You can thank (blame?) Stephen Colbert, who recently told the women on the view that his mother, “taught us to still love love life and not be bitter and to realize that everybody suffers and if you can accept your suffering you’ll just understand other people better,” for the inspiring for this (late) Monday music post. Does R.E.M.’s song “Everybody Hurts” not essentially say exactly that? And the message is so true.
I know some people weren’t happy with the news, but I think I can understand why this song was found, according to a poll in the UK, to be the number one song to make grown men cry. So often we feel depressed and isolated in our sufferings. It helps to be reminded that we’re not alone and, as cliche as it sounds, that someone always has it worse.
R.E.M. Everybody Hurts – Lyrics:
When the day is long and the night, the night is yours alone,
When you’re sure you’ve had enough of this life, well hang on
Don’t let yourself go, ’cause everybody cries and everybody hurts sometimes
Sometimes everything is wrong. Now it’s time to sing along
When your day is night alone, (hold on, hold on)
If you feel like letting go, (hold on)
When you think you’ve had too much of this life, well hang on
‘Cause everybody hurts. Take comfort in your friends
Everybody hurts. Don’t throw your hand. Oh, no. Don’t throw your hand
If you feel like you’re alone, no, no, no, you are not alone
If you’re on your own in this life, the days and nights are long,
When you think you’ve had too much of this life to hang on
Well, everybody hurts sometimes,
Everybody cries. And everybody hurts sometimes
And everybody hurts sometimes. So, hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on
Everybody hurts. You are not alone
3 Comments on “Music for Your Monday: Everybody Hurts”
My enthusiasm for R.E.M. peaked in 1982 and faded as Stipe’s vocals became more intelligible. But yeah, this is a quality song.
Before this morning I couldn’t have named a song most likely to make a man cry, but yesterday my daughter gave me a CD she burned which included “My Little Girl” by Tim McGraw. I never heard it before today, but I would have voted for that one.
Bob – I think that’s the same song my sister played for my dad once and, yes, he teared up. Not sure exactly what to think of the results of that UK poll, but, as I said, I guess I can understand it to some degree. I wouldn’t call myself a huge R.E.M. fan either, but I do enjoy this song.
“Everybody Hurts” is a very compassionate song, saying that many, many people feel at the end of their rope and are ready to end it all, and that those people should know that many people, even some they’ve never met, understand and care about them. What’s more moving and tear-inducing than that? See also: Paul Potts’s operatic version of the song.
In the same vein is “Under Pressure” by David Bowie and Queen.
And let’s not worry at all what a bunch of snippy alpha males say about what it is and is not okay to cry at. Heaven save us from these people.