but week after week of hearing the hopefuls warble in their best nirvana-esque ways has driven me to dust off the cd's and listen again. sure, it's been said before in many ways and by many people - but it really is astounding just how gifted poor tormented kurt cobain was. from his vocals, to his playing, to his songwriting.... i miss you kurt.
i was working as a receptionist at a recording studio the day that kurt's body was found. i remember sitting there at my little desk (so minimalistic - it was a retro school teacher table/desk with a mac computer on it and a little green glass lamp. kinda cool, kinda not) and one of the assistant engineers came in and told me the news. just shocked me. one of those moments where your adreneline kicks in and you feel like you're about to fly right out of your skin. too strange. too sad. too stupid.
pennyroyal tea from 'in utero' :
I'm on my time with everyone
I have very bad posture
Sit and drink Pennyroyal Tea
Distill the life that's inside of me
Sit and drink Pennyroyal Tea
I'm anemic royalty
Give me a Leonard Cohen afterworld
So I can sigh eternally
I'm so tired I can't sleep
I'm anemic royalty
I'm a liar and a thief
I'm anemic royalty
I'm on warm milk and laxatives
Cherry-flavored antacids
Sit and drink Pennyroyal Tea
Distill the life that's inside of me
Sit and drink Pennyroyal Tea
I'm anemic royalty
I have very bad posture
Sit and drink Pennyroyal Tea
Distill the life that's inside of me
Sit and drink Pennyroyal Tea
I'm anemic royalty
Give me a Leonard Cohen afterworld
So I can sigh eternally
I'm so tired I can't sleep
I'm anemic royalty
I'm a liar and a thief
I'm anemic royalty
I'm on warm milk and laxatives
Cherry-flavored antacids
Sit and drink Pennyroyal Tea
Distill the life that's inside of me
Sit and drink Pennyroyal Tea
I'm anemic royalty
[music | nirvana, "about a girl"]
3 comments:
i think it's brilliant in the fact that his lyrics capture the pain he put himself through... AND it mentions leonard cohen.... anything with a leonard cohen reference in it is brilliant to me! :)
imajica - you're probably one of the 'brightest' people i know! silly smarteepants... ;-)
being bright or not bright has nothing to do with getting it. the deal with nirvana and kurt is either that it moves you or it doesn't. and i don't ever remember you ever professing any sort of interest in the band or thier music. so of course it won't grab you the same way it grabs me.
you probably could list lyrics that mean something to you that i might read and just shrug my shoulders to...
i wrote a whole long comment explaining more of my reasons - but for some reason, the comment didn't take... so to try to sum up....
as we all know, kurt killed himself. he claimed on of the reasons for his suicide was because of the stomach condition that made his life hellish. he claimed to have been swilling milk and consuming antacids like they were going out of style to ease the pain in his gut.
to me - this lyric is like a window into a pre-suicidal thought pattern. i think it captures the pain his body and mind held him in. i think it is beautiful in that sense. i don't think his suicide was beautiful.
(my previous comment was much better!)
and besides - i didn't ever write that i thought the lyric was brilliant - you asked why it was brilliant. i mostly just think it captures what he wanted to portray as his pain and his thought process.
as you might remember - pennyroyal has many herbal uses - one of which is to calm an upset stomach. :)
hugs,
j
you've inspired me... i think i may post other lyrics i like and see if anyone else finds meaning in them.... :)
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