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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
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
I wear this crown of thorns
Upon my liars chair
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
Beneath the stains of time
The feelings disappear
You are someone else
I am still right here
What have I become
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know
Goes away in the end
And 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 will keep myself
I would find a way
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
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
I wear this crown of thorns
Upon my liars chair
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
Beneath the stains of time
The feelings disappear
You are someone else
I am still right here
What have I become
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know
Goes away in the end
And 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 will keep myself
I would find a way
Lyrics submitted by i_am_spartacus, edited by Mellow_Harsher
Track duration: 03:39
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Yeah, I think Johnny made this song pretty personal. I think everyone who's been through bad times can relate to it.
I think Cash tried to express fragileness or uncertainty of human life by this song.
What have I become
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know
Goes away in the end
This part seemts to say that you had archieved something special and show off it, but he realized that the death would seap away everything.
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
This part seems that Cash says even if you could have succeeded and had everything you want (like him), it would only turn out dirt (or be broken) by end of your life. Or maybe he had realized that what he had archieved in his life was not what he really should have.
I think he song of vacancy or hopeless of human life...
The song as originally written by NIN was about drug abuse.. and hurting everyone around yourself when you are on drugs.
Cash's version is better in that it's about a life wasted and longing to start over again, with the one he loved. Keep in mind his wife died a few weeks before he did this.. so at the end he was lamenting the loss of his wife.. he died a short time later.. like a lot of old people do.. FROM a broken heart.. ok I know that isn't what killed him, but it's sorta like what happens a lot of the time.. one thing or another happens, but sometimes people aren't the same after the deaths of their spouses. I know I have been messed up since my ex-wife divorced me. I am young tho, and we were only married a few years..
"Everyone I know goes away in the end''
Its about how when you have bipolar disorder you chase all of people who care from you away. and Peopl who are bipolar always feel alone.