Gave Up

Album:Broken

Length:4:08

Tempo:{{{BPM}}} BPM

Versions:Gave Up
Gave Up (remixed by Coil, Danny Hyde)
Gave Up (And All That Could Have Been)
Gave Up (Beside You In Time)

Live:Further Down The Spiral Tour through present

"Gave Up" is the sixth track on the 1992 Broken EP. It continues the EP's musical themes of being loud and aggressive, as well as showing themes of nihilism, self-loathing, and chaos in the lyrics.

Song Credits

• Production: Flood, Trent Reznor

Appearances

Halos

• Broken
• Fixed
• And All That Could Have Been
• Beside You In Time

Seeds

• The Definitive NIN - Deep Cuts

Versions

Gave Up

This is the original album version.

Gave Up (remixed by Coil, Danny Hyde)

This remix, done by Coil and Danny Hyde, appears on Fixed.

Gave Up (And All That Could Have Been)

Right before the song starts, Reznor says, "cunt".

Gave Up (Beside You In Time)

Just like the And All That Could Have Been version, the Beside You In Time is performed very closely to the album version. The only difference is the keyboard solo by Alessandro Cortini, which sounds different than Charlie Clouser's in the previous DVD (which was nearly identical to the album version).

Music Videos

Screen shot of Gave Up music video directed by Jon Reiss

There are two videos for "Gave Up": a performance video directed by Jon Reiss ("Happiness In Slavery"), and the finale to the Broken Movie, directed by Peter Christopherson.

The video directed by Reiss, as stated earlier, is a performance video. It features the band (Reznor, Richard Patrick, Chris Vrenna, and James Woolley) along with Marilyn Manson performing the song in a studio at the notorious Tate Mansion. Noticeable in the video is a message on a computer monitor that reads "FUCK YOU STEVE." Many consider this to be another jab at TVT Records owner Steve Gottlieb, with whom Reznor was feuding at the time over his contract and creative control. This video clip can be found in Closure.

Screen shot from "Broken Movie" version of Gave Up video

The video directed by Christopherson is the finale to the Broken Movie. The victim is strung up to the ceiling and burned and beaten. He is then taken down and tied to a board, where the killer takes a chainsaw to the victim's appendages. The killer unmasks himself, revealing his identity in the victim's final moments. After having his way with the dying victim, the killer cuts out the victim's heart and eats it. All the while, Reznor can be seen on the television singing the song. Intercut with the violence is footage of various body parts in freezers and the fridge, a police officer (played by either Patrick or Robert Patrick) coming into the crime scene, and a crowd of rubbernecking bystanders.

Live

"Gave Up" has seen regular playing time in live shows since it's debut in 1994. When performed live, the high pitched "smashed-up" chorus is pre-recorded with the band members lightly whispering over it.

Lyrics

    Perfect little dream the kind that hurts the most
    Forgot how it feels well almost
    No one to blame always the same
    Open my eyes wake up in flames
    
    It took you to make me realize
    It took you to make me realize
    It took you to make me realize
    It took you to make me see the light
    Smashed up my sanity
    Smashed up integrity
    Smashed up what I believed in
    Smashed up what's left of me
    Smashed up my everything
    Smashed up all that was true
    Gonna smash myself to pieces
    I don't know what else to do
    
    Covered in hope and Vaseline
    Still cannot fix this broken machine
    Watching the hole it used to be mine
    Just watching it burn in my steady systematic decline
    Of the trust I will betray
    Give it to me I throw it away
    After everything I've done I hate myself for what I've become
    
    I tried
    I gave up
    I don't know
    Throw it away

External Links

• "Gave Up" performance video from And All That Could Have Been

Previous track - "Happiness In Slavery" Track 6 from Broken Next track - "Physical (You're So)"