7 months after he performed this. Everyone commenting, they are Reznors bars (they are) but if you listen to anything Trent Reznor has said about this, Its Johnny Cash's song, He made it his own. Song is an old man reflecting on past transgressions and looking at his life before death
He said that out of respect. This will always be Trents song. And yes, it’s beautiful how it comes full circle. But Trents version is much better. Cash’s music video is what makes his good.
@@chrislegit3198 I love Trent’s version.. But I love how johnny put his on touch on it. Video really helped, but Johnny could always tell a story and have your attention..
The song was originally written by Nine Inch Nails(a rock band) but after Johnny Cash’s Version came out, the Nine Inch Nails said it is now Johnny Cash’s Song
“I hurt myself today, to see if I still feel”...That’s got to be the reason I watch every reaction to this vid. This is one of musics greatest artists regretting the way he lived his life. From the anger he had in the choices he made, to the frailty of when he’s pouring the wine, and the final goodbye when he closes the piano top and caressed it with familiar and regretful farewell. This vid always hits me hard and it’s always enjoyable when a reactor feels that same weight.
Johnny's manager had been trying to convince him to cover this song for years. Johnny always said he just couldn't relate to it. But as he got to this point in his life, he had lost so many people from his generation, suddenly the song took on a completely different meaning.
Rick Rubin , the producer and not johnny's manager wanted him to cover. it did not take years to convince him. This song is on AmericanIV: The man comes around. It is mostly comprised of striped down covers. Get you facts straight before you give out your opinions.
I thought it was Rick Reuben? His manager was against it. He thought it was a bad idea, but Rick Reuben kept at Cash with it and because he couldn't understand the lyrics, he had to just read the song instead, and THEN he fell in love with it. Right? I could be completely wrong though.
The ending where he closes the piano is just so poignant and heartbreaking. He was closing the door on not only his career, but his life and he knew it. He went out on his own terms. He actually didn’t write this song, Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails wrote it and performed it first, but after hearing Johnny’s version Trent Reznor said that Johnny had taken his song, because of how much it touched him with Johnny’s version. I can’t listen to this song without shivers. You need to listen to some of Johnny’s older stuff, he’s got an amazing catalog.
Johnny Cash is a legit legend, seriously he is the rightful king of country music. Like you said you don't know country but you know him. There a lot of people that don't know country or like it but know who he is. And a lot of his songs speak to people.
The Johnny Cash video for the single was recorded in February of 2003. June Carter Cash, his 2nd wife is, the woman on stairs; also a singer who toured with him and sang with him on several songs and is the person played by Reese Witherspoon alongside Joaquin Phoenix, in the biopic film of Cash and Carter, Walk the line. She had come over to check on her husband that day as his health was not so good. It was her that Cash attributed to rescuing him from his drug and Alcohol addiction when she married him. June Carter Cash passed away a few months after the video recording in May of 2003 and a bereaved Johnny Cash followed her a few months later in the September. The song is by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails and is about his battle with addiction and depression. Cash also an addict and alcoholic for much of his early life spending time in Jail on half a dozen occasions for possession. The song encompasses the way both musicians life threads are woven together and entangled across the decades between them, so much so that Trent when he saw the video said it was like loosing his Girlfriend as the song had become Johnny's. Johnny was a campaigner for prison reform and the rights of Native Americans and much of his material reflected his own passions and darker past. Johnny Cash's star declined in the 80s and the Museum to his life with the smashed Gold Disk on the Floor, used as one of the backdrops to the video, ended up being shuttered. In the 1990s Rick Rubin of American Recordings more of a Rap, Punk and Metal, producer sought out Cash to record on their label, and offered Cash complete artistic freedom. With them his career revived and he brought out a his most critically acclaimed albums, the America series, bringing Cash to a new younger audience starring on The Simpsons and Headlining at Glastonbury in 1994. The 4th and penultimate album of the America series from which this is one of several Hit Singles: American IV: The Man Comes Around, was released in November of 2002 and he was still working on his final Album that was released posthumously.
I was thinking this line too.. However crown of thorns is implying what Jesus wore during his crucifix and it's an imagery of something holy.. And it was a diss at MGK (rap devil 😈 hence the horns)
It doesn’t matter how often I hear this song I’m always moved to tears just can’t help it... what a beautiful yet tragic song, so human .. thx for reacting and appreciating Stevie 💗
@@jeremyfitts6802 sigh. People can like what they want. Stop replying to every comment because you have some sort of personal vendetta against Cash. You seriously have issues.
Steve, 50 year old white guy from the Midwest, Been a musician my whole life, drummer, ......I really like your channel, thanks for being real, and truly listening to what you hear, that’s all good music asks from anyone , yet most don’t truly listen , kudos
Probably the greatest cover ever recorded. As you know by now, Trent Reznor wrote this for Nine Inch Nails. His version was a self deprecating discussion of addiction. Johnny Cash recorded it as a farewell to his fans and life. Trent said later that he never thought of the song that way. But after hearing Cash's version of it, it was like seeing your first girlfriend years later and happy with someone else. She was yours once, but this other person has taken her and made her theirs. She is better with him, they are better together. She isn't yours anymore.
When he first released this song I listened to it, and in my own mind I knew he was saying good bye, before all the info about it came out. To me it was him saying good, and telling the music industry and the young people coming into it, this is my life, if you want to live your life how I lived it, this is how you leave it.
I know he didn’t write it but Johnny Cash doing this song just makes it hit different. Especially considering all the shit he went through in his life and how close to the end he was when he recorded this. Rick Rubin’s production just makes it that much better.
