As I’ve chronicled before, when I was younger I used songs and song lyrics as a sort of short hand for conveying emotion.

This is not because I don’t know how to write these things out myself. Rather, it’s because I have a tendency to be far, far too honest when I do. Sometimes when I’m still in the heat of the moment. Right now I’m rather angry, for instance.

Should I be? I don’t even know if I should be, honestly. That lack of confidence is why I won’t write about it. Instead, I’ll traipse back a decade and give you this.

All I do
I can still feel you

Hear your call
Underneath it all
Kill my brain
Yet you still remain
Crucified
After all I’ve died
After all I’ve tried
You are still inside

If you couldn’t figure it out by now, The Fragile is by far my favorite NIN album. I wonder…why…

“I wanted this album to sound like there was something inherently flawed in the situation, like someone struggling to put the pieces together. Downward Spiral was about peeling off layers and arriving at a naked, ugly end. This album starts at the end, then attempts to create order from chaos, but never reaches the goal. It’s probably a bleaker album because it arrives back where it starts—[with] the same emotion.”