Released October 20, 1989 | Length 5:55 | |
"Sanctified"(4) "Something I Can Never Have"(5) | ||
"Something I Can Never Have" is the fifth track on the Nine Inch Nails' 1989 debut album, Pretty Hate Machine. The song was used in the film Natural Born Killers. According to Loren Coleman, the song deals with suicidal themes.
Tom Breihan from Pitchfork Media gave a positive review to the song, stating that the song portrays "an absolute mastery" with "its haunted, minimal piano figure and a few hushed synth tones slowly, letting in sputtering static, faraway door-slam drums, and quiet little counter-melodies." Nevertheless, the initial reception of Pitchfork to the song was mixed, with being called as a "'Goodbye Blue Sky' rip-off" in a previous review by Rob Mitchum, in 2006.
A "deconstructed" version of the song was also included in the live album And All That Could Have Been. The accompanying live music video, with Jerome Dillon was also released.
Covers
This song has been covered by Dutch dark wave band, Clan of Xymox, in its 2012 album Kindred Spirits; and by the band Flyleaf for Underworld: Evolution OST. In July 2014, Tori Amos covered the song on her Unrepentant Geraldines Tour. A version of the song was used in the fifth episode of the HBO series Westworld in 2016.