This was the last song he recorded. 💔 The woman on the stairs is his wife June, also a legendary singer/musician. Check out the movie Walk the Line. It's his life story.
I have watched dozens of reactions to this song (its addictive). I've seen so many catch the feeling and cry, but you are truly the only one who I have seen GET IT. You understood every word more deeply than anyone I've ever seen.
What gets me every time is that the table is set up as his own “last supper”. Being that he passed shortly after this release, this really was his final farewell to the world.
Johnny was all prayed up by this point. Listen to “When the man comes around”. He is speaking of the past and time wasted and how he would do it different if he could go back. “Ain’t No Grave” and “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” are also moving.
Hey Stevie, I watched this video (and Knox’s) back when y’all released it. I was in a similar boat to Jelly Roll here at the time. I’m still here (now smoke-free), and I wanna thank you for your insight, humanity, and understanding of men with mental issues.
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
Kudos! While Johnny didn't write this, it resonated with him and he did his version. For Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) it was written about his struggles with addiction, depression etc..... For Johnny, it was a reflection of his life, his regrets, an apology and a goodbye. He led one hell of a life which included substance abuse, infidelity, and all the typical trappings of the celebrity lifestyle. When Johnny's daughter saw this, she cried and said, "It sounds like you're saying goodbye" and Johnny replied, "I am"..... That was Johnny's wife June Carter Cash standing in the stairs watching him. She died 3 months after this was filmed and Johnny followed 4 months after her. I believe this was a gift from Johnny, the gift of wisdom....
My Grandpa died the same day Johnny Cash died. He was a huge Johnny Cash fan and coincidentally they died on the same day.
@@notslimkindashady7131 I'm sure Johnny's giving concerts in heaven and your Grandpa is right there, front row! May they rest easy... Peace brother!
Yeah Mike most people don't even know about the original NIN version b/c it wasn't that big of a hit but it was a great song too! Not better than this one but still great though! :)
Nine Inch Nail's songwriter, Trent Reznor prolifically responded to Cash’s “Hurt” cover with: “I wasn’t prepared for what I saw, and it really then, wasn’t my song anymore.”
@@jonthomas3065 I know! I heard a podcast interview (Howard Stern, I think) where Trent was asked about Johnny's version. Trent said he actually refused to listen to it at first, but then a friend (think it was his manager) showed him the music video for his first "listen".... Trent said it actually brought them to tears. That's when Trent said "It's Johnny's song now". Funny how the same song can come across so different yet be SO equally powerful and moving!
Johnny cash is the only guy in the Country music Hall of Fame, rock ‘n’ roll Hall of Fame and songwriters Hall of Fame. LEGEND
Thank you that's what I hit peeps with
Thanks! Shockingly, that's a piece of info I did not know about him!! Further proof that he is a LEGEND!!!
while I won't disadree on Cash's greatness.Hank Williams Sr. is in all 3 as well
i am not 100%, but i am around 99% sure he about it... Johnny Cash in the Gospel Hall of Fame also...
And Gospel Music Hall of Fame
Trent reznor from nine inch nails wrote this, but even he says he feels as if Johnny cash was meant to sing it
Yeah but the truth is that bith versions are great. Johnny Cash more ballad, the other more rough.
But these are Reznor musics and lyrics creator wise.
Also for Trent it has different meaning.
Both versions are great.
Both songs are beautiful. And even if Cash and Reznor are singing the same lyrics (mostly), they are two totally and completely different songs with totally different meanings. Both have a place.
Trent never said that
@@igorspie8241 people be making shit up
@@igorspie8241 yeah I know right people are dumb
Trent gave this song to Johnny after he recorded it... Shows the humbleness of Trent and the performance Johnny gave!! Having June in the end... That's what he wanted most! Her!
My daddy is from the Johnny Cash Era I played this for him and said what's your thoughts dad? He said honey to me it's about the end of life sometimes all you feel is the pain of age you watch loved ones die and relize all the hars work you did and things you bought really doesn't matter in the end. We all are going die you just get tired and start thinking what will I be be remembered for but with time we all are forgotten it's just facing the fact there's mistakes, good and bad but one thing no one can escape death in the end we start looking back. My dad's still alive 99 years old and within 2 months I've watched him so downhill everytime they take blood I see him wrench and think of this song about feeling the pain. For me its the watching your last few years, and people die leaving us behind only to follow in their footsteps . Funny thing is my daddy could pass for Johnny Cash look a like. Hars to watch this.
I can't listen to this without tearing up. I'm a 72 year old man and there is so much in this song that resonates with my own life, so many regrets and bad choices, with anything good being very transitory - RIP Johnny, if there is life after death I hope you are back with June
If there's one thing that marks this song it's the fact that people of any ages will be brought to tears by it.
Yea I’m 31 and it still makes 😢
Its been a year but i do hope you are well my friend.
me too brother.
Same here. Our mistakes and misdeeds haunt us. Got to come to terms with them, seek forgiveness. Best wishes, brother.
The picture of the woman on the wall was his mother .
His wife, June who’s in the video passed away 3 months after it was made and Johnny followed 4 months after her.
June died 3 months after this was filmed and Johnny died 4 months after her. Peace... :)
Maybe I'm a slow learner, but Johnny's passing is what convinced me that it is 100% possible to die of a broken heart. They say old age, drugs, etc did Johnny in. I'm pretty convinced it was a broken heart.
