cash's video adieu
by martin aston

05.03

mark romanek's video for johnny cash's latest single, a cover of nine inch nails' hurt, begins significantly enough – a close-up shot of a baroque ornament from the singer's own collection, a biblical figure bent over by the substantial weight on his back. but it's in the next frame when the camera fixes on cash's face, that the story really begins. shot in unflinching close-up, the evidence of cash's well-documented ill health becomes extremely upsetting to watch – even more so in the context of an MTV music promo. but it's also intensely moving, as romanek juxtaposes scenes of the frail 71-year-old at home in hendersonville, tennessee with archive shots of a younger, hearty cash, jumping trains and prowling around with characteristic man-in-black swagger. mortality, age, what we have accumulated and what we'll leave behind are the grand themes which romanek addresses in the four extraordinary, fast-edit minutes that make up one of the most striking and moving music videos ever made.

"when you're about to watch a music video, expectations are usually pretty low," says romanek. "but this one's a sucker punch, it deals with issues and emotions that you're not used to in a video."

hurt's composer and nine inch nails frontman trent reznor agrees. talking to mojo from his new orleans home, he recalls being overwhelmed by the way cash had broadened hurt's anti-drug dialogue ("the most personal song i've ever written") to embrace the concept of mortality. then romanek's video arrived. "i'd been working with [ex-rage against the machine frontman] zack de la rocha, on his solo record, and we were just getting started that day, making coffee, having a typical morning bullshit moment, like, let's put this video on. well, the day took a different turn after that. i really wasn't prepared for that level of emotional weight. afterwards, it was dead silent. we were really choked up."

"this has, far and away, got the most reaction and attention of any video i've made in 11 years," reports romanek, whose credits number michael jackson, u2, and madonna videos as well as first-time directing 2002's dark robin williams vehicle one hour photo. even cnn have run a story on the video and the astounding reaction to it, while email congrats have arrived from bono and bowie, "all saying how much they've been blown away".

rick rubin, cash's producer/guardian of the last 10 years, adds himself to the list. "it made me cry. it feels so personal, exposed, and pure, and real, in a way i haven't seen a music video before. if you could get that much emotion into a two-hour movie you've accomplished something. mark did it in four minutes. it resonates so strongly with people because it's a reality we all face. this is about all of our lives.

when rubin showed the video to bono, he recalls, "it made him cry too. bono said, when elvis made records, it was so shocking and radical and important because the culture was adult, and elvis came along with young people's music. now we live in a youth culture, and here's johnny cash doing very grown-up, adult material, even about getting old, which is equally as shocking as the beginning of elvis's career. it's the other side of the coin."

for years, romanek recalls, he'd nagged his friend, rubin, to let him make a video with cash. on hearing hurt, (taken from cash's recent american iv: the man comes around album on def american). "i told rubin i'd kill him if he didn't let me make a video for it!" but cash's condition (autonomic neuropathy, which attacks the nervous system and means, says cash, "that you're getting old and shaky") prevented him from completing romanek's original "more beckettesque" treatment. instead, romanek flew the red-eye to nashville, perused cash and wife june carter's house for locations, then the nearby house of cash museum, which, closed to the public for years, had recently been affected by flood damage. "that's when i got the idea that maybe we could be extremely candid about the state of john's health," romanek admits. "as candid as john has always been in his songs. john was game for it."

for rubin, the moment when cash sings "everyone i know goes away in the end", and romanek cuts to a photo of johnny's mother on the wall, is momentous. for others, it's the haunting images from the derelict museum – among them the shattered glass frame of a gold disc for johnny cash at sam quentin. for romanek, there are two peaks. first, in the video's sole staged scene, cash presides over a last supper-style banquet, pouring wine over the food, hands shaking, as he growls, "you can have it all / my empire of dirt."

"john's lost so many friends to drugs and alcohol," says romanek, "and this act is dumping out this poison. it was john's idea." romanek's other favourite scene features june carter. "we were shooting john singing and play guitar, and june came down from upstairs, to watch him perform. i glanced over, and saw her expression of sadness, pride and love. i was so moved, i suggested she appear in the video, and she agreed."

as reznor points out, "in lesser hands, it could have been tasteless, but it's such a daring video, it works."

the problem is, romanek may have done too good a job. with (at press time) cash back in the hospital with pneumonia, this video coda might well end up as cash's epitaph. "i didn't want it to feel like an obituary," romanek reasons. "the video is meant to be about where he is now in his life. the john i spent a small amount of time with still has plenty of swagger left. he's still johnnymutherfuckingcash!"

on heavy rotation on vh1, mtv2 and country music channel, with cash's album rocketing back up the billboard charts, the public has voted: so what did cash think of the promo? "when johnny saw it," says rubin, "he was shocked, and concerned, at such a heavy piece. then he saw it again with all his family, and they all said it was the most beautiful video they'd ever seen. they were all in tears, but in a good way. the support of his family made him feel good."



back to press