Me, I'm Not

Album:Year Zero

Length:4:52

Tempo:{{{BPM}}} BPM

Versions:Me, I'm Not

Live:N/A

The USB flash drive containing "Me, I'm Not" and the audio file leading to the second phone message.

"Me, I'm Not" is the sixth track on the 2007 release Year Zero.

Interpretation

The song discusses a conflict with another person or entity which is causing the singer to lose himself or to become something worse. It seems as if this fight is removing a sort of disguise from the singer, revealing what might be called his true nature, but a nature which the singer "defines himself" by denying. The subject of the song also admits to being responsible for the initiation of "this thing" which may refer either to the conflict or the self-degeneration or both, and explains that he is unable to stop it. He explains that the only way to win is "knowing not to fight," and he expresses that the conflict could have been prevented if he had known what he "knows right now."

Leak

At the February 19th, 2007 Nine Inch Nails concert in Barcelona, Spain, a second plain-looking USB flash drive was found in a bathroom stall. This drive had two MP3 files: one called 2432.mp3 and the other "Me, I'm Not."

Trent Reznor on sounding like KMFDM

snaapz said on The Spiral and ETS:

Play Me, Im not.

Then play 03 - You're No Good - KMFDM - Hau Ruck

Exact same bass line ... and sounds the same

Its kmfdm revamped .. nothing new ...

(kind of)

again ...

ITS STOLEN FROM KMFDM -

but KMFDMs version is better ...

You're no good - Hau Ruck

Trent Reznor replied on The Spiral:

You: go fuck yourself. Now. The day I steal something from KMFD-Fucking-M is a sad fucking day indeed. Call up Sasha and have him sue me if you feel that strongly about it, meanwhile let everyone have some goddamned fun without you pissing on the parade.

Spectrograph

A fingerprint was found in a spectrograph analysis during the word 'tell' in the line "and its hard to tell" at exactly 1 minute and 4 seconds into the song.

Media:Meimnotfingerprint.jpg

Song credits

• Backing vocals: Saul Williams

Appearances

Halos

• Year Zero

Versions

Me, I'm Not

This is the only known version at the present moment.

Lyrics

    And it's happening
    Never planned on this
    You got something I need
    Kind of dangerous
    And I'm losing control
    I'm not used to this
    What you want from me?
    I'm not used to this
    Can't seem to shut it off
    This thing I've begun
    And it's hard to tell—just
    Where it's coming from
    And it's hard to see
    What I'm capable of
    And it's hard to believe—just
    What I've become
    
    Hey
    Can we stop?
    Me, I'm not
    
    I can swallow it down
    Keep it all inside
    I define myself
    By how well I hide
    Feel it coming apart
    Well at least I tried
    I can win this war
    By knowing not to fight
    If I take it all back
    Some way somehow
    If I knew back then
    What I know right now
    
    Hey
    Can we stop?
    Me, I'm not

The ninth line of the first verse was shortened in the actual recording:

    I can't shut it off