Wish (song)

Album:Broken

Length:3:46

Tempo:{{{BPM}}} BPM

Versions:Wish
Wish ("No Bad Words" version)
Wish (Fixed)
Fist Fuck
Wish (Closure)
Wish (Live)
Wish (And All That Could Have Been)
Wish (Beside You In Time)

Live:Lollapalooza Tour through Wave Goodbye Tour

"Wish" is the second track on 1992's Broken EP, and displays that era's characteristic aggression and abrasive guitar attack. The song won a Grammy Award for "Best Metal Performance." It keeps with the general mood of the Broken EP and includes numerous angry and self-deprecating lyrical passages, but unlike other songs, also shows a desire for something more.

"Echoplex" features similar wind synthesizer sounds, but they do not appear to be direct samples from "Wish". As well, the bridge of "Wish" shares its chord progression with the chorus of "March Of The Pigs".

Song Credits

• Production: Flood, Trent Reznor

Appearances

Halos

• Broken
• Closure
• And All That Could Have Been (CD/DVD/VHS)
• Beside You In Time

Seeds

• Collected
• The Definitive NIN - The Singles
• The Definitive NIN - Heavy Tracks

Other

• Wish (CD promo)
• Broken Movie

Versions

Wish

This is the original album version. Opening with percussion and noise loops, Reznor's quick verses work in call-and-response with an equally quick distorted guitar attack. Each verse eventually opens up into a sustained chorus based around guitar power chords. The synthesizer-driven bridge introduces a new chord progression before returning to the verse guitar parts, a final chorus, and a coda made of the verse guitar parts again, which suddenly cut off to a quiet, ascending white noise manipulation that segues into "Last."

Wish ("No Bad Words" version)

This a censored version of the original, distributed on a promo to radio stations.

Wish (Fixed)

Elongated to nine minutes, this remix elaborates on the drum and synthesizer loop of the original. The cymbals are run through a wah effect, making them sound as if underwater. Its structure essentially follows the original, but with production changes and lengthening of the introduction and ending.

Song Credits

• Remixed by J.G. Thirlwell

Fist Fuck

This remix mostly consists of manipulations of the drum loop, though it also loops several of the guitar parts toward the end, which ascend in tempo until crashing thunderously. It also contains samples from the musical Showboat and some psychedelic narration by Timothy Leary. Interestingly, Skinny Puppy had used the same Leary samples on their song "Left Handshake," but were forced to remove the song from their Last Rights album due to clearance issues. "Fist Fuck" was heard in the film Resident Evil, in the scene where Alice (Milla Jovovitch) fights the zombie dogs.

Song Credits

• Remixed by J.G. Thirlwell

Wish (Closure)

This is the first of two live performance videos of the song on Closure, recorded in bootleg-like quality.

Wish (Live)

The second performance video of this song on Closure, it is featured on the second disc and is professionally recorded. It follows the live music videos for "Eraser" and "Hurt."

Wish (And All That Could Have Been)

This version uses the same arrangement as the live version on Closure. Here, the song is used to return from the slow section of the concert setlist.

Wish (Beside You In Time)

This live version's ending incorporates double bass drumming by Josh Freese and a guitar solo by Aaron North but is otherwise identical in arrangement to the other versions.

Music Video

In 1992 the video for "Wish" premiered. It was directed by Peter Christopherson, who also directed "March Of The Pigs" and the infamous Broken Movie.

The video features the band performing in a rather ornate cage. Outside of the cage is a mob that seems determined to get into the cage and attack the band. The finale of the video shows the mob accosting the band through the bars, grabbing at them and attempting to bind them. Ultimately, they break through the chain keeping the band locked inside and storm in, wielding baseball bats and other crude weapons. MTV felt that the ending scene was too violent and alternate footage was used for network airplay.

The video can also be found on the Broken Movie. The only major difference is that footage from the movie can be seen during the video's interlude.

A second video is a live video filmed by Simon Maxwell for Closure in 1995. The footage used is different from that used in the Closure performance.

Live

"Wish" has become a staple of the Nine Inch Nails live shows, performed at nearly every show, due to its high energy and guitar-oriented structure. The instrumental bridge is played by guitars rather than synthesizers in nearly every instance. When this song debuted on the Lollapalooza Tour in 1991, it was musically very similar to the final version, but with different lyrics.

Covers

• Cover by Linkin Park, electronic/alternative rock band
• Behemoth - Wish (from "Conjuration")

Lyrics

    This is the first day of my last days
    I built it up now I take it apart climbed up real high now fall down real far
    No need for me to stay the last thing left I just threw it away
    I put my faith in God and my trust in you
    Now there's nothing more fucked up I could do
    
    Wish there was something real wish there was something true
    Wish there was something real in this world full of you
    
    I'm the one without a soul I'm the one with this big fucking hole
    No new tale to tell twenty-six years on my way to Hell
    Gotta listen to your big time hard line bad luck fist fuck
    Don't think you're having all the fun
    You know me I hate everyone
    
    Wish there was something real wish there was something true
    Wish there was something real in this world full of you
    
    I want to but I can't turn back
    But I want to

Prior to the release of Broken, the following extra lyrics were sung over what became the instrumental ending:

    I think I'm losing it
    I think I'm losing it
    I think I'm going down, down, down, down

External Links

• "Wish" music video
• Live music video
• Direct link to pre-Broken live recording with extra lyrics
• WAV file comparing wind synths in "Wish" and "Echoplex"

Previous track - "Pinion" Track 2 from Broken Next track - "Last"