I love this article from Ben Hewitt: ‘Why Courtney Love Was Kurt Cobain’s Lyrical Equal’. I don’t necessarily agree, but he does his research given that we’re in an era where the title Jennifer’s Body gets ripped off for Megan Fox movies.
I’ve always thought ‘Gutless’ has an explosive opening with the chant:
All my friends are embryonic
All my friends are dead and gone
All my friends are microscopic
All my friends wake up alone
Even in their later pop incarnation they came out with jittery openings, cheerfully proclaiming:
Oh make me over! I’m all I wanna be,
A walking study in demonology
Their churning bridges expertly propel lyrics using song arrangement, in e.g. ‘I Think That I Would Die’, ‘Northern Star’, and here in ‘Boys On The Radio’:
If I let you in under my skin, and risen every angel slain
He said he’d never, ever, ever go… Baby, I’ve gone away!In your endless summer night, I’ll be on the other side
When the water is too deep, I will ease your suffering
When the glitter fades in morning, turn away and you will find my empty eyes.
And there’s real degeneration and gendered desperation in ‘Plump’: “I don’t do dishes—I throw them in the crib.” What’s weird is that if you lay the lyrics to ‘Plump’ and Nirvana’s ‘Drain You’ side-by-side, they’re eerily concordant.
Drain You: “It is now my duty to completely drain you
I travel through a tube, and end up in your infection”
Plump: “Now I’ve stumbled here, failed to make it mine
They say I’m plump, but I throw up all the time”Drain You: “Chew your meat for you, pass it back and forth
In a passionate kiss, from my mouth to yours
Sloppy lips to lips, you’re my vitamins”
Plump: “I’m eating you: I’m overfed!
Your milk’s in my mouth
It makes me fill up!”
