Samantha
by Hole

Album: Nobody's Daughter (2010)
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Songfacts®:

  • This visceral song has all the pathos you'd expect from Courtney Love, the frontwoman of Hole. In the song, Samantha wraps her legs around the world and burns people out. The song is semi-autobiographical; Love had recently gotten out of rehab when she wrote it.
  • The F-word shows up 23 times in this song, all in the choruses, where Courtney Love repeats the line, "People like you f--k people like me."
  • This was expected to be the first single from Hole's fourth album, Nobody's Daughter, and was performed by the band on a number of TV shows to promote the record. Eventually "Skinny Little Bitch" was chosen as the lead single.
  • This was co-written by Linda Perry, who produced and co-wrote much of Courtney Love's 2004 solo debut album, America's Sweetheart. The song was originally recorded at the end of the Perry sessions, its sound inspiring the direction of the album.
  • Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan assumed the role of guitar player on most of the songs on Nobody's Daughter and penned the main riff for "Samantha." However for the final recording of this track, Love replaced Corgan's guitar part with a cello. Love told Q magazine: "The cello that you hear is a really hot Chinese girl with an amazing rack and insanely good hair who is a heavy metal goddess on cello, Tina Guo."
  • Directed by Alphan Eseli, the music video takes place in a barren, bombed-out city where Courtney Love performs the song wearing a wedding dress.
  • The Nobody's Daughter album, released in 2010, was the first from Hole since Celebrity Skin in 1998. Courtney Love changed lineups between albums, with all-male backing on Nobody's Daughter.

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