But the truth can’t be avoided: others grown and change with time, but he remains the same, perpetually stuck in a cycle. Or perhaps as he repeats the using pattern, the pain those actions cause are seem no longer as strong and impactful. The singer becomes aware that the motivations for his actions and decisions aren’t as clear as they once were. You are someone else, I am still right here.” “Beneath the stains of time, the feelings disappear. He has created a life based on lies and half-truths – a house of cards. We can imagine him saying he can quit using anytime, but he and we know it’s a lie. While he projects that he has control of his entire life, he knows he deceives himself and others. He continues with the imagery of his empire, describing his crown and throne. THE FEW THAT REMAIN LYRICS FULLFull of broken thoughts, I cannot repair.” Is he justifying his loneliness? “I wear this crown of thorns, upon my liar’s chair. He lives in a world surrounded in pain, and if you enter that world, you will feel the same pain as he does. However, he knows his addiction and destructive choices will only result in disappoint them. The singer offers up everything that he has in an attempt to bring those around him closer. I will let you down, I will make you hurt.” Or could this be his exploration of his current reality? How his pain made him search for relief, but that relief got in the way of being the person he wanted to be and having the relationships he wanted to have? “And you could have it all, my empire of dirt. Could the singer be wondering what lasting impact his life choices have left in the world? Life is fleeting and the world continues on. Everyone in the singer’s life, whether friends or family, either move on without him or have died. “ What have I become, my sweetest friend. This line acknowledges that deceptive paradox. However, it doesn’t solve the problem but only creates an environment that perpetuates and worsens life problems. Many addicts use substance to find relief from problems. Although he attempts to push down painful memories and traumas of the past with something familiar, it never really works.Īnd that’s the illusion of addiction – that it can be used to avoid or cope with reality. The addict has to maintain his fix, the only comfort in the familiar sting. This harsh image clarifies the pain of the first stanza. Try to kill it all away, but I remember everything.” We’re left to wonder did the singer succumb to the destruction of drugs to feel something – anything – during his depression, only to be left with the overall pain and misery of an active addiction? Or is he so lost in sadness at how drugs have destroyed his life that pain is an easier, tangible feeling he can focus on, instead of his other overwhelming fluid emotions? “The needle tears a hole, the old familiar sting. He indulged in drugs and suffered the repercussions of his destructive habits. The song begins as a narrative telling the story of conflicts – the pain that is caused by every thought, decision, and action. I focus on the pain, the only thing that’s real.” “I hurt myself today, to see if I still feel. You see a man looking for redemption from his life choices, realizing what was once so important isn’t so by the end of the road. Right away you hear the sadness, turmoil, and hopelessness in Cash’s voice. Considering his decades-long battle with drug and alcohol addiction, it would seem that he would be the obvious candidate to perform this song. Johnny Cash decided to cover the song Hurt in 2002. As a lyricist who struggled with alcohol and cocaine abuse, he artfully conveys his experience. Trent Reznor’s lyrics are poignant and painful. Musical artist biographer Martin Huxley notes Hurt is a reference to self-harm and heroin addiction. Hurt has remained a timeless hard rock classic for over twenty years. The original song Hurt was first written in 1994 by Trent Reznor, designed as a closing track to his visceral album, The Downward Spiral. Related Reading: 9 Strategies for Overcoming Fear in Addiction Recovery The Power of Music: Johnny Cash Hurt Lyrics Music can move you and envelope you in a story, even as it shares a piece of the artist’s life – joys, sorrows, and pain. That is the power of music – the ability to elicit strong emotions within you. Hearing the lyrics and feeling the magnitude of what is conveys reaches out and momentarily stops me. Ever had a song touch you on a deep, emotional level? One of the songs that does it for me is Hurt by Johnny Cash.
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