Music video
The music video was directed by former Nine Inch Nails collaborator Mark Romanek, who sought to capture the essence of Cash, both in his youth and in his older years. In a montage of shots of Cash's early years, twisted imagery of fruit and flowers in various states of decay, seem to capture both his legendary past and the stark and seemingly cruel reality of the present. Much of the video is in a style deliberately reminiscent of vanitas paintings, thus emphasizing the lyrics' mood of the futility and passing nature of human achievements. According to literature professor Leigh H. Edwards, the music video portrays "Cash's own paradoxical themes".
Romanek had this to say about his decision to focus on the House of Cash museum in Nashville:
It had been closed for a long time; the place was in such a state of dereliction. That's when I got the idea that maybe we could be extremely candid about the state of Johnny's health, as candid as Johnny has always been in his songs.Romanek also said "the sadness in the video is genuine":
Johnny said that “Hurt” was the best anti-drug song he’d ever heard. The rage you see when he pours the wine on the table or starts to weep is a direct result of having lost people to addictions — and almost having lost himself.
When the video was filmed in February 2003, Cash was 71 years old and had serious health problems. His frailty is clearly evident in the video. He died seven months later, on September 12. His wife, June Carter Cash, who is shown gazing at her husband in two sequences of the video, had died on May 15 of the same year.
On Cash's passing, Bono called it "perhaps the best video ever made", and Emmylou Harris that it reminded us "videos can actually have a profound effect on us" In July 2011, the music video was named one of "The 30 All-TIME Best Music Videos" by Time. It was ranked the greatest music video of all time by NME. It was ranked the second best music video by Rolling Stone Magazine in July 2021.
The house where Cash's music video for "Hurt" was shot, which was Cash's home for nearly 30 years, was destroyed in a fire on April 10, 2007.
