"I would keep myself" is the part that's so impactful to me. He doesn't want to wipe the slate the clean, he doesn't want to be someone else, in the end he believes that if he had the opportunity, his self was good enough to make all the difference. He'd find a way.
I always interpreted the line in a resigned way-as if, even if he started again, a million miles away, he would be unable to escape "himself" despite his best efforts to do so. One of the great things about art, though, is that it's up to the interpretation of the one experiencing it.
I love this and the Cash version to pieces because the lines come from the same emotion but different perspectives. Reznor sings from the idea of having no future to live in, and Cash sings from decades of wasted time. Both excellent
@@valeryi3374 but they have said already that is exactly like @swole said... They send it to Cash if he could do his own version and didn't expect that having future ahead and cash well literally getting close to the end
considering i wasn't alive in that year the music was written, if such thing as reincarnation exists, then i was probably old man. or a random person randomly dying. and if i were listening to that song and agreeing with it's lyrics, and then died, and was reborn million miles away then i did keep myself, but i didn't find a way
I always interpreted the lyrics differently. Trent sings, 'If I could start again, a million miles away, I would keep myself, I would find away. However, I always thought of it like 'I would keep myself a million miles away, if I could start again, I would find a way.' With the actual lyrics, he saying that he would try to stick to his values or be a better person, but the way I see it, is that he's saying that he's so broken and hurts so many people, even the ones he loves, that he would rather never meet them in the first place.
@@douglasgibb6943 thanks for your interpretation, I always thought of it as the regular way everyone else thought of it but now that I know yours I have changed my basic understanding
Nah, it's theatrical laughing/smiling, look at his facial expressions when he does that, they all look cynical and self deprecating especially coupled with the lyrics and the mood of the song.
I don't see him smiling or laughing at all. Just throwing himself into anguish. I met him in New Orleans soon after this time. This song is about losing his beloved dog. Who accidently fell out of a window and died. This crushed Trent.
The love of my life died on November 8 2022, 8 months after giving birth to our daughter. I've probably listened to this song over a thousand times. I can't stop thinking about her. Hurt doesn't begin to explain what I'm feeling. Goddamn I miss her so fucking much. RIP Kandra 💔 I'll always love you
"If I could start again, a million miles away..." ... man i'm only 25 and that hits me like a fuckin train.. i can only imagine how people in 50-70 feel listening to this
Well your young , And in my heart I am too, My body is old , I can only tell you , Seek out old people , make friends with them, they will tell you, what you need to know.
Everything is emo and that's why it's great. Humans are emotional beings. Only a psychopath seeks out lack of emotion because they don't understand them.
Every book you've ever read, every song you've ever heard, every painting you've ever seen, every movie you've ever watched... Was created to evoke emotion. If Mufasa didn't die then Simba's triumph meant less.
You like s m o o t h j a z z??! Why not? Kids movies are some of the hardest hitting art pieces out there. Theyre made for totally innocent beings that have their whole lives ahead of them, and they teach values a lot of adults have unfortunately long since forgotten.
I know everyone loves the Cash cover, but the original hits so much more. Trent’s random lowering of his voice, the music getting harder as the song goes, it’s just a masterpiece.
My two cents on Trent's original and Johnny's cover. I interpret this song as a young man who, theoretically, should be in the prime of his life, but is already so jaded, hurt and fucked up beyond repair. He's ashamed of who he is, what he's done and has pushed everyone in his life away, and is now completely alone. It's bitter, it's manic, it's even revengeful in a way. It's the thoughts of the single most hurt person alive transferred to a musical medium. Johnny's is similar in some ways, but very different. His is of a man who's at the end of his life, but instead of looking back on his accomplishments with pride, he's regretful, pessimistic and hopeless. He has outlived the folks he grew up with and helped become who he is. He's looking back on his life, the legacy of Johnny Cash, the Man in Black, in shame and regret. Both songs are iconic in their own right, and both songs are extremely powerful, and while technically being the exact same song, are very different.
The whole album is a story, with Hurt being the end where the protag either kills himself or fails a suicide attempt. You don't have to interpret, it's all laid out in the lyrics.
