Hurt

I have always found certain song lyrics fascinating. I think that a regular feature on this blog will be an analysis of songs and what they may or not mean.

Starting with “hurt”. This song was originally performed by Nine Inch Nails, and later covered (famously) by Johnny Cash as his final hit before dying. Every time I hear this song, it draws me in and leaves me contemplating life and what we make of it.

If you have never heard this song give it a listen. I have included the Johnny Cash version because the original Nine Inch Nails version has questionable language in it.

Here are the lyrics in case you missed something.

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 thorns
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

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 would keep myself
I would find a way

There is something about someone like Johnny Cash (or Trent Reznor) reflecting on the extremes in their lives that dwarfs the drama in our own lives.

A needle tearing a hole may not call to mind an old familiar sting for me, but I can certainly relate with the feeling of wanting to know that I am still real. It is easy to get into what we like to refer to as a rut in life. We start pursuing (on a daily basis) the means to maintain whatever lifestyle we have decided we must have. Whatever ambitious motivations may have driven us in our youth are buried beneath a pile of paperwork that we stare at from 9-6. The routine of waking, working, eating and sleeping again slowly whispers us into a quiet submission to the fact that our ‘empire’ has become a quite dull and unimaginative kingdom.

Do you ever wish you could start again?

Does God offer a magic reset button? Is it possible to start again?

When you find yourself at the end of your rope, when you have nowhere else to go, what options do you have available to you?

Where do you go when you realize that the life you have put together for yourself is not exactly what you imagined?

Please leave your thoughts here!