wish
this is the first day of my last days
i built it up now i take it apart climbed up real high now fall down real far
no need for me to stay the last thing left i just threw it away
i put my faith in god and my trust in you
now there's nothing more fucked up i could do
wish there was something real wish there was something true
wish there was something real in this world full of you
i'm the one without a soul i'm the one with this big fucking hole
no new tale to tell twenty-six years on my way to hell
gotta listen to your big time hard line bad luck fist fuck
don't think you're having all the fun
you know me i hate everyone
wish there was something real wish there was something true
wish there was something real in this world full of you
i want to but i can't turn back*
but i want to*
*written but not sung
on the very literal level we've got him yelling his heart out at the
record company (tvt) that he feels screwed him over and tried to take away
his freedom as an artist."i trusted you, and you screwed me over and tried to
control me. i wish i hadn't put my faith in you. i can't believe i was so
naive."-type deal. but on the metaphorical level, anyone who ends up with
enough power to become a wall you can't seem to get over, who denies you
freedom, who you can't do anything but scream at because you either are or
feel powerless against it.
-alexa
Obviously written about the neverending search for a meaningful relationship in one's life . The song refers to someone
(Trent?) who is searching for a meaningful, honest relationship (whether it be TVT records or one's soul mate): "wish
there was something real, wish there was something true"; but who so far has only found deceit and lies: "gotta listen to
your big time hard line bad luck fist fuck".
-crystal
Trent is speaking of the gap that is left in a person's life after a time of extreme chaos. More specifically a time of
excessive drug use. As in many other songs, Reznor personifies the drugs that plague him by speaking to them directly.
He explains that the drugs, which he turned to for answers, have left him with a deeper sense of dispair. This despair is
a result of knowledge that no matter what the drugs reveal they are not the true/real answers that he is looking for.
Despite the fact that he knows the drugs are leading him nowhere (except "hell") he cannot turn back.
The Remix of this song on Fixed is an example of the period of time...while the drugs are in effect....when the narrator
WISHes that he could turn back from the path he has chosen. But he cannot.
-trey