Didn’t read the entire comment. It’s about heroin, and using heroin. He’s not jaded by people. “The needle tears a hole, the old familiar sting”. I’m paraphrasing but it’s obvious.
@@TheBLGL That’s ONE line out of many. How can you decide what the entire song is about based on a single lyric? Besides, this is my interpretation. It doesn’t have to be the same as your own.
@@MrPink-kk6qn Its about a character reflecting on his suicide, his character kills himself in the song before this. look at the lyrics of that song "Downward Spiral"
I know Trent says "This isn't his song anymore" but to me, it still is. Trent Reznor's music always knows how to get me to that place I keep trying to bury, but need to face. I love how after all these years, he still performs this live with that same screen of images.
Cashs version doesn't even hold a candle to this imo, i don't get the comparison. when the guitar comes in at the end when he says 'I will find a way' is one of the coolest things in the world to me.
@@gtsgasa I feel the same way. The Cash version is great in its own right, and I'm sure it's really profound for people who didn't grow up with this version. But if you did grow up with this version, no cover will ever have the same weight.
Trent's biggest regret is going to be having said that line, given for well over a decade now it's just been taken out of context. It was a part of a whole statement. He never 'disowned' the song or believed Cash's was just better. He was simply remarking that it was so good it was like what he heard wasn't his own anymore. He was saying it was a masterful execution of a cover that distanced itself from his own original. Never did he say his was now put to the wayside.
Yeah, I prefer Trent's version entirely simply because he puts the emotion into the song - he created it. Johnny Cash did a great fucking cover of it and I have lots of respect for the legend, but he comes 2nd with this one.
James Barnett they both put some soul into it, i think only reason cash did it is because he could relate so well with it, but thats makes trents writing of it even more impressive to get a legend to want to cover it
I was on team " this is now johnny's song" after Cash remade it, it was perhaps the greatest cover ever done, and will always will be, but after many years, and the honeymoon has faded, there is a beauty in Trent's original that can never be topped. Johnny, you nailed it. r.i.p. but this is Trent's song.
It's sad that an alcoholic woman beater who can't sing for shit, play guitar to save his life and never wrote an original song is considered to be the superior artist.
Johnny's version is heartbreaking because we know that he is at the end of his journey and he couldn't do anything about it. This version is heartbreaking because it speaks to us
Totally. When I watched him perform it, standing right in front of the crowd front and centre… the emotion was electric. I cried all the way through it
After all these years of hearing this tune, I still get chills down my spine at the end when the kingfisher strikes and the guitar comes in hard! What a great fucking song!!!!!!
@@stephanie3848 IKR?!? If you haven't already, you should see them in concert! Seeing that whole song on a huge silk screen with that part at the end is absolutely incredible!!! And you can see Trent in a spotlight just behind the screen as well. It's just like the video, but seeing it live is beyond amazing!
Trent Reznor is a great example of a survivor. Seems to me like this album about despair and suicide and self-deprecation unwillingly sprung him out of hell. He's an absolute master of commanding emotion through music. Just look at his current musical scores and discography. Just goes to show that there's potential, meaning, and truth still... even for those who are at the end of their fucking ropes and on the verge of ending it all.
When you experience so much hurt that it numbs you to the point of not feeling emotions anymore. The pain becomes the only thing thats real. It's hard to be with someone because you can't be what they need.
What have I become My sweetest friend my soul hurts every time I hear this part. how is it possible for so many people with so different lives to feel so much regret over two short lines... that's the shit, that's the miracle
I showed this to an older man last night after he showed me the Johnny Cash version. He screamed "Johnny did it first" in my face and then insisted for an hour that Nine Inch Nails didn't even exit yet when Johnny covered it...
