Lyrics to
The Hurt

This version of The Hurt was released by Cat Stevens in 1973.

Our About Cat Stevens page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for The Hurt from 1973 as well as all of the other lyrics from Cat Stevens that we have in our lyrics database.

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You say you want to seek the truth, but it’s hard to find
No one to help you, your friends don’t have the time
So you ride around in your car. switch on the radio
You want to relate to something you once read in a book
What kind of a way to try to take a look

Until I got hurt I was looking, I was on my way
Until I got hurt, until I got hurt, darling I painted my face grey
Until I got hurt, ’till got hurt, why didn’t I
I didn’t think of this until I got hurt
‘Till I got hurt. baby. I didn’t know’ what love is

You say you want to learn to laugh ’cause music makes you cry
But the tears you shed are only in your eye
So you turn to any phoney mouth with a tale to tell
But he’s just a hoaxer don’t you know, selling peace and religion
Between his jokes and his karma chewing gum

Until I got hurt, I was looking, I was the same as you
Until I got hurt, until I got hurt, I did not know what to do
Until I got hurt, ’till I got hurt, why didn’t I
I didn’t think of this until I got hurt
‘Till I got hurt, baby, I didn’t know what love is

Young son, don’t let me down, young son
I’m trusting you to keep on, never turn away now
Hold on, never let go, now hold on
Turn your heart to the bright sun
Love will come your way
Cos ’till you make that final show
You’ll never know what love you’ve been missing
Missing

You say you want to seek the truth but you work alone
No one to help you and nobody to push you on
So you sit at home drinking your wine, television on
You wait for a miracle, cos you say one day one’ll come along
(But wishful thinking, boy) any minute now You might be gone
I’d like to help you brother but that would be wrong

Until I got hurt, I was looking, I was on my way
Until I got hurt, until I got hurt, darling I didn’t know which way
Until I got hurt, ’till I got hurt, why didn’t I
I didn’t think of this until I got hurt
‘Till I got hurt, baby, I didn’t know what love is

Until I got hurt, oh I didn’t know what love is

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Cat Stevens has released many songs over the years besides The Hurt. Cat Stevens released songs from 1967 to 1978 spanning across albums like New Masters, Matthew & Son, Tea For The Tillerman, Mona Bone Jakon, Teaser And The Firecat, Catch Bull At Four, Foreigner, Buddha And The Chocolate Box, Numbers, Izitso, and Back To Earth. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Cat Stevens.

If you're a fan of 1970s music looking for more songs from 1973 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and The Hurt by Cat Stevens

The lyrics to The Hurt are just the words, phrases, verses and chorus that Cat Stevens used when the song was created in 1973. The lyrics to The Hurt have both easy-to-spot meanings and hidden metaphors that have been discussed by the music press and fans, but only Cat Stevens and any collaborators know all of the inspirations for the song.

If you like etymology or breaking apart phrases and words, it is easy to understand the lyrics to The Hurt by Cat Stevens. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to The Hurt" means the words set to the music of The Hurt, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Cat Stevens. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to The Hurt and the lyrics to The Hurt are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Cat Stevens who came here looking just for the lyrics to The Hurt, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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