Nine Inch Nails

The Downward Spiral - 1994

1. Mr Self Destruct
2. Piggy
3. Heresy
4. March Of The Pigs
5. Closer
6. Ruiner
7. The Becoming
8. I Do Not Want This
9. Big Man With A Gun
10. A Warm Place
11. Eraser
12. Reptile
13. The Downward Spiral
14. Hurt



1. Mr Self Destruct


I am the voice inside your head And I control you
I am the lover in your bed And I control you
I am the sex that you provide And I control you
I am the hate you try to hide And I control you
I take you where you want to go
I give you all you need to know
I drag you down I use you up
Mr Self Destruct
I speak religionīs message clear And I control you
I am denial guilt and fear And I control you
I am the prayers of the naive And I control you
I am the lie that you believe And I control you
I take you where you want to go
I give you all you need to know
I drag you down I use you up
Mr Self Destruct
I am the needle in your vein And I control you
I am the high you canīt sustain And I control you
I am the pusher Iīm a whore And I control you
I am the need you have for more And I control you
I am the bullet in the gun And I control you
I am the truth from which you run And I control you
I am the silencing machine And I control you
I am the end of all your dreams And I control you
I take you where you want to go
I give you all you need to know
I drag you down I use you up
Mr Self Destruct



2. Piggy


Hey pig
Yeah you
Hey pig piggy pig pig pig
All of my fears came true
Black and blue and broken bones you left me here Iīm all alone
My little piggy needed something new
Nothing can stop me now
I donīt care anymore
Nothing can stop me now
I just donīt care
Hey pig
Nothingīs turning out the way I planned
Hey pig thereīs a lot of things I hoped you could help me understand
What am I supposed to do I lost my shit because of you
Nothing can stop me now
I donīt care anymore
Nothing can stop me now
I just donīt care
Nothing can stop me now
You donīt need me anymore



3. Heresy


He sewed his eyes shut because he is afraid to see
He tries to tell me what I put inside of me
Heīs got the answers to ease my curiosity
He dreamed a god up and called it christianity
Your god is dead and no one cares
If there is a hell I will see you there
He flexed his muscles to keep his flock of sheep in line
He made a virus that would kill off all the swine
His perfect kingdom of killing, suffering and pain
Demands devotion atrocities done in his name
Your god is dead and no one cares
Drowning in his own hypocrisy
And if there is a hell I will see you there
Burning with your god in humility
Will you die for this ?



4. March Of The Pigs


Step right up march push
Crawl right up on your knees
Please greed feed (no time to hesitate)
I want a little bit I want a piece of it I think heīs losing it
I want to watch it come down
Donīt like the look of it donīt like the taste of it donīt like the smell of it
I want to watch it come down
All the pigs are all lined up
I give you all that you want
Take the skin and peel it back
Now doesnīt that make you feel better ?
Shove it up inside surprise! lies
Stains like the blood on your teeth
Bite chew suck away the tender parts
I want to break it up I want want to smash it up I want to fuck it up
I want to watch it come down
Maybe afraid of it letīs discredit it letīs pick away at it
I want to watch it come down
Now doesnīt that make you feel better ?
The pigs have won tonight
Now they can all sleep soundly
And everything is all right



5. Closer


You let me violate you, you let me desecrate you
You let me penetrate you, you let me complicate you
Help me I broke apart my insides, help me Iīve got no soul to sell
Help me the only thing that works on me, help me get away from myself
I want to fuck you like an animal
I want to feel you from the inside
I want to fuck you like an animal
My whole existence is flawed
You get me closer to god
You can have my isolation, you can have the hate that it brings
You can have my absence of faith, you can have my everything
Help me tear down my reason, help me itīs your sex I can smell
Help me you make me perfect, help me become somebody else
I want to fuck you like an animal
I want to feel you from the inside
I want to fuck you like an animal
My whole existence is flawed
You get me closer to god

Through every forest, above the trees
Within my stomach, scraped off my knees
I drink the honey inside your hive
You are the reason I stay alive



