Getting Smaller
"Getting Smaller" is the ninth track on the 2005 release With Teeth. The lyrics may address Trent Reznor coming back from his addictions as a humbled person. The track leaked in February of 2005, along with "The Line Begins To Blur" and "The Hand That Feeds".
According to at least one media promo listening[1], the working title for the song was slightly longer, appearing as "Getting Smaller Every Day." The "flip flop" lyric is a reference to the song "Navvy" by Pere Ubu, a song that has appeared on playlists compiled by Reznor.
Contents
Song Credits
- Live drums: Dave Grohl
Appearances
Halos
- With Teeth
Seeds
Other
- Tony Hawk's Project 8 video game
Versions
Getting Smaller
This is the original album version. Crossfading in from the end of "Only," it begins with frantic and seemingly random distorted guitar playing, punctured by the chorus guitar riff. Grohl's live drums soon begin accompanying, leading into the first verse, accompanied by a different guitar riff. The song opens up in volume and layering for the choruses, their lyrics yelled out by Reznor with a delay effect. A third different guitar riff leads the bridge, which also features layered atmospheric synthesizers over the drum beat that build in intensity and lead into the final chorus.
Getting Smaller (Instrumental)
Running Time: 3:47
Released exclusively through Apple Music.
Live
"Getting Smaller" made its live debut on March 25, 2005. It was played on the Live: With Teeth tour in 2005-06, but was a setlist rarity. On this version, Jeordie White would play rhythm guitar while Alessandro Cortini roamed the stage playing bass. It was also played at least once during the Lights In The Sky Tour.
Lyrics
Getting a little erratic here
And I don't know who to trust
I guess they got a way of reading my mind
I guess I got to adjust
I got my arms that flip flop flip flop flip
I got my head on a spring
Well I thought I got you on my side
I haven't got fucking anything
I'm just a face in the crowd
Nothing to worry about
Not even trying to stand out
I'm getting smaller and smaller and smaller
And I have nothing to say
It's all been taken away
I just behave and obey
I'm afraid I am starting to fade away
Can kind of see out the cracks
When I press up to the wall
I'm not looking to stand up real high
I'd be happy to crawl
I think I'm losing my grip
But I can still make a fist
You know I still got my one good arm
That I can beat—I can beat myself up with
I'm just a face in the crowd
Nothing to worry about
Not even trying to stand out
I'm getting smaller and smaller and smaller
And I have nothing to say
It's all been taken away
I just behave and obey
I'm afraid I am starting to fade away
Hey and for what it is worth
I really used to believe
That maybe there's some great thing
That we could achieve
And now I can't tell the difference
Or know what to feel
Between what I've been trying so hard to see
And what appears to be real
My world is getting smaller every day
Hey hey hey hey
And that's OK
In the actual recording, the first line of the third verse is changed:
I kind of see through the cracks
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