@@JayLachMe My grandma died only a few months after My grandpa died. She told me she no longer wanted to go on without her love of her life. I believe too that one can die of a broken heart
June was nuts 2nd wife
watch him n June Carter cash..his 2nd wife
Johnny cash was truly one of the greats. He put out 67 studio albums over his career spanning almost 50 years
67?!?!? Good lord man...
Johnny cash =goosebumps
Holy shit
Yes..
Even though this song was written by Trent Reznor.
Although Johnny didn’t write this song, he lived every word of this song . You should research Johnny’s music. He was ahead of his time. He’s truly the Man in Black. He wrote some bangers. This was the last song He recorded before he passed.
And Trent from Nine Inch Nails the band who did the original song said Johnny did it better then they ever could.
Truly "The man in Black"
Many say that Elvis is the King of Rock. Many say that Jackson was the king of pop. But Johnny Cash... He is, and always will be, the King of MUSIC.
It is not the last song he recorded. He recorded songs in 2003.
That's how you turn an hymn of despair into the death knell for a dying giant. When you run out of time, you can't lie to yourself anymore. Also, that image of June Carter watching the man she loves singing his goodbyes is heartbreaking, little did she know she would go before him. Of course it's rough, it's a man closing the lid on his life. We spend our lives not thinking that they will end someday.
Fuck man... spot on.
"If you take your time to listen to it, country music is very similar to rap," Snoop Dogg told Billboard last year. "Johnny Cash is the one who stood out to me. I love his style, his swag, the songs he made."
Man I remember when he dropped this. I was like...dude this is a Nine Inch Nails song and was just blown away. This man was, is, and will always be a legend.
Nine inch nails don't even consider it their song anymore
He was what punk rock strived to be
If feel sorry for future generations. They won't have this type of music to look back on. Instead they'll have ex strippers and guys with faces covered in tattoos about nothing to look back on.
@@Hellraiser988 NIN is only a band when playing live...all of the albums are just Trent Reznor (for the most part.)
@@blakemassengale6922 punk and metal before they existed.
Doesn't matter how many times I listen to this song, it sends shivers down my spine every time.
Especially with the video.
I'm not crying, you are.
Every time!!
@@akiraakai you are, damn it! LOL
I cry every time. Every single damn time when the video is on. It just touches my soul.
He's not talking about the people who were fucking with him - he's talking about the people's loved and how he's let them down. It's a song of regret looking back on his life
"Fuckin with him" is slang for someone that associates with him. Could be wrong tho
@@killswitch6950 I think that’s a little anachronistic
I think it also about using “needle injecting heroine ( his sweetest friend ) and how escaping. Ruining his life and how his lies and lifestyle has only to hurt everyone even though he has possessions they mean dirt
@@Thechrisbarrett That may have been the Nine Inch Nails version for sure, but I think it meant something different with Cash.
Let's not forget this WAS actually the first time Stevie saw/heard this (unlike some "Reactors"). I guarantee he'll come back to it again and again, and his insight into the meaning(s) will grow. Love his enthusiasm and openness!!!
When his daughter heard this for the first time she said to him "It sounds like you're saying goodbye." Johnny replied, "I am."
Aaaand if you haven’t seen the movie: Walk the line, i recommend it! Phoenix did an amazing job playing Cash in that one 😊 Anyone agrees?
Joaquin Phoenix has never missed a beat in his whole career, but that performance truly was something special
@@zackyboi2048 Totally agree. Joaquin is lightning in a bottle in literally every role he takes. In that role you didn't even see Joaquin. It was like watching Johnny play himself.
And he was the one actually singing for the movie. That's pretty amazing to be able to play a part like that successfully
@@joelcprice I agree! He is phenomenal! Have you seen The Joker? 😃❤️
@@joelcprice So agreed!
Johnny was completely heartbroken when his love June died, he recorded this song and died 4 months after June did
June was alive when he recorded this. She was literally in the video lol
He did die shortly after her, though.
@@dylanholman3 yes, she’s in the video
@@tiacalhoun3841 the way you worded your comment made it seem like you thought June died, then he recorded this song, then died a few months later.
@@dylanholman3 I see that now, my apologies
Yea, She was his everything.
I can never listen to this song without tearing up... That feeling of total abandonment, total solitude even surrounded by people; that's pure depression and self harm...damn
Everytime I hear this, I tear up, too. I'd heard Reznor's version years ago, liked it. Then I heard Cash's version after working in long term care and hospice for a long time. Now I always hear this and think of all of my dementia patients. It resonates so damned hard for me, knowing what they go through as they struggle to remember things, their spouses, their children, their *lives,* and how they're simply waiting to die.
Orly
Same cause i can relate
I think it's also just the entire situation of being at that stage of your life... and essentially just waiting to die. Health is starting to go, you've accomplished all you've wanted to/could do... now you wait for the end, looking back and thinking about your legacy.
Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) actually wrote the song. Here's what he had to say about Johnny Cash's cover:
I pop the video in, and wow... Tears welling, silence, goose-bumps... Wow. [I felt like] I just lost my girlfriend, because that song isn't mine anymore... It really made me think about how powerful music is as a medium and art form. I wrote some words and music in my bedroom as a way of staying sane, about a bleak and desperate place I was in, totally isolated and alone. [Somehow] that winds up reinterpreted by a music legend from a radically different era/genre and still retains sincerity and meaning - different, but every bit as pure.
