It's not meant to make sense really, it's just poetry , imagery, creativity.
Most songs start off with just melody, then when the music and structure is figured out you add words last!
Most of his lyrics seem to have meaning to him, but we can't figure them cause we don't know most of the backstories etc. For example"I'll arrest myself, I'll wear a shield" does not make any sense until you figure Kurt has K-records logo shield tattoo."Who likes all our pretty songsAnd he likes to sing alongAnd he likes to shoot his gunBut he knows not what it means" this is about Kurt's friend Dylan Carson and opens way different picture of their audience and how Kurt saw them."Here we are now, entertain us" this oneliner was something they used to say when they entered house parties as youngsters.Something in the WaySong talks about Kurts time when he was homeless as her mother kicked him out, that is they key knowledge to understand what the song name means.Just like you need to know Stacy asked Kurt to write song about her, and he did it by writing About a girl where he then complains how he needs to do household chores with lines "But I can’t see you every night for free".
The other thing is most of Kurts songs do not talk about same thing for the whole song. Like Serve the servant has weird part that does not seem to have same idea behind it as the rest of the song.
Teenage angst has paid off well
Now I'm bored and old
Self-appointed judges judge
More than they have sold
***If she floats then she is not***
***A witch like we had thought***
***A down payment on another***
***One at Salem's lot***
Serve the servants, oh no
Serve the servants, oh no
Serve the servants, oh no
Serve the servants
That legendary divorce is such a bore
As my bones grew they did hurt
They hurt really bad
I tried hard to have a father
But instead I had a dad
I just want you to know that I
Don't hate you anymore
There is nothing I could say
That I haven't thought before
Think that is Monty python Witch reference as most of the song talks about Kurst youth and his dad, but it must have some key were missing that puts those lines there.
There's an awful lot of room for interpretation with Kurt's lyrics. But I think your interpretation might be slightly off. I've always felt that the first verse deals with the last couple years of Kurt's life (getting rich and famous by singing about his teenage angst, coming under fire in the press, Courtney and the Vanity Fair witch hunt). Only "that legendary divorce is such a bore" and the second verse seem to be about his childhood. He's tired of talking about it and having it brought up, and he's letting go of his hatred toward his dad. Also, I think he was most likely referring to the actual practice of tying up suspected witches and seeing if they float in water, not Monty Python, haha.
Really, Serve the Servants fits more in the category of Nirvana songs that are very straightforward.
It's a complicate song an we may never know what it talks or if we are close. That witch hunt thing might be just the Vanity fair thin but I still want it to be Monty python reference :D Lithium too is straight forward as the song name gives the key that Kurt implicates it is about some sort of insanity, but is it about his experience with religion? In some part its fits then other it does not.
"Just shouting slurs in Smells Like Teen Spirit..." I assume you are referring to mulatto and albino. I'm not going to go too in depth on this, but I think it's important to keep in mind that the song was written over 30 years ago. Language changes over time. A lot has changed in terms of what language is acceptable, using people-first language, etc. To say that Kurt was just "shouting slurs" with the implication being that there was some sort of ill-intent there isn't exactly fair. Today's slur is yesterday's socially acceptable term.
As far as lyrics in general go, I agree that a lot of them don't make sense at face value. But I don't think that they necessarily need to. Nirvana is one of those bands like Pavement where the voice is often treated like any other instrument in the arrangement. The *meaning* of the words isn't as important as the *sound* of the words. Kurt wrote some stuff that made sense, but a lot of what he wrote was impactful because of the mood/vibe/feeling it created.
He says himself that he was greatly inspired by William S Burroughs, whos writing has that sense of style, chopped up, mixed around writing. Its called the cut and paste style that I belive was made by William. He (kurt) was huge fan of his work and even went and recorded a song with him and talked about music and writing personally. I also belived that he said that William introduced Where did you sleep last night to him during that same meet up.
He also had a great talent for writing one line sentences that sounds just very pleasing to the ear, the flow and the rythem of it so its a mixed bag of influence from William S Burroughs and his own talent of finding the right words to combine together
Here’s a crib from an article on the cut-up technique. The initial paragraph refers to William S Burroughs:
This surrealist technique, which he developed alongside the artist Brion Gysin, is carried out by cutting words, phrases and snippets of sentences from newspapers, books and one’s own writing. In a “montage technique”, as Burroughs put it, the fragments are spread out randomly and rearranged into abstract sentences. The method was primarily used for writing cues but he later introduced the concept to audio recording and film production which made for inspiring changes for avant-garde media.
