Album: Nevermind (1991)

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Comments: 65

• Levi from EarthBaby could also mean romantic partners like how romantic partners say "hey baby". so they're lucky to meet but it could also mean legit babies.
• Thconnor from BostonIt’s about two sick kids with cancer in the hospital he talks about it in an interview and how he was fascinated with medical stuff like that and anatomy.
• Ian Howler from Dummerston, VermontOh my freaking god people... it's obvious that drain you is about raising a child! I mean come on! Everything from the song's lyrics to the picture on the actual album it was released on (a naked baby in the water) says it all.
• Noah from ReichIt's actually about how love can "Drain you".
• Zero from The Abyss, NjTo the guy who was asking about the tuning of the song (a long @$$ time ago, I'm not even sure if he will read this but I'm putting it out there), on the Nevermind studio version of the song, it's at least a half-step down, as when I tried to learn it, I couldn't go low enough. I think it's in D standard on the recording. Live versions could be anywhere from standard to a whole step down for any song, depending on the gig, as when Nirvana played live, they tuned to concert pitch.
• Zero from The Abyss, NjDamn! Kurt had a side project called The Retards?! I was thinking of starting a punk rock band and calling us The Retards! Oh well, back to the drawing board...
• Frany from Seattle, WaThis is a love song for Tobi Vail.
  They were very close friends who became lovers and dated. The two had collaborated during her tenure in The Go Team on another side project called The Bathtub is Real.
  Tobi was a Riot Grrl, singer and activist. The song is about how at times he felt like he was being too dependent because she was so independent but if he felt she was aloof or cold it was just him feeling insecure and that he knew he could count on her to defend him, protect him, feed him, and so on. He would do the same for her too. They had a pact meaning it didn't have to be explained but that it was understood how much they loved eachother.
  
  When they broke up, they still remained close friends and supported eachother's musical talents & goals.
  
  Kurt met Courtney Love later on. She reportedly hated Tobi and would say very neagtive things about her to their mutual friends. Lots of inaccurate information was being spread and then one day a fax was sent to a radio station saying that it was Kurt Cobain and that he hated his stalker Toi Vail. The DJ mentioned that he thought it was a joke because of the sloppy writing and strange language. Something like "ew! Sh is so ugly but I can't get her fat ass to stop stalking me." Word spread to Tobi and she announced to her audience becfore a concert that Courtney fakes it but she's beyond good at faking Kurt. Then she said that Courtney was just mad because she had "fu*ked her boyfriend." This caused another huge fight between Kurt and Courtney. She didn't want him to call her about the note or talk to her anymore. He was initially angry that Tobi exploited this information to her fans but later heard about the fake fake Courtney had sent the radio station.
  
  No one really knows what happened after that but it's well known that this song was Kurt's favorite. He didn't like performing it in front of Courtney anymore in effort to avoid another tantrum.
  
  After his death and over the years, many false rumors circulated about the relationship between Vail and Cobain. There is a high probability the information originated from Courtney Love's personal Nirvana biographer & rock journalist Charles Cross. Stories relied, in part, on second-hand information by Courtney Love, rumors, and other misinformation were often times reported or stated as fact.
  
  Vail's friend Jenny Toomey relates, "Tobi refuses to speak publicly and participate in the exploitation of the Cobain myth by hack journalists trying to make a career, record companies trying to sell records, and feeble attempts made by ex-"friends" to mark their place in history.
  
  Despite the urban legends, and misinformation that Love and Cross state as "facts" Nirvana fans and close friends of Kurt go elsewhere to find the truth. People who saw Kurt with Tobi and then later with Courtney have stated that Kurt asked their lawyer Rosemary about changing his will, and about parental rights if they were to divorce. Courtney reportedly was cheating on him and they were always fighting about performances. The intervention she staged was more about Lalapalooza than drug abuse. He was passing on millions to perform which made her furious. She blamed this on drug abuse which it was not. Courtney was an addict who pinned him as her burden which Kurt was annoyed with.
  
  He told her he wanted to work on projects with other people and leave Nirvana. Reportedly she knew he was thinking about moving away with Frances
  and divorcing her. Some people think this is why she wanted him to go to rehab so badly. This way she would get custiday because he would be the "unfit junkie" between the two.
  
  Months before his death, Nirvana performed Drain You live on French television. His emotion is so raw. His guitar stops working and he just drops it and screams at after the hook. He told a very close friend later on that he wished he felt as must trust for Courtney as he did at the times when felt insecure with Tobi. It seemed as though he really missed their friendship & was beginning to feel used by his wife.
  
