Lyric discussion by doctorsdolittle 

Cover art for Gave Up lyrics by Nine Inch Nails

Everyone seems to say that the second verse claims that he will never trust anyone again, I actually read it that he has betrayed someone's trust.

"of the trust i will betray give it to me i throw it away after everything i've done i hate myself for what i've become"

Isn't he saying that he's betrayed someone's trust and he hates himself for that? "give it to me I throw it away" He's been a bit dismissive of the trust people/women have placed in him, and when he looks back he sees how careless he was with that trust. Perhaps?

Of course it is generally accepted that this EP is directed at TVT, so maybe he means he has betrayed them by making the EP is secret. Considering they screwed him over first, he has no choice, but it really goes against his nature to betray people. Maybe....

I do think this song is about a woman though. "watching the hole it used to be mine" seems a very possessive sentence, describing how he felt about that person, but he no longer feels that way, he "still cannot fix this broken machine" - him.

@doctorsdolittle This part of the song is about a learned, repetitious behavior, trowing everything away by lying constantly.

"Look through these blackened eyes, You'll see ten thousand lies"

@doctorsdolittle Yea, I can see that. Like you like someone so much you try to become this person that isn't you but in that moment you are always saying to them trust me, I can handle this. Then when you can't handle who you've become anymore you lash out and you do something to destory what you created and in that you are breaking the trust, because you said you were on the same page but it was just a lie