It’s not the most popular of his albums, but lately I’m finding that I enjoy it the best of the bunch. Though, uh. Taking a closer look at the lyrics… well, it’s interesting that this would be the case.

As grasping and inelegant as Trent Reznor usually is, somehow there’s usually a parallel between what he’s going through and where I am in my own life. Which may explain why I have such trouble listening to his stuff that came out when I was in high school. Anyway, there’s a sincerity that makes up for the clumsiness. And he is getting better at expressing himself.

Note that “The Hand that Feeds” is about George Bush, and as such it’s… a little out-of-place.

All The Love In The World

Watching all the insects march along
Seem to know just right where they belong
Smears of face reflecting in the chrome
Hiding in the crowd I’m all alone

No one’s heard a single word I’ve said
They don’t sound as good outside my head
It looks as though the past is here to stay
I’ve become a million miles a…

Why do you get all the love in the world?

All the jagged edges disappear
Colors all look brighter when you’re near
The stars are all afire in the sky
Sometimes I get so lonely I could…

Why do you get all the love in the world?
Why do you get all the love?

—
The Collector

I pick things up
I am a collector
And things, well things, they tend to accumulate
I have this net
It drags behind me
It picks up feelings
For me to feed upon

There are times, plenty of times
I wish I could let it go
But they start to breathe, and they start to grow inside me
There are times, plenty of times
I wish I could let it go
But they start to make me think things I don’t wanna know

I’m trying to fit it all inside
I’m trying to open my mouth wide
I’m trying not to choke and
Swallow it all

I am the plague I am the swarm
All your hurt sticks on me
And I keep it warm
They will make me stay, they won’t let me leave
There are so god damned many of them it gets hard to breathe

I’m trying to fit it all inside
I’m trying to open my mouth wide
I’m trying not to choke inside
I am a good boy and I will
Swallow it all

Every last one

—
Love Is Not Enough

The more that we take
The paler we get
I can’t remember what is
We try to forget
The tile on the floor
So cold it could sting
In your eyes is a place
Worth remembering

For you to go and take this
And smash it apart
I’ve gone all this fucking way
To wind up back at, back at the start

Hey!
The closer we think we are
Well, it only got us so far
Now you’ve got anything left to show?
No, no I didn’t think so.

Hey!
The sooner we realize
We cover ourselves with lies
But underneath we’re not so tough
And love is not enough

Well, it hides in the dark
Like the withering vein
We didn’t give it a mouth
So it can not complain
We never really had a chance
We never really make it through
I never think I’d believe
I believed I could get better with you

Hey!
The closer we think we are
Well, it never got us so far
Now you’ve got anything left to show?
No, no I didn’t think so.

Hey!
The sooner we realize
We cover ourselves with lies
But underneath we’re not so tough
And love is not enough

Love is not enough
Hey!

—
Every Day Is Exactly The Same

I believe I can see the future
Because I repeat the same routine
I think I used to have a purpose
Then again, that might have been a dream

I think I used to have a voice
Now I never make a sound
I just do what I’ve been told
I really don’t want them to come around
Oh, no.

Every day is exactly the same
Every day is exactly the same
There is no love here and there is no pain
Every day is exactly the same

I can feel their eyes are watching
In case I lose myself again
Sometimes I think I’m happy here
Sometimes, yeah, I still pretend
I can’t remember how this got started
But I can tell you exactly how it will end.

Every day is exactly the same
Every day is exactly the same
There is no love here and there is no pain
Every day is exactly the same

I’m writing on a little piece of paper
I’m hoping someday you might find
Well, I’ll hide it behind something
They won’t look behind

I am still inside here
A little bit comes bleeding through
I wish this could have been any other way
But I just don’t know, I don’t know,
What else I can do

Every day is exactly the same
Every day is exactly the same
There is no love here and there is no pain
Every day is exactly the same

Every day is the same!

—
With Teeth

She comes along
She gets inside
She makes you better than anything you’ve tried
It’s in her kiss
The blackest sea
And it runs deeper than you
Dare to dream it could be

With teeth

Wave goodbye
To what you were
The rules have changed
The lines begin to blur
She makes you hard
It comes on strong
You finally found
The place where you belong

I cannot go through this again

She will not let you go
Keeps holding on
This time, I’m not coming back
She will not let you go

—
Only

I’m becoming less defined as days go by
Fading away
And well you might say
I’m losing focus
Kinda drifting into the abstract in terms of how I see myself

Sometimes I think I can see right through myself
Sometimes I can see right through myself

Less concerned about fitting into the world
Your world that is
Cause it doesn’t really matter anymore
(no it doesn’t really matter anymore)
No it doesn’t really matter anymore
None of this really matters anymore

Yes I am alone but then again I always was
As far back as I can tell
I think maybe it’s because
Because you were never really real to begin with
I just made you up to hurt myself

I just made you up to hurt myself, yeah
And I just made you up to hurt myself

And it worked.
Yes it did!