Johnny Cash and his second wife, June Carter Cash, lived in this lakeside mansion from about 1969 until she died about three months after this video was filmed. She wrote one of his greatest hits, "Ring of Fire." Johnny wrote songs also. Their son, John Carter Cash is shown in the video as a baby and as a boy of about 9. The interior of their home was fit for a king. After John and June died, that home was lost in a fire. Another reminder that all is lost eventually.
"This song sounds like a goodbye, Johnny." "It is".
The context of this is even deeper when you know it was his daughter that said that to him after she watched the video.
@@josephthomas4762 His daughter called him Johnny? ouch
@@matthewbrug6337 You'd have to really understand how Johnny was with his family (or more so how he wasn't) to realize he wasn't "dad" an he knew it hence the song being so perfect for is "goodbye".
No, roseannes quote said daddy, not johnny
@@WatchingFromWork6636 bull, she said daddy in the originally quote. She almost always called him dad still does, in public. At home, he was daddy. June wasnt her mom, thats why she called her June... as Carlene called him john since he wasnt her father... and june was momma
This was the perfect song for him at the end of his life. Johnny Cash had a crazy, interesting, sad, complex life and he'll always be one of my favorite artists.
Agreed!
Every time I hear this song it is so cathartic for me.. Trent managed to express some serious feelings and thoughts and then to have Johnny do this cover so beautifully at that point in his life just gives it even more depth. It's seemingly simple but you can get lost in it. Just so very touching.
Didn't write it. A NIN song from the 90's that addicts clung to so they weren't alone. A copy without acknowledgement of true original is a slap to the face.
Didn't write it. NIN song from the 90's.
@@jeremyfitts6802 I know. I'm a huge NIN fan. And Reznor gave him and Rick Rubin permission to use it.
This song was written by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails (NIN). The NIN version is also fantastic but different. Johnny Cash did a cover of it and made it his own as part of his American Recordings series produced by Rick Rubin (Def Jam, Beastie Boys etc...). When Trent heard Johnny’s version and saw the video he was shook. It is so powerful if you play it all the way through without stopping. The transparency and experience in his vocal is haunting. If you want to hear a great Johnny Cash record written by him do Ghost Riders In The Sky - absolutely haunting.
Tried to listen to the original after hearing Johnny’s, does not hit the same lol. The cash version is far better IMO. Great reaction as always Stevie keep putting in that work
You’re a genius only you knew this! Wow
Johnny didnt write Ghost Riders in the Sky. The original version by Stan Jones was recorded in late 1948 or early 1949. A recording by Stan Jones and his Death Valley Rangers issued on Mercury 5320 in May 1949. Fellow songwriter Eden Ahbez sent the song to Burl Ives, who recorded his own version in early 1949. Also in 1949 The Sons of the Pioneers released the song,which made a huge hit.
Man….. I remember exactly where I was when I first this song. It literally stopped me in my tracks, I stood there and just listened, I walked away damn near in tears. I felt him giving in, looking back and I felt as I lived 1000 lives in a matter of 3 mins. Wonderful version
Wow, that is so beautifully put: I felt as I lived 1000 lives in a matter of 3 minutes. Spot on!
Me too😢
Johnny Cash’s performance of this song is very similar to me to “Lazarus” by David Bowie. They knew what was coming.
I'm still infuriated that a no talent hack like G-Eazy would have the gall to cover Lazarus. The song is holy ground. It was a legend saying good bye, and it should NEVER be covered EVER! Covering it showed a definite lack of class. ruclips.net/video/igxj6l_J6PY/видео.html
I'm a Grandma, and I care about you. Your phenomenal reactions are all I want from you. You deliver.
I second that!
That is so sweet
I'm a middle-aged, rural, religious soccer mom, and I love him too. ROFL He has mastered the cross-appeal skills.
Have a great day every day ma’am.
You’re lovely
If anybody truly knows Johnny and Junes story, that image of him singing this song while she stood over him looking down on the stairs.... that just hits right in the chest
I cry EVERY time. Johnny was saying goodbye. Johnny and June. So perfect and beautiful, yet altogether tragic.
Amen and yeah it always does me too
This.
That was actually an accidental shot. She had come to check on him, because he hadn’t been feeling well, and didn’t realize they were shooting and she was in the shot. That’s why she looks so concerned. When footage was reviewed, the director decided that it was the most honest shot of them they’d get and kept it in.
@@kristinkeiner6547 please do not spread missinfermation if she was not ment to be there she would have left right away she was there for multiple shots camera focused on here she would have been blured out a bit due to lenz focus she was ment to be in it
" June Carter Cash who participated in the video (shown gazing at her husband in several sequences) "
In my mind, this is the greatest cover song of all time. Trent Rezner wrote this song and origionally performed it as Nine Inch Nails, but reportedly when he heard this version years later he said, "It's Johnny's song now".
First Instinct is OG. He despised the cover at first. When the video came out, he paid his respects. That’s it.
He said it's his own song now two different things
Between this and Kurt Cobain doing Man who sold the world for me
Only the Man in Black could sing someone else's song on a steady key making it so powerful and his own just by putting his life and experience behind it. The song gives me chills each time I hear it even years later.
Welcome aboard SK. The cash train is amazing.
You catch a cold rainy day watch “ walk the line “ it’s a condensed movie about him and his life.
Original song was made by Nine Inch Nails. But after Johnny Cash did this, Trent Reznor loved it so much when he watched the video, that he cried and declared this is his (Johnny Cash) song now.
this song wasn't about people against him, it was for the people that were with him no matter what, his wife and mother and everyone else, and his sorrows outliving them, its an old man wishing he could start over and make better choices. he is regreting the choices he made in live and wished he could have made differently
agree 100 percent, and when he taps his hands on the piano, I see it as him tapping on Junes casket saying goodbye to her and all of us
he didn't write this song.
