| Nine Inch Nails – Every Day Is Exactly the Same Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I agree with those that observed that this song closely parallels the book 1984. I think it is Trent's commentary on how he feels that liberty and freedom is being eroded in America. He sees his own government becoming like the Big Brother regime in 1984, right down to the never-ending wars in "Eurasia". His next album, "Year Zero" made his political objections more clear. He clearly had significant antipathy toward the Bush administration and things like the Patriot Act. So, I think this song is a warning or a prophecy that Trent worries that we may all be destined to lead subjugated lives like that of Winston. Having been a corporate dweeb most of my life, I just frigging love this song. It became almost a theme song for me when I was in that life. Fortunately, I escaped and now enjoy a lot more freedom than most people who slave away for a paycheck. HOWEVER... Kazenokae's comment compelled me to write a bit more... I would like to remind people that the world of 1984 illustrated life under a totalitarian regime that resembled the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact far more than it reflected on any capitalist society of the time or since. In 1984, everyone worked for the state in exchange for sub-standard housing, drab uniform clothing and subsistence rations. Religion and even male/female relationships were illegal (population control). If you even *thought* badly about the government, you would be imprisoned and tortured. So far, corporations do not have anything near that level of power over people (or even have a reason to want it), but governments that abandon capitalism often do. Look around at how the despots of the world have actually operated before you choose to revert to even worse slavery than what "capitalism" may impose. Sadly, our species always manages to produce a percentage of people who lust for power and control over others. Megalomania occurs irrespective of nationality or form of governance. Tyrants in boardrooms and management pale in comparison to tyrants in government. Corporate tyrants can be motivated by profits to buy the media, underpay and abuse their workers (to a degree) and cheat people out of their money; tyrannical governments can (and do) take away your freedom, your rights and your very life to preserve absolute control. Personally, I would rather confine the megalomaniacal tyrants to boardrooms than put them in control of legislation, law enforcement, the military and all the resources needed to create a police state. Big corporations and their antics really dismay me, but big governments are infinitely more dangerous! Corporations want people to make a lot of money so they will buy what the corporations are selling in order to make a profit. They hate unemployment and bad economies. Governments will say they will take care of you, but look at what it always winds up looking like when they do. KGB, gulags, Tiananmen Square, political prisoners, poverty, fear. Capitalism sucks less than anything else, if you ask me. I look forward to your comments (not really... if you disagree, I really don't care). |
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| Nine Inch Nails – Every Day Is Exactly the Same Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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wow. Alienation and drudgery of life under capitalism? Man. Go see what life is like under Communism in China or in Cuba! Go try working for the State for awhile if you want to experience drudgery. Disagree with the Socialist state and see what real alienation is from your prison cell or grave. You, my friend, need a good dose of reality. I've been in both places. Capitalism isn't perfect, but it is far better than anything else. Go see for yourself. I will avoid calling you any names, but I admit it is very tempting. Get educated by reality, my friend. Better yet, you may want to seek professional help because I suspect your anger at Capitalism is probably symptomatic of some other underlying personal issue. Transference. Look it up. You are right about not having a voice and the ownership of the media, and that is a problem. The problem isn't capitalism, however. It is the problem between ordinary decent human beings and the megalomaniacs who want to control them. It happens everywhere, and the mildest problems exist where free market capitalism still exists. Other forms of government give absolute power to the leaders and the people are absolutely subjugated and imprisoned by those who crave and hold power. Go live it. You will see. But don't suggest that we go backward in our social evolution! I've been there and I sure as hell don't want to go back!! Trent Reznor is a huge capitalist, by the way. So you are just flat wrong. |