There is no you
There is only me
There is no you
There is only me
There is no fucking you
There is only me
There is no fucking you
There is only me

Only

Well the tiniest little dot caught my eye and it turned out to be a scab
And I had this funny feeling like I just knew it’s something bad
I just couldn’t leave it alone, I kept picking at the scab
It was a doorway trying to seal itself shut
But I climbed through

Now I am somewhere I am not supposed to be, and I can see things I know I really shouldn’t see
And now I know why, now, now, now I know why
Things aren’t as pretty
On the inside

Only

—
Getting Smaller

Getting a little erratic here
And I don’t know who to trust
I guess they got a way of reading my mind
I guess I got to adjust
I’ve got my arms that flip flop flip flop flip
I got my head on spring
Well I thought I got you on my side
I haven’t got fucking anything

I’m just a face in the crowd
Nothing to worry about
Not even trying to stand out
I’m getting smaller and smaller and smaller
And I got nothing to say
It’s all been taken away
I just behave and obey
I’m afraid I am starting to fade away

Uh huh
I kind of see through the cracks when I press up on the wall
I’m not looking to stand up real high, I’d be happy to crawl
I think I’m losing my grip, but I can still make a fist
You know I still got my one good arm that I can beat…
I can beat myself up

Hey, and for what it was worth
I really used to believe
That maybe there’s some great thing
That we could achieve
And now I can’t tell the difference
Or know what to feel
Between what I’ve been trying so hard to see
And what appears to be real

Fading away

My world is getting smaller everyday
Hey hey hey hey, and that’s okay

—
Sunspots

Sunspots cast a glare in my eyes
Sometimes I forget I’m alive
I feel it coming and I’ve got to get out of its way
I hear it calling and I come cause I can’t disobey
I should not listen and I shouldn’t believe
But I do
Yes I do

She turns me on
She makes me real
I have to apologize
For the way I feel

My life, it seems has taken a turn
Why in the name of god would I ever want to return?
Peel off our skin we’re gonna burn what we were to the ground
Fuck in the fire and we’ll spread all the ashes around
I wanna kill away the rest of what’s left and I do
Yes I do

And nothing can stop me now
There is nothing to fear
And everything I’d ever want
Is inside of here

Ooh, I want, I want, I want, I want inside of here

Now I just stare into the sun
And I see everything I’ve done
I think I could have been someone
But I can’t stop what has begun
When everything is said and done
And there is no place left to run
I think I used to be someone
Now I just stare into the sun

—
The Line Begins To Blur

There are things that I said I would never do
There are fears that I cannot believe have come true
For my soul is too sick and too little and too late
And my self I have grown to weary to hate

The more I stay in here
The more it’s not so clear
The more I stay in here
The more I disappear
As far as I have gone
I knew what side I’m on
But now I’m not so sure
The line begins to blur

Is there somebody on top of me?
I don’t know I don’t know
Isn’t anybody stopping me?
I don’t know I don’t know
Well I’m trying to hold my breath
I don’t know I don’t know
Just how far down can I go?
I don’t know I don’t know I don’t know

As I lie here and stare
The fabric starts to tear
It’s far beyond repair
And I don’t really care
As far as I have gone
I knew what side I’m on
But now I’m not so sure
The line begins to blur

—
Beside You In Time

I am all alone this time around
Sometimes on the side I hear a sound
Places parallel I know it’s you
Feel the little pieces bleeding through

And on (And on)
This goes on (And on)
And on (And on)
This goes on (And on)
And on (And on)
And on

Now that I’ve decided not to stay
I can feel me start to fade away
Everything is back where it belongs
I will be beside you before long

Oooh we will never die
Oooh Beside you in time

—
Right Where It Belongs

See the animal in his cage that you built
Are you sure what side you’re on?
Better not look him too closely in the eye
Are you sure what side of the glass you are on?
See the safety of the life you have built
Everything where it belongs
Feel the hollowness inside of your heart
And it’s all
Right where it belongs

What if everything around you
Isn’t quite as it seems?
What if all the world you think you know
Is an elaborate dream?
And if you look at your reflection
Is it all you want it to be?
What if you could look right through the cracks?
Would you find yourself
Find yourself afraid to see?

What if all the worlds inside of your head
Just creations of your own?
Your devils and your gods
All the living and the dead
And you’re really all alone?
You can live in this illusion
You can choose to believe
You keep looking but you can’t find the woods
While you’re hiding in the trees

What if everything around you
Isn’t quite as it seems?
What if all the world you used to know
Is an elaborate dream?
And if you look at your reflection
Is it all you want it to be?
What if you could look right through the cracks
Would you find yourself
Find yourself afraid to see?

—
Home

Everything
Is catching up with me
I awake
To find i’m not at all where I
Should be
And it feels
I’m getting to the end
And it’s hard
To figure out what’s real
And what’s
Pretend

To break from what
We’re tied to
God knows
How much i’ve tried to

And I am still inside you
And I am still inside you

I escape
Every now and then
And to think
I find myself
Back here again
And again

I used to know who I was
Untill you came along
I return
To the only place
I’ve ever felt
That I belong

To break from what
We’re tied to
God knows
How much i’ve tried to

And I am still inside you
And I am still inside you