Knight was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and grew up in Slaughters, Kentucky. His extended family lives in the same area of Kentucky. Knight has three brothers and a sister. When he was three years old, he asked for a plastic guitar for Christmas. At 15, he became serious and began teaching himself John Prine songs on his older brother's guitar. In an interview, Knight commented "At one point I could play probably 35-40 John Prine songs.
Knight earned a degree in agriculture from Western Kentucky University. He worked for ten years as a mine reclamation inspector and as a miner's consultant for the Kentucky Department of Surface Mining.
Knight started composing when he was 26, but didn't start performing until he was 30. He got his first record deal when he was 37.
On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Chris Knight among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.
It Ain't Easy Being Me
Chris Knight Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Named for how I feel
Yeah I could be the mayor down there
And say ‘welcome to sorryville’
It wouldn’t be on a map no where
You might say that it don’t exist
But if you make enough wrong turns
It’da be hard to miss
I'd probably come to the ceremony with a can of gasoline
Walk on over to the other side
Where I'd light a match
Sit and stare through the smoke and flames and wonder how I'm gonna get back
Why do I do the things I do?
Was I born this way or am I self made fool?
I shoot the lights and I curse the dark
I need your love but I break your heart
And I know the words that’ll bring you back but
But I don’t say nothing as I watch you pack
I had to work to become the jerk I've come to be
It ain’t easy being me
There oughta be a side show "act"
For freaks like me
I could be the star of the show w/ my name on the marquee
In a room with a big red button that says ‘danger do not touch’
Twice a day I'd mash it down and you can watch me self-destruct
Why do I do the things I do
Was I born this way or am I self made fool
I shoot the lights and I curse the dark
I need your love but I break your heart
And I know the words to get you back but
But I don’t say nothing as I watch you pack
I had to work to become the jerk i’ve come to be
It ain’t easy being me
It ain’t easy being me
In "It Ain't Easy Being Me," Chris Knight expresses his self-loathing and the internal struggle he experiences as he continually gives into self-destructive behavior. He suggests that if there were a place that embodied his emotions, it would be a hidden town called “Sorryville,” where he would reign as mayor. The bridge he mentions serves as a metaphor for his life with a lack of direction, where he often finds himself stuck on the wrong side of decisions he's made. He ponders the age-old question of whether he's become the way he is due to nature versus nurture, wondering if he was born this way or if he created this persona through self-sabotage.
Knight continues to grapple with his paradoxical mindset throughout the song. He loves and needs the people in his life, yet he continues to push them away as he breaks their hearts. He even knows the words to make things right with them, but his inability to express them results in him watching them leave. His last line sums it up succinctly: "I had to work to become the jerk I've come to be / It ain't easy being me." Knight's lyrics in "It Ain't Easy Being Me" capture the complexities of self-destruction and the struggles of trying to break free from those patterns.
Line by Line Meaning
There ought to be a town somewhere
I wish there was a place that perfectly embodies how I feel
Named for how I feel
Named after the sense of regret and self-pity that pervades my every thought
Yeah I could be the mayor down there
I'm so consumed by this feeling that I could run an entire town of people who feel just like me
And say ‘welcome to sorryville’
I'd greet visitors with a sarcastic remark that acknowledges our shared feelings of worthlessness and disappointment
It wouldn’t be on a map no where
This town wouldn't really exist, it would just be a metaphor for how I feel
You might say that it don’t exist
Others may not understand what it's like to feel this down and out
But if you make enough wrong turns
If you experience enough misfortune and make enough poor decisions, you'll end up feeling just like me
It’da be hard to miss
It's easy to get lost in this feeling, and once you're there it's hard to shake
There ought to a bridge somewhere they could dedicate to me
I'm so destructive and self-loathing that I deserve a monument to my own failures
I'd probably come to the ceremony with a can of gasoline
I would be so consumed by my own misery that I'd probably ruin the whole thing by setting myself on fire
Walk on over to the other side
Cross over to the other side of the bridge, to the land of the living, where I don't feel like such a wreck
Where I'd light a match
But as usual, I can't resist self-destruction
Sit and stare through the smoke and flames and wonder how I'm gonna get back
As I watch the flames flicker and die, I'll realize how much further I've fallen down the hole, and how hard it's going to be to climb my way back out
Why do I do the things I do?
I'm so lost in my own misery that I can't understand why I keep making things worse for myself
Was I born this way or am I self-made fool?
Am I doomed to feel this way forever, or is there some hope that I can find a way out of the darkness?
I shoot the lights and I curse the dark
I'm so desperate to feel better that I'll ruin everything around me just to distract myself from my own pain
I need your love but I break your heart
I know I need other people in order to feel better, but I'm so consumed by my own sadness and self-pity that I end up pushing them away and hurting them in the process
And I know the words that’ll bring you back but
I know what I need to say in order to make things right, but I'm too consumed by my own misery to actually do it
But I don’t say nothing as I watch you pack
Instead of trying to make things right, I let the people I love leave because I can't help but punish myself by hurting them
I had to work to become the jerk I've come to be
I'm not just wallowing in self-pity, I'm actively making things difficult for myself and others
It ain’t easy being me
In the end, I know that I'm making things harder for myself than they need to be, but I can't help it - it's just who I am
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Bluewater Music Corp.
Written by: Chris Knight, Craig Michael Wiseman
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@Alexinchains_
There ought to be a town somewhere
Named for how I feel
Yeah I could be the mayor down there
And say ‘welcome to sorryville’
It wouldn’t be on a map no where
You might say that it don’t exist
But if you make enough wrong turns
It’da be hard to miss
There ought to a bridge somewhere they could dedicate to me
I'd probably come to the ceremony with a can of gasoline
Walk on over to the other side
Where I'd light a match
Sit and stare through the smoke and flames and wonder how I'm gonna get back
Why do I do the things I do?
Was I born this way or am I self made fool?
I shoot the lights and I curse the dark
I need your love but I break your heart
And I know the words that’ll bring you back but
But I don’t say nothing as I watch you pack
I had to work to become the jerk I've come to be
It ain’t easy being me
There oughta be a side show "act"
For freaks like me
I could be the star of the show w/ my name on the marquee
In a room with a big red button that says ‘danger do not touch’
Twice a day I'd mash it down and you can watch me self-destruct
Why do I do the things I do
Was I born this way or am I self made fool
I shoot the lights and I curse the dark
I need your love but I break your heart
And I know the words to get you back but
But I don’t say nothing as I watch you pack
I had to work to become the jerk i’ve come to be
It ain’t easy being me
It ain’t easy being me
@ScottSmith-jn1jo
Let's all be thankful there are still people writing songs, not riffs.
@TexasJames
Chris knight was the man when I was In High school. Where did the time go.
@boblehn6000
If your here you've been there.
@SOKO-47
🤘🏼
@thinshady4956
Been where, sorryville? I gave away all my things and moved in years ago.
@levigreen7515
Your not wrong my friend🤣
@zacksnodgrass1204
Still there hoss
@mpj7987
Well said...
@westvirginiaoutlaw4662
Chris Knight is def. by far one of the most underrated signers and songwriter of all time hands down
@joshuaneubig8721
I’ve been saying this for years brother. Hands down deserves more fame and light then given to him. Especially compared to the “country” trash today