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“I've seen hundreds of Melvins practices,” Kurdt recalls. “I drove their van on tour. Everybody hated them, by the way. And me and Matt [the Melvins' old bassist] even used the same calling card; it's almost like we were married.”
-Backlash Magazine, Sept 1988
Laminated Effect
(Fecal Matter tape, 1986)
By Kurt Cobain
Johnny was a homo
Kept his body clean
Moved to San Francisco
Caught a big disease
Raped by his Daddy
Told he was at fault
Living life unhappy
Covered up his soul
We're living in a time of change
Too many things you feel afraid
Doing things against the will of God
Maybe someday soon they'll realize they're wrong
Lucy was a lesbian
No, no fun in the sack
Moved to Acapulco
Nothing goes in her hole
Then she met Johnny
They dated, went to formal
He and she got naughty
Found out that it's normal
We're living in a time of change
Too many things you feel afraid
Doing many things against the will of God
Maybe someday soon they'll realize they're wrong
Made not born
Made not born
Made not born
Made not born
Archivist's note: For another song featuring the lyrics, "kept his body clean", click here.
This song appears to be written from at least two different points of view: the narrator, who simply tells the story of Johnny and Lucy in the verses, and a moralising, judgemental voice that condemns the protagonists of the song in the chorus.
When teenage Kurt was homeless and living at a classmate's house (sleeping on their sofa as the father of the family recalls), he attended church with them, and was briefly enthusiastic about the experience until he realised they were preaching hate.
This song is likely repeating some of the things he heard at that church in the chorus. As for the verses, they seem to illustrate Kurt's confused understanding of bisexuality: he describes both characters, male and female, as homosexual, but then depicts them discovering an attraction to each other by the end of the story.
The first verse is interesting in that some of the themes in it are repeated in Even In His Youth, a song that reads as more autobiographical than Laminated Effect. In both songs we see a father and son pair with a highly dysfunctional relationship, and in this song the relationship is much more vividly abusive than in the other.
This is typical of Kurt's lyrics; in a number of cases he wrote demos with much more painful lyrics than the finished songs ended up being (Something In The Way and Sliver being two other examples which were toned down for the final recording). In each of these mentioned cases, the lyrics Kurt changed had to do with child abuse or neglect, both of which he experienced in his own family.
The topic of incest is also repeated very blatantly in the album title, Incesticide.
tags:
- date:1986,
- date:band era,
- decade:1980s,
- media:audio,
- media:lyrics & titles,
- person:kurt,
- topic:aids,
- topic:bisexuality,
- topic:child abuse,
- topic:dating & relationships,
- topic:emotions & self-expression,
- topic:family,
- topic:god & religion,
- topic:homophobia,
- topic:homosexuality,
- topic:incest,
- topic:morality,
- topic:rape,
- topic:sexuality,
- type:draft,
- type:factual
Spank Thru
Lyrics: Kurt Cobain
And as the soft pretentious mountains
Glisten in the light of the trees
All the flowers have gingivitis
And the birds die happily
We'll be together once again my love
Need you back, oh baby, baby
I can't explain just why
We lost it from the start
Living without you, girl
You only break my heart
I can feel it, I can hold it
I can bend it, shave it, mold it
He can cut it, he can taste it
Spank it, beat it, ejaculate it
I've been lookin' for Day Glo
Always hearing the same ol'
Sticky boredom with a book
I can make it do things you wouldn't think it ever could
I can feel it, I can hold it
I can bend it, shave it, mold it
He can cut it, he can taste it
Spank it, beat it, emasculate it
I've been lookin' for Day Glo
Always hearing the same ol'
Sticky boredom with a book
I can make it do things you wouldn't think it ever could
-22 Nov 1989 (live recording)
Archivist's note: An older working title (around 1987) for this song was "Breaking The Law", which gives us a strong hint as to what the song is about. Both gay sex and LSD were illegal in the USA at the time the song was written, and both were of interest to Kurt and Krist at this time. The song appears to be about both.
It should be noted that Kurt frequently changed the lyrics of this song to use different pronouns for the other person he sings about, sometimes "he", sometimes "she", and sometimes both.
tags:
- date:1987,
- date:1989,
- date:band era,
- decade:1980s,
- media:audio,
- media:lyrics & titles,
- pairing:krist/kurt,
- person:krist,
- person:kurt,
- topic:bisexuality,
- topic:blowjobs,
- topic:dating & relationships,
- topic:homosexuality,
- topic:humor,
- topic:love,
- topic:masturbation,
- topic:oral sex,
- topic:romance,
- topic:sexuality,
- type:factual
Blew (11 Jun 1988)
Lyrics: Kurt Cobain
We were in a garden wastin' time
And we were in our love and we like to blew
We were in a garden, like to use
And if you wouldn't mind I would like to spew
Seen it, believe it, need it, is it sane?
Is there another reason for a man?
Is there another, horny, next to me?
And if you wouldn't mind I would like to blew
And if you wouldn't mind if we overdo
Let me sit it down I would like to use
And if you wouldn't mind I would like to grew
Is there a reason you never seem insane?
Is there another madness? To make you mine
Is there another reason for your stain?
Is there a meaning for this? I'm insane
Is there another time for most to fade?
Is there another madness for this soul? / meaning for this song?
You could be anything x3
You could do anything x5
Archivist's notes: This recording was opened in Audacity and the vocal was isolated, making the words easier to understand and transcribe. "Spew" and "grew" were both quite easy to hear with the vocal isolated, and note the use of "overdo", which also appears in Aneurysm, revealing the sexual nature of both songs. "Overdo it and have a fit" = "Fool around too much and have an orgasm"
For two other songs that use the word "faded", click here and here. Kurt and Krist seem to have had their own special meaning for the term, which appears to be used as slang for orgasm.
[A heckler has been shrieking at the band to play a song about "fucking girls". They respond sarcastically, at first, mocking his misogyny and homophobia, but then switch tactics:]
Krist: I'd like to tell you about this next song. It's about homosexual love. Cause we're all queers. We're all butt-pirates here. We're butthole surfers.
Kurt: By the way, Chris is a girl. This song is About A Queer. [starts playing About A Girl]
-22 Nov 1989 during a gig
FUDGE PACKIN
CRACK SMOKIN
SATAN WORSHIPPIN
MOTHERFUCKERS
-Nirvana t-shirt designed by Kurt
( Click to view images )
"Chris and Shelli broke up. God am I relieved! [...] I'm very content with the relationship Chris, Chad and I have. We get along great and have a lot of dedicated fun."
-Kurt, Journals (hardcover ed. 2002) pg. 30-31 (late 1980s, exact date unknown)