I once met a guy who was 100% sure that 'Route 66' was originally written by Depeche Mode He laughed at me when I told him it's a very old song covered by the Stones and some others😂 But to be fair: For many years I thought 'Jersey Girl' was written by Bruce Springsteen😂
I’m 50 (born in 1972). I’ve lost track of how many NIN shows I’ve been to over the years. I was hooked when I first listened to Pretty Hate Machine in 1989. I saw NIN in Dallas with Marilyn Manson as one of the opening acts (1994, I think). I saw at least two shows with this specific film projected while he sang (was this from the ‘94 shows??). I was memorized and hypnotized by Trent and the music and the images. It was so powerful and moving. He stood behind a semi-transparent curtain, and the images were projected onto the curtain. I had never seen that before, and I’ve never seen another artist do that. I’ve seen NIN play Hurt live many times (always great)…but the most ethereal and spiritual and out-of-body times were when *this particular film* was projected onto the curtain. The snake. The decomposing animals. Images of death, war, destruction. This song is a masterpiece, and Trent is a genius.
Yes...I saw this show in Atlanta Jan 24 1995 , I was 18....i saw tons of shows and that 1 was\is the best 1....I was on the floor at the Omni..there were 2 ppl in front of me and then the stage....soo awesome😝
Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come did something like this around 1971 with front projection onto a semi transparent screen, may have been muslin or cheese cloth. It was for the opening track of their (then) new album, Journey, the track Time Captives.
yeh look what his old uncle did in that garden of eden, gave them mammals too much info then sat back to watch them flee in panic just for a good laugh.
I met Trent once. I was a janitor at JH mountain resort and he was there skiing/boarding. I had closed and locked a stall that was out of TP and went to retrieve more. I came back and the stall was occupied. I just waited, slightly bothered someone had opened the door that I closed/locked. A sense of F the poor schmuck in there without TP came over me and I reveled at his impending predicament. Once the door opened and Trent stepped out looking at me standing there like a lump on a log with an industrial sized jumbo roll of TP in my arms, I smiled and he smiled. He walk away to go meet the super beautiful model looking lady that was posted just outside the mens door and I back to work. I’ll never know if he wiped or not. Maybe he was in there knocking down lines or something. I hear this song and think about that day.
Trent tried to rent the apartment I live in but my landlady won’t let him because he wanted to paint the walls black. Imagine the magic that could have been created where I sleep each night
It really is an incomprehensible achievement how Trent writes music that doesn't make anyone feel left out. So much art that is meant to represent struggle, depression, sadness, loss etc feels like it gatekeeps to some degree, like if your pain is something too different you're intruding, but never NIN. Every song feels written for you and at the same time you not only don't resent but are glad that other people feel it is written for them.
"that doesn't make anyone feel left out" is an incredible, astronomical understatement, i have still yet to find any album that can depict raw emotion and feelings so closely to sound as much as downward spiral does. the cascading electric waves and walls of noise slamming up against each other near the end just sounds like the feeling of total futility and hopelessness to me.
I'm breathless everytime I hear Trent sing live, especially this song, it gives me chills all over my body...he's so intense.Stunning...emotionally and intellectually. This is art. I love him.
It’s 12:01am and I am sitting in the dark taking shots attempting to erase everything. This song is helping me realize the inevitable decision that I have been avoiding for so long... No matter how much or how long I have been hurt, I matter. Even if I’m alone. I will find a way. Thank you Trent.
Timeless... LYRICS : [Verse 1] I hurt myself today To see if I still feel I focus on the pain The only thing that's real The needle tears a hole The old familiar sting Try to kill it all away But I remember everything [Chorus] What have I become? My sweetest friend Everyone I know Goes away in the end You could have it all My empire of dirt I will let you down I will make you hurt [Verse 2] I wear this crown of shit Upon my liar's chair Full of broken thoughts I cannot repair Beneath the stains of time The feelings disappear You are someone else I am still right here [Chorus] What have I become? My sweetest friend Everyone I know Goes away in the end And you could have it all My empire of dirt I will let you down I will make you hurt [Outro] If I could start again A million miles away I would keep myself I would find a way
"What have I become?" And "Everyone I know goes away in the end" hits me roght home knowing all my friends left and that I've become someone who hides his feelings
As a recovering needle junkie, this song really hits close to home. Just the beginning, "I hurt myself today, to see if I still feel. I focus on the pain; the only thing that's real. The needle tears a hole; the old familiar sting. Try to kill it all away, but I remember everything." really strikes a chord with me. It's been over four years since the last time I shot up, but I'm still the same fucked up individual on the inside, whether or not I have the drugs in me.
you're not, you're already the result of that change. Im not into heroin, but im struggling like fuck with benzos and weed, shit had me on coma for some days. For me you're almost a beacon of hope, even if you see yourself as the most fucked up person ever. And if that is fucked up, i really hope i can be fuckep up like you, dude.
