“Hurt” by Johnny Cash In the song “Hurt” written by Nine Inch Nails and performed by Johnny Cash, features him dwelling on his past, and his choices which he now regrets. Written using stanzas to introduce his poor life decisions. It focuses on, what Johnny believes, are the choices which have most negatively impacted his life. Choices such as drug use in his early years, “Needle,” and that his whole life he’s seen himself as a liar “Upon my liar’s chair”. Through simple analogies and repetition of a chorus he shows how it’s these decisions that have ruined his life and cause him to, “Hurt.” In the last stanza it states that if he were to have a second chance he would avoid those choices at all costs, “I would find a way.” The first stanza