“I enjoyed doing the ‘Hurt’ video because I felt we were doing something worthwhile, that it was something kind of special.”
Johnny Cash
“There’s something about the juxtaposition of Johnny as a young vibrant man and Johnny toward the end of his life—we new there was something really powerful was going on there.”
Hurt video Director Mark Romanek
Yesterday I mentioned the quote by Roger Ebert that The Grand Rapids LipDub of Don McLean’s song American Pie was, “The greatest music video ever made”—and while I think it’s an amazing video I think Ebert was overstating things a bit. And, of course, such superlatives are subjective, but here are two videos that I personally would put in the running of “the greatest music video ever made.” The first is the Trent Reznor written and Johnny Cash recorded song Hurt. It’s concise & evocative storytelling at it’s best. And the more you learn about Cash, the deeper the song gets. If you’ve never seen the clip of how that video came together check out the second video below.
And the second music video is Jailhouse Rock with Elvis Presley. (Even if it’s more than 50 years old, in black and white, and in very low rez here—it still packs a punch.) Of course, it’s not a stand alone music video as it was part of the 1957 movie Jailhouse Rock written by Guy Trosper from a story by Nedrick Young.
Trosper was born in Lander, Wyoming and also wrote The Pride of St. Louis (1952) starring James Stewart, One-Eyed Jack (1961) starring Marlon Brando and Birdman of Alcatraz (1962) starring Burt Landcaster. His last movie was The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (credited with Paul Dehn) which was directed by Martin Ritt and is part of The Criterion Collection.
It’s always fun to find a loose personal connection to an iconic movie like Jailhouse Rock and I just discovered one while writing this post. Actor Dean Jones had a part in Jailhouse Rock and I met him in 1983 while I was in film school and working as an intern/PA for a cable Tv show called Alive and Well that was taped outside at Marina Del Rey. At that point I only knew him as the actor who was in Walt Disney’s The Love Bug which I had seen (and loved ) as a kid.
And lastly just to tie this all together neatly, if you’ve never heard the name Claude Ely (1922-1978) check out the video below. Brother Claude Ely was a Appalachian Penecostal preacher and singer who influenced both Elvis and Johnny Cash. Cash later did a cover of Ely’s most well known song Ain’t No Grave (Can Hold My Body Down) and it’s actually quite a nice bookend to his recording of the Hurt song.
Dana Jennings of the New York Times wrote; “It’s sanctified singing like Ely’s that we hear echoes of in Elvis and Little Richard, in James Brown and especially in Jerry Lee Lewis. But not a one of them ever burned on record … the way that Ely burns … The main difference is this: Most musicians were merely called by fame, by the Opry. Brother Claude Ely had been called by God.”
I had never heard of Claude Ely until last month when I heard on NPR A Nephew’s Quest: Who Was Brother Claude Ely? Ely’s life story is a documentary waiting to be produced.
P.S. Leiber and Stoller was the writing team that wrote Jailhouse Rock (and Hound Dog) and I couldn’t find many interviews of them online, but did find this article Leiber & Stoller: The BLUERAILROAD Interview engaging. Discover “two Jewish boys from L.A. who got famous for writing in a black genre.”
[…] “I enjoyed doing the ‘Hurt’ video because I felt we were doing something worthwhile, that it was something kind of special.” Johnny Cash “There’s something about the juxtaposition of Johnny as a young vibrant man and Johnny toward the end of his life—we new there was something really powerful was going on there.” Hurt video […] Original Source… […]
Diamanda Galas also does a very distinct and powerful version: