Songs & Lyrics
Gave Up
“Gave Up” appears on Broken (1992) and has returned in setlists across multiple touring eras.
- Record type
- Lyrics available
- Classification
- Official NIN composition
- First record
- Halo 05 · Broken
- Known versions
- 8
Song details
About This Song
Available on five Halo releases in 8 titled versions.
- Classification
- Official NIN composition
- First documented release
- Halo 05 · Broken
- Release date
- September 22, 1992
- Track position
- 6
- Running time
- 4:08
- Tempo
- 144 BPM
- Known versions
- 8
Track Credits
- Production
- Flood, Trent Reznor
Live History
- Performance span
- Further Down The Spiral Tour through NIN 2013 Festival Tour · NIN 2014 Japan Tour through present
- Live debut
- August 27, 1994 · Rochester, NY
Versions
- Gave Up
- Gave Up (Fixed)
- Gave Up (The Young Americans version)
- Gave Up (Open My Eyes)
- Gave Up (Closure)
- Gave Up (Live)
- Gave Up (And All That Could Have Been)
- Gave Up (Beside You In Time)
Sources: NIN Wiki — Gave Up, revision 68882 (reviewed September 28, 2026). NIN Wiki song record
Words
Lyrics
Forgot how it feels well almost
No one to blame always the same
Open my eyes wake up in flames
It took you to make me realize
It took you to make me realize
It took you to make me realize
It took you to make me see the light
Smashed up my sanity
Smashed up integrity
Smashed up what I believed in
Smashed up what's left of me
Smashed up my everything
Smashed up all that was true
Gonna smash myself to pieces
I don't know what else to do
Covered in hope and Vaseline
Still cannot fix this broken machine
Watching the hole it used to be mine
Just watching it burn in my steady systematic decline
Of the trust I will betray
Give it to me I throw it away
After everything I've done I hate myself for what I've become
I tried
I gave up
Throw it away
Lyrics reproduced with permission for non-profit educational use.
Where it appears
Documented Appearances
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