You are right… he didn’t write it… but it sure does fit… and this isn’t about people against him. I like the nine inch nails original but I have to say I prefer Johnny’s rendition
@@DrSbaitsojr you’re right. He made a cover of it, with his own interpretation. Want a medal for realizing that? It’s still a great cover.
he did not out live his wife at the time of release she was in the vid
Johnny and June is one of the most iconic true love stories. That is most definitely his wife. She saved him in more ways than one. Watch the movie I walk the line.
Amen! Walk the Line is a fantastic film! Right up there with Ray in many ways. Joaquin Phoenix at his finest. Johnny Cash has music that only gets better with time and perspective.
100% sister!! The movie "Walk The Line" is a MUST!! Johnny and June's story is incredible... She was a great woman and he, a great man.... Together, they were epic!!
Yep! Amazing movie. Joaquin Phoenix being a beast at acting way before all of the hype. Always loved him ❤️
My Mum is cousins with June.
@@goldengreen7763 She was a wonderful and talented woman.We were all lucky to have her, her music AND her influence on Johnny and his music!! May they rest easy together in eternity... They will live on forever in their music for generations.... Peace and light to you and your family. :)
Still remember when this song and music video first dropped and how powerful his cover of NIN's song was. It was sad because this song took on a whole new meaning when he covered it, and right after his wife passed away, then a few months later he passed away. The amount of love he got that year was beautiful, just a reminder of the influence that he had on people.
What A Beautiful Eulogy Trent Reznor Wrote For Johnny Cash ..Strangest Thing Of All Is Trent Never Knew He Was Doing It
Nice.
Stevie. You should react to "boy named sue" by Johnny Cash. Just for a laugh.
YES THIS 👆👆👆
I was just about to say that cause it’s the most rap Johnny you’ll ever get haha
Yes! Do this please.. loving the different genres your doing.. talk your shit
YES, PLEASE REACT TO THIS 👆🏻
this one
So this was basically his self eulogy of his life with a nine inch nails song, his wife passed away right before this was let out which makes it even more soul ripping.
Shes in the video
@@othiq1077 Yeah, she died before it was released, is what he said.
She was alive when the video was filmed.
i think that may be their daughter in the video... the picture is his wife tho
@@Zikliv his wife was in the video before she passed
@@Zikliv, the photo is his late mother-in-law, Maybelle Carter, whom he was extremely close to. His wife, June Carter Cash, is the woman in the video who is standing on the stairs.
Taking a stroll back through Johnny Cash's life and catalog, this song becomes more and more impactful. Like others have mentioned, this is a cover of a Nine Inch Nails song, but as you can tell from Johnny's delivery and video this song really hits home for him at this stage of his life (he died shortly after recording this).
Keep expanding those horizons bro! I hope you'll dip your toes into Metal at some point (start with radio-friendly bangers like "Sad but True" from Metallica)
Yes, that was his wife June Carter in the video. She passed away not too long after the video & Johnny followed her later that year.
Even though he didn't write the song, it was a sort of representation of his life & how in some ways he messed things up.
Watch the movie Walk the Line and you'll have a better understanding of who he was.
The bit ‘you are someone else, I am still right here’ is actually him talking to himself in a way. He’s saying his body, everything about him externally is someone else (has aged, changed beyond comprehension) but he (on the inside) is still right there, no change’.
After listening to this song his daughter said it sounded like he was saying goodbye. He responded by saying he was.
This is a cover. The original is by a band called Nine Inch Nails. Trent Reznor, the heart and soul of that group, wrote it from his perspective, the perspective of a young addict that has basically given up on himself and Johnny Cash took it and turned it into the last hurrah of a man knowing his days were numbered, which they were. Both haunt me for completely different reasons; the first because that could‘ve been me and the second because it could be me decades upon decades from now.
Lol Trent Reznor is THE ONLY MEMBER of NIN. He only hires musicians when he tours. All of his albums are recorded solely by him. Vocals, instrumentals, everything is just TRENT
@@chrislegit3198 atticus ross
@@murder13love Lol he was added in 2016... WAYYY after most of NINs amazing albums.
@@chrislegit3198 then he's not THE ONLY MEMBER then is he 😉
@@murder13love He was SOLO when he made all his best selling albums. He got older and needed some help. That’s normal. In his prime NIN is 1 person
I grew up listening to classic country and it always felt like it melded into my love of rap seemlessly. It’s hard to pinpoint, but it’s palpable. There is a shared experience of hardship and hearing how folks have grown, succeeded, and celebrated the struggle has always been refreshing. You’re a GOAT in these breakdowns Stevie. Keep it up.
I soooo agree with this ❤
I've always thought outlaw country and real punk rock are the same, just different tempos.
@Stevie Knight You're so on point when reviewing this and not one time did you mention the color of his skin; nor did you bring your own into this. Some similar content creators would have put in the title "Black Man Reacts to Johnny Cash" Which to me is mostly obvious from a thumbnail. In your case it was just one man in great detail... reviewing another man's performance. We need more of this, not to say we don't have issues or problems with relations - but as you've done to respect a piece of music & give your honest feelings to it without any preconceived ideas. Very refreshing, Subscribed & will enjoy binge watching many of your other reviews, you're one in a million, thanks for this.
This comment is part of the problem it raises. Your preconceived title, that you came up with, is what irks me about your willingness to be the one who jumps in and leads the charge on these matters.
