Which Artist First Used The Words Everybody Hurts Sometimes?

There’s something about those five words that feels handwritten into the cultural memory: 'everybody hurts sometimes.' For me, that particular phrasing is inseparable from R.E.M.’s slow, empathetic ballad 'Everybody Hurts' from their 1992 album 'Automatic for the People.' Michael Stipe is usually credited as the primary lyricist and the band (Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, and Stipe) share writing credits, but the chorus line — plain and aching — is what made the song stick in people’s mouths and playlists. I still get a little lump in my throat whenever that opening piano and those harmonies roll in; the line is almost conversational in its comfort, like someone handing you a tissue and saying, ‘it’s okay to feel like this.’

When I dig into music history on lazy afternoons, I often look for the ‘first’ instance of a memorable line. With this exact wording, the earliest widely recognized and culturally impactful usage is R.E.M.’s song. That doesn’t mean similar sentiments or phrasing hadn’t appeared in poems, sermons, or lesser-known songs before 1992 — language about pain and shared suffering is ancient. But no earlier recorded or popular song jumped out in the way R.E.M.’s did. Their single was deliberately crafted to reassure people going through dark times; the band even asked their label to list the song as a single to reach people who might need it.

The impact tells part of the story: after its release the line was quoted in articles, used in memorials, and covered in countless versions because it’s so accessible and human. If you’re chasing original sources beyond recorded music, you’ll find echoes of the sentiment across literature and hymnody, where phrases like ‘all men suffer’ or ‘we all endure pain’ have existed for centuries. But if you’re asking who first used those exact five words in a song everyone knows, I live by saying it’s R.E.M., and I’ll throw on 'Automatic for the People' whenever I need that small, consoling reminder that I’m not alone.

If you want the short, solid fact: the line 'everybody hurts sometimes' is best known from R.E.M.’s 1992 song 'Everybody Hurts' on the album 'Automatic for the People.' I’ve been the person in the car singing that chorus louder than necessary during rainy drives — the phrasing is simple but nails a universal truth, which is why it stuck.

People often wonder if the words existed earlier somewhere else. While similar ideas about shared suffering pop up in older poems and songs, I haven’t found any prior recorded track that used that exact wording and reached the same level of recognition. For most listeners, R.E.M. is the origin point — they took a plain sentence and turned it into something that feels like a hug, and that’s why so many covers and TV moments keep bringing it back. If curiosity bites, listen to the original track and then hunt covers; it’s fun to hear how different voices interpret that single line.