anonymous January 14th, 2007 12:29AM  

All The Love In The World' begins as introspection, the minimalistic drum-machine beats emphasizing the loneliness he carries, accented with rich descriptions: not over-the-top like a bad novel (or my style of writing) but rather, a Doors-esque or even Pink Floyd-ish turn of phrase. Trent internalizes, showing us his view of the public. At that point of the song, the synths kick in and bring melody, along with Trents purposely cracked falsettos(I would like to point out that he is capable of hitting the notes without cracking his voice as shown later in the song, but the deliberate choice of imperfection brings desperation and emotion to his lyrics). Trent, being copied and then ignored, then realizes he isn't in the game anymore - it's the anti-climax of the 1960's social revolution all over again. Nothing's changed, "it looks as though the past is here to stay, I've become a million miles a--". Leaving your own mind to fill in the blank may seem like a cheap trick, but it's used effectively to bring emphasis to the subject.

The next verse bring Trents' stronger, forceful vocals... Though the verse's subject reminds me of John Lennon's acid trip on the rooftop while making sgt. pepper (as told by George Martin)... I'm not quite sure how to interpret this verse yet... So, back to the chorus then.

"Why do you get all the love in the world?" A simple question, musically, he is alluding to "God", or more appropriately, everyone's idea of "God". This is proven by the middle-eastern flavored piano phrases in the first time through the chorus.... Allah, God, Jesus, Krishna - all alluded to, the sitar-like drone of the guitar in the background, that 'eastern-feel' of the piano's repeating phrase. Chanting, harmonizing like a monk's chant, or that of followers of certain religions. Trent then breaks down into what some might call 'disco' - but, actually, it's a Holy-roller/Evangelical Christian/Catholic spiritual breakdown session, emphasized by the yes, disco up-beat so present in modern western religious music, especially those in the deep south (where is Reznor from? Oh yeah, New Orleans.)... And not only that, the beats are present in trance, disco and pop music. See, they're all a religion in his mind. So, why does a god get all the love in the world? From Reznor's past albums, we see that he doesn't believe in god, or really, the idea of god -- "God is dead/no one cares/if there is a hell/i'll see you there", from 'Hersey', on the downward spiral -- He's posing a question to us: Why do we freely give love to a deity that may or may not exist, or just doesn't care-- especially when there's so much in the world that needs that love and that energy to bring about change? Freedom from the idea of god breeds mental freedom and a passion for humanity? Possibly. It may explain why he's so cynical in this song - that, and also depressed. He loves humanity as a concept, but despises it as a whole.

Maybe I'm over-analyzing the song, but I doubt it... especially considering who it is we're dealing with.

anonymous March 16th, 2009 02:24AM  

Though the first person may have some good points about the song being about Trent's dislike of God, and what not, one can interpret it differently. You can think of it as if someone is singing about being completely isolated from the world, and may be focusing his words towards a single person (who may have done something to the singer). Just the way I see it.