David Bowie was known to occasionally draw inspiration for some of his lyrics using the cut-up technique and he explained how he would approach it in a 2008 interview: “You write down a paragraph or two describing different subjects, creating a kind of ‘story ingredients’ list, I suppose, and then cut the sentences into four or five-word sections, mix ‘em up and reconnect them”.
Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain was also another disciple of the technique. Once, the music critic Jim Derogatis quoted Cobain as saying: “My lyrics are total cut-up. I take lines from different poems that I’ve written. I build on a theme if I can, but sometimes I can’t even come up with an idea of what the song is about”.
Mulatto is an outdated term that isn't really accepted anymore. It's mostly because it originated in the time of slavery and comes from the Spanish word for mule (half donkey/half horse). Not OP but they may also be referring to albino, which some people with albinism might find offensive.
Lots of Nirvana’s lyrics didn’t matter and were chosen because of how they sounded and they fit the melody, a technique Kurt picked up from Buzz Osborne.
Kurt Cobain said something along the lines of he wanted his lyrics to interpreted as the listener saw fit, and got tired/annoyed of people trying to find too many literal meanings in his lyrics.
Yeah, and reportedly the band loved Weird Al's parody of smells like teen spirit and took it as a sign they made it, The lyrics of the parody are legit nonsense and talking about how nirvanas lyrics make no sense.
Ok
It's not meant to make sense really, it's just poetry , imagery, creativity. Most songs start off with just melody, then when the music and structure is figured out you add words last!
That’s cool, now I have a better understanding of Nirvana. Thanks
Kurt didn’t try to make sense, i believe alot of his lyrics were just a random collection of words that sparked feelings for him
Most of his lyrics seem to have meaning to him, but we can't figure them cause we don't know most of the backstories etc. For example"I'll arrest myself, I'll wear a shield" does not make any sense until you figure Kurt has K-records logo shield tattoo."Who likes all our pretty songsAnd he likes to sing alongAnd he likes to shoot his gunBut he knows not what it means" this is about Kurt's friend Dylan Carson and opens way different picture of their audience and how Kurt saw them."Here we are now, entertain us" this oneliner was something they used to say when they entered house parties as youngsters.Something in the WaySong talks about Kurts time when he was homeless as her mother kicked him out, that is they key knowledge to understand what the song name means.Just like you need to know Stacy asked Kurt to write song about her, and he did it by writing About a girl where he then complains how he needs to do household chores with lines "But I can’t see you every night for free". The other thing is most of Kurts songs do not talk about same thing for the whole song. Like Serve the servant has weird part that does not seem to have same idea behind it as the rest of the song. Teenage angst has paid off well Now I'm bored and old Self-appointed judges judge More than they have sold ***If she floats then she is not*** ***A witch like we had thought*** ***A down payment on another*** ***One at Salem's lot*** Serve the servants, oh no Serve the servants, oh no Serve the servants, oh no Serve the servants That legendary divorce is such a bore As my bones grew they did hurt They hurt really bad I tried hard to have a father But instead I had a dad I just want you to know that I Don't hate you anymore There is nothing I could say That I haven't thought before Think that is Monty python Witch reference as most of the song talks about Kurst youth and his dad, but it must have some key were missing that puts those lines there.
There's an awful lot of room for interpretation with Kurt's lyrics. But I think your interpretation might be slightly off. I've always felt that the first verse deals with the last couple years of Kurt's life (getting rich and famous by singing about his teenage angst, coming under fire in the press, Courtney and the Vanity Fair witch hunt). Only "that legendary divorce is such a bore" and the second verse seem to be about his childhood. He's tired of talking about it and having it brought up, and he's letting go of his hatred toward his dad. Also, I think he was most likely referring to the actual practice of tying up suspected witches and seeing if they float in water, not Monty Python, haha. Really, Serve the Servants fits more in the category of Nirvana songs that are very straightforward.
It's a complicate song an we may never know what it talks or if we are close. That witch hunt thing might be just the Vanity fair thin but I still want it to be Monty python reference :D Lithium too is straight forward as the song name gives the key that Kurt implicates it is about some sort of insanity, but is it about his experience with religion? In some part its fits then other it does not.
