For my Fav Songs Playlist (Song 3):
There was never a question if Hurt was going to be on this playlist, the question was always "WHICH" version of Hurt. Yes, Johnny Cash's version is beautiful and powerful, not only that, but it was the first version I heard and a song that not only introduced me to Nine Inch Nails but to Johnny Cash himself.
Despite all that, I do prefer the original, with an exception. The album version has some weird noise decisions that make it impossible to listen on headphones...
Enter the (Quiet) version of the song, present on the Deluxe Edition of Downward Spiral and on the remix ep Further Down the Spiral. Hurt (Quiet) is basically a very high quality clean recording of a live play of Hurt played on a piano.
Hurt is a very powerful song, no matter the version, in the album it's the last song after the titular Downward Spiral which is about someone committing suicide. It's a banger of a song that for all intents and purposes should have been the last one. But it's not.
Hurt is the suicide letter, the final thoughts of that person right before committing the act. As someone who was unfortunate enough to read a suicide letter by a friend I do have to say that this song does a good job portraying that desperate and eerie feeling. It's the most soothing Nine Inch Nails song, but it's the one that hits the hardest.
I was lucky enough to see this song live this year and I cried. That's not a thing that happens with me, but it did. It's interesting that in the entire The Downward Spiral you get a sense that there's no space for hope... except for it's last verse:
"If I could start again
A million miles away
I will keep myself
I would find a way"
In Johnny Cash's version I feel like it means that he would look for a way to keep who he was during his life, and not change. In the context of the original though it's quite the opposite. He's saying that if given a second chance, far from here, I wouldn't let himself be who he became, to end how it ended. He would find himself, his true self and all that could have been.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhK2hxnBtWw