@@tbone7463 There is one race, the human race, the more that it is left out of click bait videos reactions the better. Not sure if you meant you were irk'd by others who proceed in a manner or the fact it was pointed out. NWA put out music that represented the street life they lived... Johnny Cash wrote about his life traveling making music. Neither one has to be reminded of melanin along the way. Who feels it knows it. No need twist a comment on a video and be irk'd just have a good one & realize it was in support of your constant fairness when making your titles.
@@tbone7463 Also, my title wasn't preconceived, it is a title that exists, you can search using that exact title and find a minimum of 4-5 videos. I don't see a problem with people making a living with click bait, at some point they may actually have something worth saying.
He said one of the realist things you could say “idk shit about Johnny cash but the fact that I know of him means something” but the original is by nine inch nails
Let me just say.. you're one if the most intelligent reactors out there.. to all types of music and bars. I like getting your perspective.... you should see the Johnny Cash movie
" WALK THE LINE" . I wasn't a big Johnny Cash guy... but now knowing the story..and what he went thru. It's pretty dope.. he was diffrent... anyway.. great reaction SK
Snoop Dogg's "My Medicine" is dedicated to the late great Johnny Cash.
thats mental haha have been bumping that tune for years i never connected the dots
Never thought I’d see this but I love it. Johnny didn’t write that but he felt it and he lived it through that guitar.
also lived it in his own way due to he also had drug addictions and problems with his past
This legend of a man whas very old when this video was made. I'am a guy from the Netherlands and even i have vinyl and CDs of this God of a country music. There are a lot of great mucisans. But nobody can reach the level of johnny Cash. I'am a real guns n roses and Rammstein fan but above my 🛌 is a signt poster of this men. Legend legend for ever. Greets jacco from Holland 🇳🇱
The original Man In Black.
He covered this song and afterword Trent Reznor said that this song belongs to him now. His wife died shortly after this video was made and he followed her 4 months later. I lived close to him. The day after he died, I drove by his estate. I've never seen so many flowers and teddy bears in my life. His gate was covered. I drove by the House of Cash every day. Now they've moved it to Nashville and you can tour it. I am proud to have been alive when such greatness was around.
I loved the song when Nails did it.. When Johnny Cash did it.. my soul moved and cried..his wife died.. he did this song and died. I believe this was a farewell 😢
Both versions are great in their own ways.
Johnny Cash was a legend. There will never be anyone that done what he done during is career. He really made this cover feel like it was written for him even though it wasn’t. R.I.P June and Johnny
This was my father’s favorite singer. He died before this song came out. And yet, it sums up his character. Thanks for reacting to this. Rip pop
This was a goodbye song. Cover of NIN. He was saying goodbye. His wife, June, died shortly after this video and he followed her soon after.
This is the first reaction to this song I felt actually warranted a comment from me. When you gave the explanation of the line "You are someone else, I am still right here" that was the first time I interpreted it that way. I always envisioned he was talking to his past self-- this person he no longer identified with or recognized, yet has to live forever with the consequences of their actions. Anyway, thanks for opening up an alternative door for that line.
This hits hard, watch God's Gonna Cut You Down by Johnny Cash. The video was made after he passed.
When his wife June came down the stairs and sees his pain kills me
This song reminds me everytime of my father in law who was a gentle man who passed 12 years ago at 60. We always sing this to remember him. He died suddenly from asbestos poisoning and it broke his sons hearts so this is a sad but happy listen. Love from Ireland
Trent Reznor wrote the song, but even he admitted that Johnny now owned the song. He absolutely killed it here. RIP Johnny......
I've always felt the line "I wear this crown of Thorns, upon my Liar's Chair" Is a reference to how he is a Devout Christian (Jesus's Crown of Thorns) who has known the Devil through his own actions (the Liar's Chair).
The original lyrics were "crown of shit"
How much of an honour is it though when Johnny Cash wants to cover your music
I get sad at how few people know it is a cover.
@@JC-xu8fj ppl know its a cover but it is a cover he made his own
‘Trent Reznor was born to write this song.’
“Johnny Cash was born to sing it.”
Bono, U2
Trent Reznor didn’t perform this song again live for many, many years.
‘It’s not my song anymore.’
You forgot the the other part that Bono said..."Mark Romanek was born to make this music video."
This is beyond classic johnny cash masterpiece testimony of his life beautiful and sad at the same time, haunting and riveting
This is the greatest cover and video of all time! LOVE seeing people's reaction to it.
His wife June wasn't supposed to be in the video, she was sick at the time and died shortly after this video, but she came downstairs while he was shooting. He died a few months after she did, so not long at all after he recorded this song.
June Carter Cash who participated in the video (shown gazing at her husband in several sequences) dont spread misinfermation plz they would not have a zoom in cam ready to see her and it would not be focused in a way to see her
Johnny's rendition of this cover is the best. Goose bumps everytime I hear it
"If that don't give you perspective, I don't know what the fuck will" Amen to that! Well said!
He's referring to his wife as his best friend and how life was sweet with her, married 50 years. She got him clean and sober bc he loved her so much. The painting on the wall is of his mother. Trent Resnor of Nine Inch Nails wrote the song and literally gave it to Cash. His wife June Carter died 3 months after this cover and then he died 3 months after. He died from a broken many have stated
He was apologizing to the people he loved that he hurt. Esp. his wife June. Johnny was my favorite country singer. Trent Reznor wrote this. He gave it to Johnny when he heard the way Johnny made it his. Trent said i was born to write this Johnny was born to sing it. Trent gave this song to him. Awesome reaction love to you and your family from the one and only Memphis Tn. i have heard this song many many times and i still bawl.
