Convert
Nine-Inch Nails knew how to depict existential pain. Johnny Cash knew how to sing about it. The modern version of that despair involves different drugs, but similar damage to the soul.
"Convert"
I Slacked myself today
To check that I’m still real
Is chat a new domain
With posts replacing steel?
The burnout sears my soul
Those unrelenting pings
I respond by end-of-day
But every night my smartphone dings
What have we become?
Each doomscroll’s trends?
Everything we click wastes our time
In the end
And I could buy it all
Some new Etsy shirt
Shipping’s free on Prime
Is that chat a flirt?
I read through code with scorn,
Upon my gamer’s chair
Packed arrays of asks
I did not declare
For agency, I pine,
Distractions interfere,
FAANG still steers my ship -
I’m its mutineer
Now we’re growing numb
We overspend
Every product placed is what bots
Recommend
And I consume it all,
Pop-up ads, alerts,
Lose my train of thought,
See, react, convert.
And so we comprehend,
Each plea and CTA
Make your mind your own
Not what ads display
Written By: "Weird Ev" Coopersmith & AE Studio, with a tip of the hat to Mason Seale for this inspirational opening line.
"Hurt"
I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
I focus on the pain
The only thing that's 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
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
I wear this crown of thorns
Upon my liar's chair
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
Beneath the stains of time
The feelings disappear
You are someone else
I am still right here
What have I become?
My sweetest friend
Everyone I know goes away
In the end
And 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
Written By: Nine-Inch Nails, 1994 - Reimagined by Johnny Cash in 2002