6. Ruiner


You had all of them on your side, didnīt you ?
You believed in all your lies, didnīt you ?
The ruinerīs got a lot to prove heīs got nothing to lose and now he made you believe
The ruinerīs your only friend well heīs the living end to the castle he deceives
The raping of the innocent you know the ruiner ruins everything he sees
Now the only pure thing left in my fucking world is wearing your disease
How did you get so big ?
How did you get so strong ?
How did you get so hard ?
How did it get so long ?
You had to give them all a sign, didnīt you ?
You had to covet what was mine, didnīt you ?
The ruinerīs a collector heīs an infector serving his shit ti his flies
Maybe there will come a day when those that you keep blind will sunddenly realize
Maybe itīs a part of me you took it to a place I hoped it would never go
And maybe that fucked me up much more than youīll ever know
How did you get so big ?
How did you get so strong ?
How did you get so hard ?
How did it get so long ?
What you gave to me
My perfect ring of scars
You know I can see what you really are
You didnīt hurt me nothing can hurt me
You didnīt hurt me nothing can stop me now



7. The Becoming


I beat my machine itīs a part of me itīs inside of me
Iīm stuck in this dream itīs changing me I am becoming
The me that you know had some second thoughts
Heīs covered with scabs he is broken and sore
The me that you know doesnīt come around much
That part of me isnīt here anymore
All pain disappears itīs the nature of my circuitry
Drowns out all I hear thereīs no escape from this my new consciousness
The me that you know used to have feelings
But the blood has stopped pumping and heīs left to decay
The me that you know is now made up of wires
And even when iīm right with you iīm so far away
I can try to get away but iīve strapped myself in
I can try to scratch away the sound in my ears
I can see it killing away all my bad parts
I donīt want to listen but itīs all too clear

Hiding backwards inside of me I feel unafraid
Annie, hold a little tighter I might just slip away

It wonīt give up it wants me dead
Goddamn this noise inside my head



8. I Do Not Want This


Iīm losing you
You know how this world can beat you down
Iīm made of clay
I fear Iīm the only one who thinks this way
Iīm always falling down the same hill
Bamboo puncturing this skin
And nothing comes bleeding out of me just like a waterfall iīm drowning in
2 feet below the surface I can still make out your wavy face
And if I could just reach you maybe I could leave this place
I do not want this
I do not want this
I do not want this
I do not want this
Donīt you tell me how I feel
Donīt you tell me how I feel
Donīt you tell me how I feel
You donīt know just how I feel
I stay inside my bed
I have lived so many lives all in my head
Donīt tell me that you care
There really isnīt anything, is there?
You would know, wouldnīt you?
You extend your hand to those who suffer
To those who know what it really feels like
To those whoīve had a taste
Like that means something
And oh so sick I am
And maybe I donīt have a choice
And maybe that is all I have
And maybe this is a cry for help
I do not want this
I do not want this
I do not want this
I do not want this
Donīt you tell me how I feel
Donīt you tell me how I feel
Donīt you tell me how I feel
You donīt know just how I feel

I want to know everything
I want to be everywhere
I want to fuck everyone in the world
I want to do something that matters



9. Big Man With A Gun


I am a big man
(yes I am)
And I have a big gun
Got me a big old dick and I
I like to have fun
Held against your forehead
Iīll make you suck it
Maybe iīll put a hole in your head
You know, just for the fuck of it
I can reduce you if I want
I can devour
Iīm hard as fucking steel, and Iīve got the power
Iīm every inch a man, and Iīll show you somehow
Me and my fucking gun
Nothing can stop me now
Shoot shoot shoot shoot shoot
Iīm going to come all over you
Me and my fucking gun
Me and my fucking gun



10. A Warm Place


-instrumental



11. Eraser


Need you
Dream you
Find you
Taste you
Fuck you
Use you
Scar you
Break you
Lose me
Hate me
Smash me
Erase me



12. Reptile


She spreads herself wide open to let the insects in
She leaves a trail of honey to show me where sheīs been
She has the blood of reptile just underneath her skin
Seeds from a thousand others drip down from within
Oh my beautiful liar
Oh my precious whore
My disease my infection
I am so impure
Devils speak of the ways in which sheīll manifest
Angels bleed from the tainted touch of my caress
Need to contaminate to alleviate this loneliness
I now know the depths I reach are limitless
Oh my beautiful liar
Oh my precious whore
My disease my infection
I am so impure



13. The Downward Spiral


He couldnīt believe how easy it was
He put the gun into his face
Bang!
(so much blood for such a tiny little hole)

Problems have solutions
A lifetime of fucking things up fixed in one determined flash

Everythingīs blue
In this world
The deepest shade of mushroom blue
All fuzzy
Spilling out of my head



14. Hurt


I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing thatīs 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
You could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
I wear my crown of shit
On my liarīs chair
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
Beneath the stain of time
The feeling disappears
You are someone else
I am still right here
What have I become?
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know
Goes away in the end
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 would keep myself
I would find a way


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