When your day is long
And the night
The night is yours alone
When you're sure you've had enough
Of this life
Well, hang on

Don't let yourself go
'Cause everybody cries
And everybody hurts sometimes

Sometimes everything is wrong
Now it's time to sing along
When your day is night alone (hold on)
(Hold on) if you feel like letting go (hold on)
If you think you've had too much
Of this life
Well, hang on

'Cause everybody hurts
Take comfort in your friends
Everybody hurts

Don't throw your hand
Oh, no
Don't throw your hand
If you feel like you're alone
No, no, no, you're not alone

If you're on your own
In this life
The days and nights are long
When you think you've had too much
Of this life
To hang on

Well, everybody hurts sometimes
Everybody cries
And everybody hurts sometimes
And everybody hurts sometimes
So hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on

Everybody hurts

No, no, no, no, no
You are not alone


Lyrics submitted by Novartza

Everybody Hurts Lyrics as written by Peter Lawrence Buck William Thomas Berry

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

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Everybody Hurts song meanings
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127 Comments

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  • +10
    General Comment

    Just a quick word on the "It's about Kurt Cobain" comments - Automatic for the People came out in 1992, two years before Kurt Cobain killed himself. A simple google search, that's all it takes sometimes...

    bunburyon February 02, 2010   Link
  • +6
    General Comment

    This songs reminds me of how little we know about the people around us until its to late, at some time in our lives someone we know, care about or love will die, some may even kill them selves, its only then we ask ourselves WHY. Why did this happen, why did they do it, why didn’t they come to me, the answer being the same reason when were feeling down we keep it to ourselves, it’s a private hurt that no one else has ever felt and that no one could understand. This songs tells us that everybody hurts sometime, like the tears from a clown, comedians are said to be some of the saddest people in the world hiding there pain by making other people laugh, they use the laughter they create to deflect there inner pain. Some people say that suicide is the cowards way out, far from it its possibly the bravest thing in the world, There is a Cary Grant film the title of which escapes me for now but the idea behind the film is a man finds himself in a situation where he thinks the world and the people he most cares about would be better off without him, an Angel gives him the chance to see the world as if he never existed, the empty lives of the people he had never touched, if only we could all see the difference each and everyone of us makes to the world and the people in it no matter how smaller part we think we play. Someone would miss us all, someone else who hurts just like us just like everybody sometimes

    acheronon May 12, 2003   Link
  • +5
    General Comment

    This song gives hope out there for everyone whom has been hurt in the past. Anti-suicide song. I heard Stipe wrote this for Kurt Cobain, but that's only what I heard. This song makes me cry at times too. The music video goes so well with the song. It's just a reassurance kind of song saying "Everybody does hurt, so don't think it's just you.". The end with Stipe singing "Hold on....so hold on". Is very beautiful, and in the video, that being the only thing he is just beautiful.

    TasChiBandGirlon May 19, 2002   Link
  • +4
    General Comment

    it's a good message....stick it out, because everyone hurts sometimes, and just like them, you too will be alright.

    Girl in Greenon April 26, 2002   Link
  • +4
    General Comment

    this is one of the few songs ever written which everyone, and i mean EVERYONE can relate to at some point, because everyone gets low sometime. and you have to keep hoping. cos everybody hurts. anyways, that's what i think...

    xpankfrisston June 29, 2002   Link
  • +4
    General Comment

    I think this song is a big eye opener for a lot of people including me in that at the end of the day we are all mortal meaning we all feel the same, hurt the same and indeed are the same, to deny pain is to deny yourself the freedom of your own emotions, we can't keep things bottled up inside ourselves all the time because that is exactly what causes silent ticking time bombs in society imploding. If only more people were in touch with their emotions then so much internal conflict could be avoided.

    deankavanagh1234on June 27, 2006   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    This song makes me cry everytime I hear it, of course that may have to do with the fact that the only time I listen to it is when I'm depressed...

    GabeDukeon April 26, 2002   Link
  • +3
    General Comment

    Please tell me how in the world R.E.M. managed to write this song and get it exactly RIGHT. The message is clear. It's the only song that I can take any lyric and actually have it comfort me in whatever situation. How did they know just what to say? Amazing song.

    EnduringChillon October 08, 2011   Link
  • +2
    General Comment

    This song is so amazing and true. What I get from this song is that if I'm hurting there is always someone out there who is hurting worse. Everyone has baggage, some just have more than others. "When you're sure you've had enough of this life, well hang on. Don't let yourself go, everybody cries and everybody hurts sometimes." But this too, shall pass. "Take comfort in your friends." Because that's all anyone really has. The following is a truism and I am not being facetious: Giving someone in need a million dollars is extremely meritorious, but being a true friend transcends all.

    Yisroelon January 23, 2007   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    whenever I hear this super song I think of the music video, which I think is one of the most brilliant music videos ever made. All the people stuck in traffic and thinking about the stressful events that drape their everyday lives, then all the sudden its like the light of importance went off and all the people got out of their cars and started walking through the traffic. It goes to show that in life there will always be problems, but in the end eveythings ok.

    DaDreadlockChickon May 03, 2002   Link

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