We are all fucked up. Find purpose, small or big. We live once, make the best of it.... Drugs only send you in a perpetual state of insanity, chasing the day away with a needle, a pill, a drink, only to wake up and want to do it again. Stay sober. You are doing better than many. 👑✌️
Hey hey hey-ho YOU FKN KICKED IT... I'm just a random and even though I don't know what H is like... I'm battling big pharma drugs so you've got my full support!!! I pray this reply finds you well.... I hope you still are well... And just... Give your self some kudos!!! Some can't even do what you have done... Keep climbing!!!
The first time I heard this song when it was released I was on my lunch break at work sitting in my car. I couldn't bear going back in, my mind was processing so much, my life people I cared about, death. It was a heavy moment that's what great music/art can do.
This will always be the definitive version of this song. The piano, the highs and lows, the reaction of the crowd, the depth of Reznor's vocals, the noise playing against those vocals. Love it.
It’s possibly the most rawest and stripped back truth our inner minds could ever identify with. People step in their millions feeling absolutely devastated every day. This is art.
This song is about hurt plain and simple. It's not just drug addiction, this has to do with being fucked by life. And life changing you for maybe the worst to the point your friends don't recognize you or your family. You are someone else and I am still right here.
im 15 and been strugling with severe depression since i was 10, i had a tumor when i was 9 and at the time my family were constantly going through lawsuits, i`ve used drugs and alcohol to feel something, more human than constantly numb like i am today, i used everything i could get my hands on, to fentanyl and deodorant to whiskey and beer, i have been to rehab twice, been clean from drugs for like 1 month when i smoked poth for the first time in like 2 years, this song really helped me through some dark times, sometimes it put me deeper into the hole of life and depresion, but not in a harmful way, in a almost home like feeling that somebody feels that way, right now im not sure myself why i write this, im a musician and i focus in that to keep me hanging on in life, nine inch nails is one of my favorite bands, and ill be forever grateful to trent for just existing and making music, even though its weird, i feel like so deep down in a hole of constant nothingness and emptiness, and i really dont have hope anymore on getting out, but ill keep living as long as i have music, thank you trent, even though you probably wont read this.
Hey Rafael, just came across your comment - it can and does get better and you won't feel that way forever. Hang in there, listen to NiN or whatever helps, and stay away from fentanyl even if you end up drinking or smoking weed. Trent Reznor wrote this song and he's still kicking...
I may not have had it as you, I have struggled with my fair bit of depression quite often, it got really-really hard for me about a year ago actually, I did some bad things, things I do regret, but I moved on and am currently finishing up High School. Just here to say, keep going man, no matter how bad things are, or how dark and deprived they get, know that there’s always a way.
A revelation of a truth serum given back to us through time. When i lost my father, i listened to this on repeat. Sometimes it's ok to be broken and wanting more, out of what you were gifted. I miss you dad and I love what life you have given me, though everything is always changing, especially me. Gut punch, now and always. Thank you Trent. 🖤❤🖤❤🖤
I think that might be a Mamba. They are lightening fast in confined spaces and dead ly, deadly, deadly poisinous. The lining of its mouth (inside) is black hence its name "Black Mamba" though the snake is obviously green. And is one reason I am never going to Africa. The performance kills. I am not an unhappy person but I can totally relate to Reznor's statement.
I grew up listening to your music. This song will always be yours. Even with the new twist to the meaning done by Johnny Cash. Just so you know. I remember so much about when I was younger and listening to N.I.N.
I think this may be the best music video... ever. The imagery, Trent... I'll hear arguments... but damn. This is a mans tortured soul on screen and in a way, it's beautiful.
There ought to be an annotated version of this video to indicate the various photo and film images portrayed on the back/front screen. Many are from the Holocaust during World War II and some others from the nuclear tests in the American desert in the 1940s and 1950s (the ones that left many American servicemen with radiation sickness as they aged). There seem to be a few medieval paintings/depictions of death as well. And then, of course, the eternal presence of death and decay in the cycle of biological life. "My Empire of Dirt". There are numerous references in literature and art to this kind of nihilistic 'triumphant despair'. To give just one recent reference: Game of Thrones, Season 3 Episode 4. Varys comments on his rival manipulator: "Littlefinger... would see this country burn if he could be king of the ashes." (Cersei also shows clear signs of a will to destroy everything and rut around in the suffering, both her own and that of others). Or not.
Sucks to be you. You obviously haven't seen many music videos in your life. MTV used to show nothing but music videos.....no shows about pregnant teens and jersey shores.
My beautiful daughter was born in 1995. I was and still am a huge NIN fan. Had their CD and played it a lot. Anyway, going forward to March 2014. NIN and Queens of the Stone Age were going to play in Perth, Western Australia. I was absolutely stoked and was excited to see such an amazing double header perform together. When they released the dates I found the concert was on the night I was flying out to Japan. I was devastated.... but I knew my daughter loved NIN (who was 19) so I got her a ticket in the moshpit section. I kept it a big suprise. I gave it to her as an early birthday present and she was so estatic, suprised and happy she screamed and jumped up and down. We hugged and I said " just get me a shirt". She didnt...lol...but she had the best time. Love you Baby Bear..always Mumma Bear xo.
I was so happy when they released the video, choosing to use the live show. It was a brilliant stage decision with the use of screens and lights that deserved this treatment. Being immortalized with Trent's emotionally haunting live vocals made it even more perfect. I saw this performed at the NYE show during this tour, and watching this never fails to bring me back to that moment in time. Thank you, nin.
Came here after watching Song Exploder. After all these years being NIN fan now i can say that Hurt is like national anthem for all outcasts, loners and misfits.
It hurts so much and I can't make it stop, my heart aches and I feel it so deep within my soul, something I had and threw away, something I can never have hurts so much. The decomposing animal is how it feels to be alive, I'm a loser and a failure and Its gone on much too long. I'm sorry. 😔 💔
I'm 63 years old back in 95 I was driving a tractor trailer coming through Wyoming had stopped off at a place to eat and some kids sitting in a car smoking marijuana we're listening to this song on a CD I walked over to them and ask who was that playing their eyes got as big as saucers thinking I was coming over there to bust them for their pot smoking one of the kids in the backseat blurted out NINE INCH NAILS!!! I said liked it the driver popped it out of the CD player hand it to me and drove off. On the ground there was a small bag of marijuana & 2 joints already rolled up. I looked around for any cops picked up the bag went back to my truck pop the CD in smoke one of those marijuana cigarettes. To this day I still have that CD I smoke marijuana and I lost my job due to marijuana being in my urine sure is a shame Nine Inch Nails are no longer around
I mean if you are just stating that noise rock was great in the 90s, I mean it's still around today, more underground to be fair but c'mon we are in the internet age so you got the timeless classics to choose and talk about bc of that. No decade was perfect people, they all had undesirable music just as there is now, and as it was with the 90s, 80s, 70s, 60s, and even 2000s, the creme of the crop will be stands the test of time, not half the basic crap that will be cool for a year or 2 and die out, since Vanilla Ice was one of them and he obviously is no standard maker 😂
"You are someone else, I am still right here" I feel like this echoes "Everyone I know goes away in the end". Our lovers leave and become someone else's lovers. Our parents divorce, go start new families, become new spouses, new parents. Our children age and outgrow us. What do you do when you feel constantly outgrown and left behind but powerless to change because you feel like it's too late. That if you could start again maybe you'd have a chance...but that you're too stained now and everyone you will ever love, you will eventually lose because you'll let them down, you'll make them hurt.
that snake staring at us sheds its skin over and again because the nature of the world is that we all grow, we all change, we're all reborn as something new. you're not who you were then. you outgrew them as well. they went away, and so did you. you become new, you find new. your world is a chalk drawing on a sidewalk. as is theirs.