Reznor wrote it but like when Hendrix covered Dylan's All along the watch tower Cash owns this song now. The weight it carries coming from such a senior, experienced, seasoned artist just makes it hit so much harder. One of the greatest covers ever!
I think Reznor himself even said this is Johnny’s song now.
I think perhaps it is THE greatest cover ever.
True. I'm one of those who thinks Reznor can do no wrong, but Cash just destroyed this. I honestly think this version is more relatable, but... I can't allow myself to actually say one is better than the other. Cuz...NIN. But, ill say that this version actually brought tears to my eyes and the original didn't. Thats all I'll say
@@shellyvine44 Original is more innovative, because it's the original. This version is astromically more emotional.
But, it's subjective isn't it.
@@MrGloverGlover it is. But even still, Reznor deserves ALL of the credit in my eyes because it IS his writing. However, I do realize that a LOT of people get frustrated with us "NIN SONG! NIIIIIIN SOOOOONG!!" commenters. And I get it. But trailblazers like him are few and far between...plus, I'm just a big fan
Johnny Cash was a alcoholic and drug addict. His wife June in the video died shortly after this video, Johnny died like 4 or 7 months after. Their love story was explained in her song Ring of Fire
It's an old Nine Inch Nails song but Johnny did it so well Trent Reznor basically said it's his song now!!
Yeahhh.. Actually I’m gonna need you to come in on Sunday as well....MmmmkAy Peter? Thanks. BTW, did you get that memo???
@@chrislegit3198 yeah, we're putting cover sheets on our TPS reports now, I got it.
@@TreeSPN 🤣
Wrong. He wasn’t heartbroken about what others did to him - he was heartbroken at how HE HURT others. He abused his wife, his family, his friends. He was a self absorbed drug addict. Now he had outlived everyone he hurt (and loved and took for granted), and has finally seen how much pain HE caused.
You know nothing about Johnny Cash nevertheless read about him before you say he abused June or his kids you are wrong and plus he didn’t write the song
Johnny Cash did not write this song, but his performance of it made it his! The lady behind him is his wife June Carter Cash. The lady in the red dress in the picture is Johnny's Mother. The first scenes were at the "House of Cash". It was a House/Museum, however he never lived there. The Museum was a history of his career. It was in disrepair as seen in the video, no need to stage it. Symbolic to how the music industry often neglected/forgot the older stars. The older house in the video that he's seen looking in the window is where he grew up. His wife June died a few months after this video was made. Johnny passed away shortly after. Some say of a broken heart. There's even a song written about loving like "Johnny and June" by another artist. Neither was their first spouse, but when they found each other..... The song "Ring Of Fire" was written by June and performed by Johnny, kind of sums up their love.
Johnny Cash passed away about 7 months after he performed this. Everyone commenting, they are Reznors bars (they are) but if you listen to anything Trent Reznor has said about this, Its Johnny Cash's song, He made it his own. Song is an old man reflecting on past transgressions and looking at his life before death
Exactly...👏🏼👏🏼
He said that out of respect. This will always be Trents song. And yes, it’s beautiful how it comes full circle. But Trents version is much better. Cash’s music video is what makes his good.
@@chrislegit3198 I love Trent’s version.. But I love how johnny put his on touch on it. Video really helped, but Johnny could always tell a story and have your attention..
The song was originally written by Nine Inch Nails(a rock band) but after Johnny Cash’s Version came out, the Nine Inch Nails said it is now Johnny Cash’s Song
Then a later interview Reznor said he felt like someone stole his girlfriend. Not a compliment.
@@jeremyfitts6802 he said that about when he first heard the cover then later on said it was cash's song now
“I hurt myself today, to see if I still feel”...That’s got to be the reason I watch every reaction to this vid. This is one of musics greatest artists regretting the way he lived his life. From the anger he had in the choices he made, to the frailty of when he’s pouring the wine, and the final goodbye when he closes the piano top and caressed it with familiar and regretful farewell. This vid always hits me hard and it’s always enjoyable when a reactor feels that same weight.
He actually cried during this video. It really tugs at you. It was like he was saying goodbye
This is why I love music. You can take the lyrics and meaning of the song and apply it to whatever is going on with you and the world you live in.
There is a great movie about him and his life called Walk the Line, Joaquin Phoenix plays Johnny Cash.
Johnny's manager had been trying to convince him to cover this song for years. Johnny always said he just couldn't relate to it. But as he got to this point in his life, he had lost so many people from his generation, suddenly the song took on a completely different meaning.
And the original sucks. Johnny Cash made this song so much better.
Rick Rubin , the producer and not johnny's manager wanted him to cover. it did not take years to convince him. This song is on AmericanIV: The man comes around. It is mostly comprised of striped down covers. Get you facts straight before you give out your opinions.
@@dustinmosley5965 The original was amazing...AND so is this version. Don't spit at someones feet and then ask to borrow their suit,
@@grantpaterson1016 I didn't cover the song.
I thought it was Rick Reuben? His manager was against it. He thought it was a bad idea, but Rick Reuben kept at Cash with it and because he couldn't understand the lyrics, he had to just read the song instead, and THEN he fell in love with it. Right? I could be completely wrong though.
