Nirvana

Comments

8 years ago

Vasia T.

This song is about the actual kidnapping of a 14-year-old girl. In 1987, she was returning from a concert in Tacoma, Washington when she was abducted by a man named Gerald Friend. He took her back to his mobile home and raped her. The girl, whose name was not released, was tortured with a whip, a razor, and a blowtorch. She managed to escape when Friend took her for a ride and stopped for gas. He was arrested and sent to jail.The version of this song that ended up on ''Nevermind'' was recorded in Madison, Wisconsin at the studio owned by their producer, Butch Vig. These sessions took place in April, 1990, and while pieces of these recordings made it on to the album, the recording of "Polly" was the only one that made it on in its entirety (most of what ended up on the album was recorded with Vig at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California in April, 1991).The drummer on this song is not Dave Grohl, but Chad Channing, who was with the band from 1988-1990. When ''Songfacts.com'' spoke with Chad in 2013, he explained: "I never even realized that 'Polly,' that version, was from the Madison sessions that made it on ''Nevermind''. I mean, it was, I don't know, almost ten years down the road before someone mentioned that to me. I was like, 'Really?' And I listened to it, I said, 'Okay, that makes sense.'They put me in this smaller room that normally has guitars and stuff like that. I sat there with my ride cymbal, and there were these certain parts where I was just going to hit it. And I thought, 'Well, I'll just accent these things.' Because they talked about having something really sparse in it. And I'm like, 'Well, how sparse? I mean, are we just talking maybe a cymbal hit here or there?' And the consensus was, 'Yeah, something like that. Really mellow.'I went in there and just rolled it. And they said, 'Just put an accent here on this certain part each time it comes around.' So I did. And it was like, 'Okay, that totally works.' So we left it that way."Nirvana had been playing this for a while before it was released on ''Nevermind''. They recorded it in 1989 in sessions for an Extended Play album called ''Blew'', and an early live performance appears on the album ''Muddy Banks''. Bruce Pavitt, who co-owned Sub Pop Records (Nirvana's label at the time), said of the band's concert performances of this song: "It's completely raging and hypnotic. You would go into a trance. It's one of the things that made their live shows so incredible. But that took a while. That took about a year, from like early '88 to early '89, took about a year for them to really step into that. They were really stepping into their power at that time."After hearing this song Bob Dylan was prompted to remark of Cobain, "That kid has heart."There's a point in the song where Cobain sings only "Polly says..." before pausing and starting over. This was a mistake in the studio that the band as well as the recording team liked, and left on the album. As evidenced in live performances, the mistake was "written in" to the song.Cobain wrote about an incident, which occurred after the song's original release on ''Nevermind'', in the liner notes to ''Incesticide'': "Last year, a girl was raped by two wastes of sperm and eggs while they sang the lyrics to our song 'Polly.' I have a hard time carrying on knowing there are plankton like that in our audience."This song is an example of Kurt Cobain writing from the perspective of another person - in this case a very unsavory one. While many of his songs seem very personal, he explained that he liked to write about other people and events, as he thought his life was "boring."Nirvana played some benefits to help rape victims, including the "Rock Against Rape" concert in 1993, which raised money for a women's self-defense organization.

8 years ago

Alejo Nahuel

Actually in almost all concerts kurt was drugged ... But I think in this recital is exaggerated, I also admire the ability to play in that state. I admire Kurt.

8 years ago

tadanott300

If I could be at any concert in the history of music, this would be it.

8 years ago

Alessandro Rossi

Nirvana - Polly (Live at Reading 1992)#Nirvana

8 years ago

Juan Fernandez

I'm still in the womb and I listen to nirvana. I just feel like music is so much worse now. Like Katy perry and Justin Bieber. By posting this comment I obviously consider my taste in music to be the best taste and I consider myself intellectually superior.

8 years ago

Greenhawkgaming

Man just to think Kurt Cobain would be in his 40's right now. There may have been no Foo Fighters but just to think if we still had Nirvana and Kurt Cobain in this world. His amazing brain of his that no one could understand how it worked. Very complex indeed was his mind. Such a tragedy to lose him at such a young age. =( We miss you Kurt <3

8 years ago

Daniela Chávez

8 years ago

Grunge Never Die lml

Mg si nirvana es genial :3

8 years ago

surgeyX

Kurt screwed up after the first chorus ;x little off beat there

9 years ago

lindsey dpt

I love him nobody's understood your songs but me I do, I love you babe

9 years ago

Joanna Ch

this makes me wanna cry

9 years ago

Günter Tauchner

Polly

9 years ago

Gorbism

Courtney, you know what you caused.

9 years ago

Michel Juchem

#Nirvana

9 years ago

Steven R.

poly is duel drug abuse

9 years ago

Ezra Gittins

love it

9 years ago

Lívia Malakian

Amoo essa live, simplesmente perfeita.

9 years ago

Ronnie febbrianto

Smart song

9 years ago

Jatoporn Tongnark

Nirvana - Polly (Live at Reading 1992)

9 years ago

Dillan Leach

My favorite part is right after the first verse when you hear how ragged his voice and the guitar are, and then the chorus just overwhelms you with this majestic, harmonic, repetitious grace. I have almost cried to this so many times this morning, listening on repeat.