UPD : But i have my best friend, who understands my feelings towards this world, drowned in hypocrisy. I get the message that the original NIN song has : Be kind to each other, and only then we can have true freedom and peace. On the global meaning of the song i will cite words from the album interpretation to let you know about the true meaning of “Hurt” :
“So begins the final song of the album, “hurt,” the most solitary manifestation of the human voice. In theory this is a triumph, a victory for humanity, but in reality it was too costly. Even though the human side of the character is what somehow survives beyond death, it is still scarred, unfamiliar with anything other than pain.
“the needle tears a hole,
the old familiar sting,
try to kill it all away,
but i remember everything.”
The drug reference is used as a metaphor for any form of self-destructive behavior that one pursues in hope of escape while somewhere knowing the consequences, and even welcoming them. There is no peace because he knows that it was all his fault — he knows what he has done.
“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”
Addressing some friend that never existed within his life, he finally surrenders his control completely. He no longer has the strength to do otherwise. His inability to deal with anything but extremes is once again noted. When he lets go, he lets go completely (“you could have it all”).
This notion of his obsession with extremes is one of the most important themes of the album — from “closer,” where he says “you can have my everything,” to his desires as outlined in “i do not want this,” where he declares that he wants to know everything, be everywhere, and f*ck everyone. His desire for control eventually leads to his loss of it.
The purity and unity that he sought in life still hasn’t been found.
“i wear my crown of sh*t
on my liar’s chair
full of broken thoughts
i cannot repair
beneath the stain of time
the feeling disappears
you are someone else
i am still right here”
Here he makes an allusion to the throne of God, which he tried to claim as his own — and remembers with regret his violence, which he can never forget. And finally we come to the last lines of the album, which express the man’s desire to keep himself, a desire that only can be fulfilled and affirmed if he allows others to do the same.
“if i could start again
a million miles away
i would keep myself
i would find a way”
This final “verse” is proof of the character’s growth. Tragically, it is after his death that he reaches this point. He boldly affirms his desire to keep his humanity as a value and a meaning that human beings can realize.
These final words are swept away in an electric chord that shatters the quiet and fades into a mechanical drone that in turn fades away, signifying an end — or perhaps a new beginning.
In the dark heat of the arena, before thousands of people, the climax of “eraser” — the desperate plea for death — comes to a close. The projection screen, which had shown a setting desert sun, goes black. A muffled but steady wind from another rusty and barren landscape is heard faintly.
Trent Reznor, backlit so that he is visible through the screen, begins to sing, as the first few notes of the song arise from an acoustic guitar: “i hurt myself today.”
As the essay opened, we discussed the prospect of shifting the focus back onto the downward spiral in order to find some insight into our times. To some, the connection may already be all too clear; they see similar trends in both themselves and the world. However, to most the connection may still seem too vague to make sense of; the world of indifference and nihilism described by Reznor is still too far away. That is why we are going to end this with an examination of the live version of “hurt
In the context of the album, “hurt” is the purest statement of the man’s feelings, the most personal song Reznor claims to have written. Now, open before thousands of others, he begins to sing it.
But whereas the song was personal on the album, it now reaches beyond that level and addresses all of humanity. The screen shows us black-and-white images — images of decay, of nuclear holocaust, and horrifying images of a war-torn land where woman and children stand in front of their devastated homes; the corpses of young soldiers lie out in the open, uncared for; and concentration camp victims are heaped into piles devoid of any humanity. A child trapped in the bloody kingdom of man stares out at the audience accusingly as if asking “why?” “what have i become?” now seems to be “what have we become?”
The lyrics to “hurt” now become an indictment of all of modern society and its “empire of dirt.” “we hurt ourselves, to see if we still feel…try to kill the memory of it all away, but we remember everything.”
“Just cast a glance at the history of mankind; well, what do you see? Is it majestic?” 6
Self-destructive control doesn’t just belong to the character of the album; it is a whole society’s desire. The goal of the modern world has been to replace the kingdom of God with the kingdom of man. The so-called “Age of Reason,” which promised humanity control over the world through science and technology, has given rise to the same terror and destruction of previous ages, and more of it. We gain the power to do more and more at the price of becoming estranged from life.
Our absolute ideologies have betrayed us. Our desires have betrayed us. In short, we have betrayed us. So now what? Are we condemned to continue our desperate cycle until the end. Have we, like the character, gone to far. No. Even in the bleakest situations there is some hope. It is time to bring the modern age to an end; it is time to accept responsibility for what we’ve done. As human beings, we must learn to live as human beings and to do without the absolutes we can never obtain. It is time to forget about the absolute freedom that can only be obtained at the expense of others (whether in the guise of Marxist utopia or Libertarian Capitalism). In order to experience freedom, real human freedom, we must let others be free, allow them to have what we want for ourselves. Only then can our lives as humans affirm any real value, only then will relationships, whether personal or societal, stop being tyrannical and be based on free and mutual giving as well as receiving. We must find ourselves; learn once again how to care for others as well as ourselves, and then, only then, can we escape nihilism and violence.”
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Cash version fails to deliver so many meanings of the original song.
