When the Country Mystic Cut a Video

When I put that in the "More cuts" post from Matthews Gospel I noticed certain language that sparked other things in my mind. A Long while ago I wrote a post called "Flesh and Blood: HP and Country Mystics" about magic in relation to our physical existence as "Flesh and Blood" and noted Johnny Cash's song by that name. In Christ's words in Matthew, he speaks of His blood being "poured out." This is an ancient wine and grain offering in pagan as well as Hebrew cultures called a "Libation;" in which some of the wine and grain are poured out as an offering to Yahweh or the gods. On his last studio album before he died ("The Man Comes Around"), Cash covered the song "Hurt" by Nine-Inch-Nails and he transformed the whole meaning of the song by changing one word (in reality I think "redeemed" is the most appropriate word here, and meaning it with all the pregnancy of the power of reference to pagan myth being redeemed in the Christ "myth become fact"). Trent Reznor said " I wear this crown of s**t on my liars chair" and Cash said " I wear this crown of thorns, on my liars chair." The video for this song is KILLER, it gives me goosebumps ... in fact it is so good that they re-released the album containing a DVD of the video - I had to go out and buy it again LOL. There is a libation scene in the video: Cash sitting in front of a table spread with a banquet, holding a glass of wine, very effectively NOT singing or lip-syncing to the soundtrack but simply staring straight into the camera as he shakily pours a cup of wine out onto the feast ... I think my heart stopped when I saw that scene. The video ends with an increasingly more rapid succession of images cutting back and forth between video of Cash's life and a Crucifixion of Jesus movie, and what the Libation means in this context is the Libation of Christ. BUT it also has a meaning within the lyrics of "Hurt," sort of like "This is what I, Johnny Cash, have done so foolishly pouring out my life into selfish things. In other parts of the video June stands on the stairs behind him watching him like an angel ... it is a really powerful video. Those who are huge Johnny fans knew that when June left and walked out the door of this world into the next, all John needed to do was grab his coat before he was right on her heels.