Ironically It becomes a happy song when the audience sings the chorus with him, making an uplifting melody although with melancholic dark lyrics in the process XD
Desde los minutos 2:20 hasta 3:10 ése silencio y el público de fondo es mágico e inigualable.El mejor momento de la canción. Los 90's los recuerdo con gran nostalgia, fui parte de aquella época increíble y fue la experiencia más divina, porque el rock tuvo su gran impacto allí.
In the ealry 90's NIN were traveling through Oklahoma and their bus broke down. Working for my parents Wrecker Company, I went and picked it up. I also swe them in okc at a small club before they made it big. That was all a longtime ago.
In younger years I came to be nurtured by this in states of depression and fear. I felt vulnerability like a cold baby snake would. Now that snake makes me feel like I have become a lizard like being. A fully grown unsympathetic survival seeker. I began to feel empty, not in a depressed way, but in a very bored and blunted manner. I trained myself in the art of hindering my feelings to the point I don't know how to use the best ones. I can't call this emotional intelligence because I have nothing to give. This method of auto security led me to this psychopathic emotional program where I become cold and rigid. I feel like a horrendous being and I cannot express the most important parts as a human being to anyone anymore. I have insulated myself into such an isolated layer. I realize that to justify this impenetrable shield against feelings, I tell myself that this method is practical in my chase for progress. I have chosen to pursue my own empire of filth and dirt. I remove most people away from me, am cynical, and doubtful of everyone. I am past the loneliness too at this point. In this degree I still feel that something is wrong and I feel like trash for not being able to care because I know it harms others. I cannot trust. I am finished. I am devoid of the most simple humanity and yet still feel wrong sometimes. I am a cold colored lizard in a bright setting. There are love reaches from everyone without a reaction. Nothing is forever and I just watch it walk away instead of valuing it. I am the lizard that sees, but one that cannot feel. When I do, I just can't speak as If I were an animal. What have I become.....
I hurt myself today To see if I still feel I focus on the pain The only thing that's real The needle tears a hole The old familiar sting Try to kill it all away But I remember everything What have I become My sweetest friend Everyone I know Goes away in the end And you could have it all My empire of dirt I will let you down I will make you hurt I wear this crown of shit Upon my liars chair Full of broken thoughts I cannot repair Beneath the stains of time The feelings disappear You are someone else I am still right here What have I become My sweetest friend Everyone I know Goes away in the end And you could have it all My empire of dirt I will let you down I will make you hurt If I could start again A million miles away I will keep myself I would find a way
I hate losers like you that post lyrics for likes like you're providing some kind of inside service as a part of the band or something. The worst part of it is everyone can hear the fuckin lyrics just fine but still here you are posting them anyways like a useless pile of shit who's self worth is measured by likes on youtube. Pathetic. I'll bet you check this place every day to see how many likes u Your cut and pasted lyrics has now. Useless pos.
@@abortionsurvivor6639 yeah lol of course I can hear it but english is my second language and it helps me to understand the lyrics better. Why are you so angry?
I was 12 years old when this song came out. I remember getting the album delivered in the mail from one of those penny cd clubs and played it on repeat for days on end
This live performance really took my heart, to be hurt for the character in the song......... .. Trent Reznor became my favourite artist and musician/songwriter, after i heard this song..... He inspired me with the message of love, to the sweetest friend I will always recollect the memory of this beautiful, and sad story, portrayed in the lyrics..... ... I hope those that had been before, could still be real...... I will never forget this song portrayed by Trent Reznor, in this music, while the song he wrote, most moved me of all the music I've ever heard in my life...........
Hi from Czech....this song of your and video change my life. When i was in the hospital with broken every bones in my body after car smash me...i sing this words again and again...a after years i may walk..but: If I could start again A million miles away I would keep myself I would find a way Thanks Trent, thanks for You support!!!!