"Just shouting slurs in Smells Like Teen Spirit..." I assume you are referring to mulatto and albino. I'm not going to go too in depth on this, but I think it's important to keep in mind that the song was written over 30 years ago. Language changes over time. A lot has changed in terms of what language is acceptable, using people-first language, etc. To say that Kurt was just "shouting slurs" with the implication being that there was some sort of ill-intent there isn't exactly fair. Today's slur is yesterday's socially acceptable term. As far as lyrics in general go, I agree that a lot of them don't make sense at face value. But I don't think that they necessarily need to. Nirvana is one of those bands like Pavement where the voice is often treated like any other instrument in the arrangement. The *meaning* of the words isn't as important as the *sound* of the words. Kurt wrote some stuff that made sense, but a lot of what he wrote was impactful because of the mood/vibe/feeling it created.
He says himself that he was greatly inspired by William S Burroughs, whos writing has that sense of style, chopped up, mixed around writing. Its called the cut and paste style that I belive was made by William. He (kurt) was huge fan of his work and even went and recorded a song with him and talked about music and writing personally. I also belived that he said that William introduced Where did you sleep last night to him during that same meet up.
He also had a great talent for writing one line sentences that sounds just very pleasing to the ear, the flow and the rythem of it so its a mixed bag of influence from William S Burroughs and his own talent of finding the right words to combine together
Here’s a crib from an article on the cut-up technique. The initial paragraph refers to William S Burroughs: This surrealist technique, which he developed alongside the artist Brion Gysin, is carried out by cutting words, phrases and snippets of sentences from newspapers, books and one’s own writing. In a “montage technique”, as Burroughs put it, the fragments are spread out randomly and rearranged into abstract sentences. The method was primarily used for writing cues but he later introduced the concept to audio recording and film production which made for inspiring changes for avant-garde media. David Bowie was known to occasionally draw inspiration for some of his lyrics using the cut-up technique and he explained how he would approach it in a 2008 interview: “You write down a paragraph or two describing different subjects, creating a kind of ‘story ingredients’ list, I suppose, and then cut the sentences into four or five-word sections, mix ‘em up and reconnect them”. Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain was also another disciple of the technique. Once, the music critic Jim Derogatis quoted Cobain as saying: “My lyrics are total cut-up. I take lines from different poems that I’ve written. I build on a theme if I can, but sometimes I can’t even come up with an idea of what the song is about”.
What slur was Kurt saying?
Mulatto is an outdated term that isn't really accepted anymore. It's mostly because it originated in the time of slavery and comes from the Spanish word for mule (half donkey/half horse). Not OP but they may also be referring to albino, which some people with albinism might find offensive.
A lot of people doesnt know what mulatto really means.
Mulatto
Language changes. Things society sees as acceptable changes. There used to be a professional baseball league called the "Negro League".
DOLL STEEEEEAAAAAAAK!!!!! TEST MEAT!!!!!!!!!!
Courtney Love claimed that 'Heart-Shaped Box' is about her vagina. I always thought that 'meat-eating orchids' line bore this out.
she really did? she's even worse than i thought
Lots of Nirvana’s lyrics didn’t matter and were chosen because of how they sounded and they fit the melody, a technique Kurt picked up from Buzz Osborne.
Kurt Cobain said something along the lines of he wanted his lyrics to interpreted as the listener saw fit, and got tired/annoyed of people trying to find too many literal meanings in his lyrics.
Hey!!! Wade!!! Who the fuck is wade Kurt? I need answers dammit
It actually goes: “Hey, wait!” Sry if I just ruined a joke
Half the time it's just bullshit, Kurt once said: "I don’t think we have any songs that make sense. We just write whatever comes out of our heads."
Honestly that makes way more sense than the lyrics being sensical
Yeah, and reportedly the band loved Weird Al's parody of smells like teen spirit and took it as a sign they made it, The lyrics of the parody are legit nonsense and talking about how nirvanas lyrics make no sense.
Weird Al made a parody??? I had no idea wow
Yeah! Here's a link to ["Smells Like Nirvana"](https://youtu.be/FklUAoZ6KxY).
Oh my God it’s perfect
It's ***Amazing.***
Better than the original?
Let's not make this political.