With the Guardian elves/trolls snug in their beds/locals for the holidays, there’s no RR this week. So we’ll have a RRR (Reverse Readers Recommend) here. Instead of songs that fit (or, ahem, don’t) a topic, we want topics that fit Nirvana’s In Bloom. 
Here’s the original plus a cover for people who don’t like loud songs.
Who is it that sings along to songs he doesn’t understand? Or is it the gun he doesn’t understand? What’s weather/nature got to do with it? Selling the kids for food?
Extra Spill points for justis which cite other songs. There will NOT be a judges’ ruling at the end. Consensus rules, baby. Have fun.
A song about hating people who buy your records?
Well, the theme I would put this with is ‘Songs about omnipotent beings’, because to me this conjures images of a god or creator somewhere who is actually oblivious to our prayers and hymns. He just doesn’t understand ‘em, but He likes some of them, and hums along, earworm fashion. But we, of course, think He does understand, and we keep offering up our pointless supplications, unaware of the terrible truth. And every now and again He fires His gun – He sets off a tsunami or a hurricane or an earthquake, like lazily shooting tin cans atop a wall. He watches the ants on this obscure planet scurry, then moves along – He has thousands of planets to tend you know, can’t spend all day on this one.
Kinda makes sense, yeah? Or not…
Believe this is a song about Kurt’s best friend Dylan Carlson amongst other things. Dylan fronted drone band Earth & is an affable redneck. Think he frustrated Kurt by being oblivious to his intended political calls for change in his lyrics – he just liked the tunes.
Ironically & sadly, Dylan provided Kurt with the gun that he ended up killing himself with.
Themewise, amongst others, you could go with songs about best friends, songs about obliviousness, songs about the dark side of nature or, as Severin says, songs about frustration with your fans.
“Songs for Indie Snobs”
Here’s another one that fits the topic and one of my favourite lyrics of the year:
Chain and the Gang – “Musics Not For Everyone”
Hallo! Did someone mention Indie Snobs?
I do like Chain & The Gang (esp ‘Unpronouncable Name’) but I preferred them when they were Nation Of Ulysses…..;-)
yeah, they were cool, but real fans know that Cupid Car Club (post-NOU, only released one 7″ on Kill Rock Stars) were the real deal…..
TripleC, as they’re known to real fans, recorded that 7″ on my 4 track in my house. That’s why my name is etched in the run-out groove.
It says Blimpy?
Songs about blossom
Songs about characters in Irish fiction
“Sell the kids for food” is possibly a reference to Dylan’s drug issues. Reminds me of Radiohead’s “cut the kids in half” line – but that one’s about divorce.
Songs about Winsconsin
I think Severin might have nailed it? Pop star whinging ‘cos no one takes him seriously any more? Rick Nelson / Garden Party springs to mind but it’s not quite what I mean. More Van Morrison throwing a strop.
‘songs for the superficial’
“Sell the kids for food
Weather changes moods
Spring is here again
Reproductive glands”
(after a harsh winter and you ebayed the kids – oh well, the weather changes, the sun shines and you get all horny, you can make some more, easy life.. ace)
“He’s the one
Who likes all our pretty songs
And he likes to sing along
And he likes to shoot his gun
But he dont know what it means
Don’t what it means
(the vacuous bloke there… he doesn’t really understand me, but he likes to open his mouth and speculate about what I’m saying)
“We can have some more
Nature is a whore
Bruises on the fruit
Tender age in bloom”
(just as the new children are saleable again – they go and ruin it all by shooting up and fucking – making the business plan a shambles)
But he dont know what it means
Dont know what it means
Dont know what it means
Dont know what it means and I say yeah
(Oh, I don’t have a clue about what the song means – but I like to tell others exactly how I’ve interpreted it.)
the wolfgang press: swing like a baby
(it would be Fakes & Liars – but I can’t find it)
Superficial – good one.
