Point of View
I recently attended an AP Literature workshop at Nova International School in Skopje, Macedonia. We learned a variety of new and interesting lessons and strategies. One of the more interesting and accessible lessons involves a song called Hurt. The lyrics are written by Trent Reznor. Here are the 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 this crown of shit
Upon my liar's chair
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
Beneath the stains of time
the feelings 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...
Even a cursory reading of the lyrics shows that the lyrics are introspective, setting forth the internal struggle with addiction and the resulting feeling of defeat when addiction overcomes resolve.
What is interesting is to watch the ways in which two videos re-interpret the lyrics.
Here is Reznor himself:
