Hurt

Album:The Downward Spiral

Length:6:13

Tempo:{{{BPM}}} BPM

Versions:Hurt
Hurt (Quiet)
Hurt (And All That Could Have Been)
Hurt (Besside You In Time)

Live:Self-Destruct Tour through present

"Hurt" is the final track on The Downward Spiral.

Meaning

The meaning of this song is entirely debatable. Some may interpret this as a depressing suicide note, while others may find it to describe someone finding a new lease on life.

Covers

Hurt has been covered by a variety of artists, such as Tori Amos, Matthew Good, Peter Murphy, and Sevendust. The song gained a new wave of popularity in 2002 when it was famously covered by Johnny Cash, at the recommendation of producer Rick Rubin. This caused a lot of confusion for the audiences of Cash, who generally weren't familiar with the work of Nine Inch Nails, often resulting in miscrediting the song to Cash. In Cash's version, the line "crown of shit" is changed to "crown of thorns," but is otherwise unchanged.

Song Credits

• Production and Mix: Trent Reznor
• Drums: Chris Vrenna

Appearances

Halos

• The Downward Spiral
• Further Down The Spiral
• Closure
• And All That Could Have Been (CD/DVD/VHS)
• Beside You In Time

Versions

Hurt

On the original album version, the guitars contain distortion, adding a ragged aesthetic. The song suddenly climaxes towards the end, while the final lyrics are whispered over the noise. A drone follows, and ends the song and the record.

Hurt (Quiet)

The only real difference between this remix and the original is that the guitar sound is much cleaner and the climax towards the end is less drastic.

Hurt (Live)

This live version is found on the UK edition of Further Down The Spiral. In this version the guitar is replaced with a piano.

Hurt (And All That Could Have Been)

The guitar sound is replaced by piano, and a vocal harmony is added to the chorus.

Hurt (Beside You In Time)

This live version starts with Reznor singing the vocal part and playing the piano melody solo on a keyboard. Jeordie White joins in on bass for the first chorus, and the rest of the band joins during the second chorus.

Music Video

The video is simply tour footage of Trent Reznor singing behind the projection screen, with the image in the screen being featured prominently. This was released after a fully produced music video was scrapped. Both the scrapped studio video and the final live video were directed by Simon Maxwell. The live video can be found in the Dualdisc edition of The Downward Spiral.

Live

In most live performances of the song (including the ones featured in And All That Could Have Been, Beside You In Time and the live video mentioned above), Reznor says "I wear this crown of shit" instead of "I wear my crown of shit".

Lyrics

    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
    
    You could have it all
    My empire of dirt
    I will let you down
    I will make you hurt
    
    I wear my crown of shit
    Upon 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
    
    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
    If I could start again
    A million miles away
    I would keep myself
    I would find a way

External Links

• "Hurt" live music video
• "Hurt" music video and covers