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| Nine Inch Nails – Right Where It Belongs Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Kaysteeze is right... this is totally about Existentialism. The question is: did Trent Reznor study philosophy, or logically re-discover it? Like so many songs on this post-addiction album, this is a very poignant commentary on how our lives have become so monochrome in conformance. The animal in his cage is more free than the people who built the cage. We conform, and everything is right where society tells us it should be. We know it isn't right because we can feel the hollowness in our hearts (if we have any depth to us at all). But then he challenges whether it is society that damages us or whether we have created our own little hell all by ourselves. That is the existential part. Maybe we are just afraid to see who we really are, so we create an elaborate illusion to hide from our fear and to shift the blame away from ourselves. This song goes hand-in-hand with "Every Day Is Exactly The Same" off the same album. I think Trent was feeling pretty beaten up by the labels and the whole machine that is the music business. "Sometimes I think I'm happy here. Sometimes... well I still pretend." "I think I used to have a voice. Now I never make a sound. I just do what I am told. I really don't want them to come around." Trent had spent years outside of reality during his addiction. When he had to choose death or the reality of life, he came back to sobriety. I think that the elements of reality that caused him to medicate had to be dealt with, and Trent seems to have a low tolerance for mainstream bullshit. To me, this "With Teeth" album was Trent saying "Okay I'm back and I'm sober. And I don't like all the shit I can now so clearly see. I can no longer do drugs, so let me just vent instead." The guy is a frigging genius and stronger than most of us will ever be. |
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| Nine Inch Nails – Hurt Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| Good on you for correcting your mistake. It is a tribute to both Johnny cash and trent reznor that Cash covered this incredibly powerful song. The Johnny Cash video is so emotional I can hardly bear to watch it. | |
| Nine Inch Nails – Hurt Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| I meant to post my comment as a reply to your post. Oh well. | |
| Nine Inch Nails – Hurt Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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CynfullySweet... Thank you for posting Trent's comments. Kind of puts an end to speculation, huh? I had heard Trent say something similar in an interview. Although, he said that at the time he did Downward Spiral something was nagging at him inside. Part of him knew where he was headed, but he was in conscious denial. He said that he thought the album and the song Hurt was his own better judgement warning him about where he was going. But he ignored the warning. As for Reznor, there is simply not a more honest and fearless songwriter than Trent. He is a no-bullshit writer about what is going on in his mind. I admire him immensely for that. |
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| Pink Floyd – Echoes Lyrics | 14 years ago |
| I read Lord of the Rings and listened to Echoes until the needle almost wore through the record (ancient as well). Now, every time I hear Echoes I can vividly picture scenes from LOTR in my mind. Even without acid! Having read Siddhartha and being a Buddhist, I can really relate to your experience. | |
| Pink Floyd – Comfortably Numb Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Given the context of this song (The Wall), it continues a theme. (Teacher! Leave those kids alone! All in all you're just another brick in the wall.) Yes, overtly, it is about needing drugs to function, but allegorically it is about the mourning of the loss of one's true self and how society tries to "fix" us. The chorus always goes back to "When I was a child..." because that is the last time we are authentically ourselves. From the time of birth, everyone is trying to mold us into what THEY want us to be... into someone who can produce what Society wants from us. We lose our authenticity and most of our individuality in the process. When we do not conform, society mocks us. "Hello? Is there anybody in there? Is there anyone at home?". At some point, we grow numb to all the attempts to use various forms of pain and humiliation to make us comply and conform. Then, we cease to care about what others want from us. "There is no pain, you are receding..." We stop listening to the "advice" and threats: "Your lips move, but I can't hear what you're saying." To me, there are no more poignant lyrics than the following: "When I was a child I caught a fleeting glimpse Out of the corner of my eye I turned to look, but it was gone. I cannot put my finger on it now. The child is grown, the dream is gone." The Dream was stolen when we were just kids before we could really get our hands around it, and now we can't remember who we started out being. We mourn the murdering of our personal dreams and numbly go on with our lives. "The child is grown—the dream is gone... And I have become comfortably numb." I believe that with Gilmour's best-ever guitar licks and such a great tune, Comfortably Numb may be the most powerful song ever produced by anyone (well, a close tie with "Hurt" by Trent Reznor). That is my authentic opinion. |
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