PIL – FFF
Magazine – You Never Knew Me
Wolfgang Press – Sucker
Animals – Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
Yoyo Fujiya & Miyagi
Swallow That – Superchunk
I think could fit “Songs About Randy Greengrocers Who Fall On Hard Times”
“Spring is here again…bruises on the fruit…reproductive glands…nature is a whore…sell the kids for food.”
Ian Dury – Apples
And Daisy’s married Tom the Grocer boy
And now he owns a grocery
The Kinks “Village Green”
(cool idea Tinny!)
“Peaches come from a can
They were put there by a man”
“Peaches” Presidents Of The United States Of America
Neutered Fruit - St. Vincent
Fruit That Ate Itself - Modest Mouse
Fruitless Intensification- Mistabishi
Cherry Lips Archie Bronson Outfit
I read one suggestion that ”he dont know what it means” is self-referential. The real-life tie ins with the friend and the gun tends to point away from that (oops, unintentional that), but there is something to be said about holding songwriters to task for each and every word.
We don’t do that with poets. We understand that the words and lines add up to a whole, and it is the meaning and feeling of the whole that we are meant to take in. I read a quote not too long ago – I think it was from Leonard Cohen – that said even he didn’t understand every line of every song, and that he’d be disappointed if he or a listener did.
With Kurt Cobain, obviously there was a lot he was trying to get out. And like the anguished teen that screams ”you never listen to me” to his parents, its hard to put things exactly the way you mean when you are in the process of figuring it out yourself.
And Kurt was a young man at the time. People forget that, and expect mature, considered, finished works. So the song could be read as a dig at people who demand he be who they think he is, not realizing that his moods and ideas will flow – and sometimes rage – like the weather as he discovers himself.
Another possibility could be that he took a lot of drugs and needed some words that rhymed.
It might be illuminating to know which came first- tune or words.
Yeah, it would.
I was talking to a friend the other day – seriously, a real one. We spoke. Directly. In person. Amazing. – about an Americana-type storytelling album I’ve been listening to which uses true stories. So if the guy went to New York, you can’t say he went to Buffalo because it rhymes with ‘go.’ Usually these types on songwriters create representational characters to describe the blue collar world etc, and that must be way easier. No big deal if you need him to work in a lumber mill instead of a steel mill, and you can call the bar whatever you want.
Condescend much? Admittedly his lyrics are a little earnest at at times, but there’s a lot of thought, depth & passion in their best stuff. A little more than a junkie cobbling a rhyme together methinks.
& there is some dark humour scattered here & there. “I’m so ugly, but that’s ok, ’cause so are you.”
I never suggested I was a superior songwriter to Curt, which is what condescension implies, nor did I mention anything about drugs, nor was I addressing the body of his work.
Debate what I’ve said by all means, but putting words in my mouth – well, fingers – isn’t debate.
@Tin, yeah, I know, was replying to Pairubu.
ooopsies
Apologies
No problemo. Picking up on your point on the other thread about people suggesting songs they don’t like over on RR. Am not convinced this happens much (& on the rare occasions it does, the suggestion is usually prefaced by something like “I don’t really like it much, but…”; which rather gives the game away.
Songs with superflous definite articles.
Yeah, they are great, aren’t they
I guess if it’s frustration/annoyance that people don’t “get” what your songs (or you) are about then PIL’s first single “Public Image” would be another contender. Musically it was startling at the time but lyrically it did stray from righteous indignation to whinging.
Would it be fair to say UK music fans will tolerate pretty much anything from their pop stars …. except whinging?
Slightly disturbing songs with a floral theme?
Rubella Ballet – Arctic Roses
Siouxsie & The Banshees – Cannibal Roses
The Very THings – The Bushes Scream While My Daddy Prunes
Nice one!
Ooh, Flowers of Romance.
Night Lilies – Jackie Leven – “Come gather round assholes and chop me a line”
Songs about aural dyslexics.