The ending where he closes the piano is just so poignant and heartbreaking. He was closing the door on not only his career, but his life and he knew it. He went out on his own terms. He actually didn’t write this song, Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails wrote it and performed it first, but after hearing Johnny’s version Trent Reznor said that Johnny had taken his song, because of how much it touched him with Johnny’s version. I can’t listen to this song without shivers. You need to listen to some of Johnny’s older stuff, he’s got an amazing catalog.
Supposedly, he never opened that piano again after closing it.
@@danielhomant2832 and it was burnt down into a pile of dirt.
Johnny Cash is a legit legend, seriously he is the rightful king of country music. Like you said you don't know country but you know him. There a lot of people that don't know country or like it but know who he is. And a lot of his songs speak to people.
The Johnny Cash video for the single was recorded in February of 2003. June Carter Cash, his 2nd wife is, the woman on stairs; also a singer who toured with him and sang with him on several songs and is the person played by Reese Witherspoon alongside Joaquin Phoenix, in the biopic film of Cash and Carter, Walk the line. She had come over to check on her husband that day as his health was not so good. It was her that Cash attributed to rescuing him from his drug and Alcohol addiction when she married him. June Carter Cash passed away a few months after the video recording in May of 2003 and a bereaved Johnny Cash followed her a few months later in the September.
The song is by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails and is about his battle with addiction and depression. Cash also an addict and alcoholic for much of his early life spending time in Jail on half a dozen occasions for possession. The song encompasses the way both musicians life threads are woven together and entangled across the decades between them, so much so that Trent when he saw the video said it was like loosing his Girlfriend as the song had become Johnny's.
Johnny was a campaigner for prison reform and the rights of Native Americans and much of his material reflected his own passions and darker past. Johnny Cash's star declined in the 80s and the Museum to his life with the smashed Gold Disk on the Floor, used as one of the backdrops to the video, ended up being shuttered.
In the 1990s Rick Rubin of American Recordings more of a Rap, Punk and Metal, producer sought out Cash to record on their label, and offered Cash complete artistic freedom. With them his career revived and he brought out a his most critically acclaimed albums, the America series, bringing Cash to a new younger audience starring on The Simpsons and Headlining at Glastonbury in 1994. The 4th and penultimate album of the America series from which this is one of several Hit Singles: American IV: The Man Comes Around, was released in November of 2002 and he was still working on his final Album that was released posthumously.
You can literally FEEL this. It’s insane.
'' Got a crown of thorns but it won't fit around the horns'' - Eminem
Hmmm, wonder if he's paying homage to Johnny Cash, like he's saying, "I get it."
I was thinking this line too.. However crown of thorns is implying what Jesus wore during his crucifix and it's an imagery of something holy.. And it was a diss at MGK (rap devil 😈 hence the horns)
Or maybe it's a Binding of Isaac reference... No, the crown of thorns is realy known thing and probably has nothing to do with Cash.
It doesn’t matter how often I hear this song I’m always moved to tears just can’t help it... what a beautiful yet tragic song, so human .. thx for reacting and appreciating Stevie 💗
Didn't write it. NIN song from the 90's.
@@jeremyfitts6802 sigh. People can like what they want. Stop replying to every comment because you have some sort of personal vendetta against Cash. You seriously have issues.
Steve, 50 year old white guy from the Midwest, Been a musician my whole life, drummer, ......I really like your channel, thanks for being real, and truly listening to what you hear, that’s all good music asks from anyone , yet most don’t truly listen , kudos
Probably the greatest cover ever recorded.
As you know by now, Trent Reznor wrote this for Nine Inch Nails. His version was a self deprecating discussion of addiction. Johnny Cash recorded it as a farewell to his fans and life. Trent said later that he never thought of the song that way. But after hearing Cash's version of it, it was like seeing your first girlfriend years later and happy with someone else. She was yours once, but this other person has taken her and made her theirs. She is better with him, they are better together. She isn't yours anymore.
When he first released this song I listened to it, and in my own mind I knew he was saying good bye, before all the info about it came out. To me it was him saying good, and telling the music industry and the young people coming into it, this is my life, if you want to live your life how I lived it, this is how you leave it.
I know he didn’t write it but Johnny Cash doing this song just makes it hit different. Especially considering all the shit he went through in his life and how close to the end he was when he recorded this. Rick Rubin’s production just makes it that much better.
This was the last song he recorded. 💔
The woman on the stairs is his wife June, also a legendary singer/musician.
Check out the movie Walk the Line. It's his life story.
this was not the last song he recorded the last song he recorded was Like the 309 in 2003 hurt was released 2002
Thank you for putting a song like this. Steve best of luck from Northern Ireland 🇬🇧
I have watched dozens of reactions to this song (its addictive). I've seen so many catch the feeling and cry, but you are truly the only one who I have seen GET IT. You understood every word more deeply than anyone I've ever seen.
What gets me every time is that the table is set up as his own “last supper”. Being that he passed shortly after this release, this really was his final farewell to the world.
Johnny was all prayed up by this point. Listen to “When the man comes around”. He is speaking of the past and time wasted and how he would do it different if he could go back. “Ain’t No Grave” and “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” are also moving.
Gives me goosebumps this song
Hey Stevie, I watched this video (and Knox’s) back when y’all released it. I was in a similar boat to Jelly Roll here at the time. I’m still here (now smoke-free), and I wanna thank you for your insight, humanity, and understanding of men with mental issues.
Bro. Love how open u are to receive. Youre allowing yourself to feel. It aint about genre, its about feeling. Stand tall.
This is one those songs that hits harder the older you get. It takes life experience to put things in the right perspective.