  This is one of the greatest songs they have ever made in my opinion. Not only as an art form but symbolically I see it as a very sweet and messy homage to a friendship that turned into passion. She never came & offered him something toxic like a "poison apple". She had good intentions. They didn't like to admit it as much but they loved eachother and drained eachother. My favorite is- "I like you". Just very sweet and under exaggerated because it's draining.
  
  Tobi still to this day has never spoken about her personal experiences with Kurt or sold anything personal of his that she was given. Unfortunately many other people have so I really respect her for being respectful. I would have loved to see what they were like as a couple.
  
• Kristian from Vancouver, BcThis is my favorite song with Nirvana and the one Kurt liked to play live the most.
  One guy here said this song was about heroin - hahaha wrong.
  It is easy to understand this lyrics.
  This song is about being in love and being happy - liking someone and the trip you get from it.
• Silvera from Poplar Bluff, MoNirvana - Drain You Lyrics INTERPRETED
  1.) Drain You has multi-layered meanings for the same lyrics.
  2.) Drain You is a statement that no matter how hard we try to be more highly-evolved creatures, we are just a bunch of selfish, symbiotic animals.
  3.) It draws comparisons between the selfishness of infancy, and the selfishness we display later in life while playing the field.
  
  One baby to another says I'm lucky to have met you
  I don't care what you think Unless it is about me
  It is now my duty to completely drain you
  I travel through a tube And end up in your infection
  
  (Only one baby makes it out of the womb alive. Though a baby can't very well help it, a baby is selfish enough to drain it's twin of all nutrients and kill it. Then the surviving baby travels through the birth canal to end up in this infection we call earth.)
  
  Chew your meat for you Pass it back and forth
  In a passionate kiss From my mouth to yours
  I like you
  
  (The baby is then completely dependent on adults to care for it, i.e. chew it's meat. When we hear the chorus this 1st time, passionate kiss is not meant to be sexual, but remind us once again of our animalistic nature, like how a bird feeds it's young. The baby likes you only because you keep it alive. Same way a dog only likes you because you give it kibble and scratch it's belly.)
  
  With eyes so dialated I've become your pupil
  You've taught me everything About a poison apple
  The water is so yellow I'm a healthy student
  Indebted and so grateful Vacuum out the fluids
  
  (This verse is about adults being selfish. The drugs make you feel good. The sex makes you feel good. Fetishes and perversion feels good. Then when the woman says "Oops! I'm pregnant!" The man is grateful to her for vacuuming out the fluids, i.e. abortion. Once again killing an infant for no other reason than they don't want the responsibility. {Before you start typing every insult in the book just let me tell you I am pro-choice. But this makes me wonder if Kurt was...)
  
  Chew your meat for you Pass it back and forth
  In a passionate kiss From my mouth to yours
  I like you
  
  (Now when we hear this chorus for the second time, it is meant sexually. Chew your meat for you refers to the obsession and codependency that can happen in an unhealthy relationship.)
  
  Guitar solo - Even the bridge (NOT guitar, but a rubber duckie {a child's bath time}, a can of hair spray {preparing for the mating ritual} and chains {our inabilty to change}) reminds us once again that we are animals. From birth to the grave, we never change.
  
  YEAHHHH!
  One baby to another says
  I'm lucky to have met you
  I don't care what you think
  Unless it is about me
  It is now my duty to completely drain you
  I travel through a tube
  And end up in your infection
  
  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
  I like you
  
  The final verse and chorus is simply the cycle of so-called "humanity" repeating itself. You're my vitamins is just another reference to how we selfishly use eachother.
• Interpreter from Charleston, ScLast post, I promise :D... but since it's known this song was about T. Vail, it sounds like the first verse would've been about how he was happy when they were together, then his depression through drugs (the heroin and syringe metaphors make sense with the yellow, vacuumed-out fluid), and perhaps the last verse is referring to both, and maybe he actually said, "infection" the 2nd time around...
• Interpreter from Charleston, Sc*** SHIFT+CTRL+S *** also allows you to clearly hear "AFFECTION" (26-27 secs) instead of, infection. Slowed, you hear it enunciated as, "O-" or "UH-"fection. However, at (3:06), it does sounds like INfection, but it seems to make more sense as a sex metaphor: his sperm travels through a "tube" (urethra) to "end up in your 'affection' (vagina/uterus/etc.)"
• Interpreter from Charleston, Sc*** OPEN THIS IN WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER, AND PRESS SHIFT+CTRL+S to slow it down *** "Chew your meat"??? Always a favorite song, but I coulda swore this song said, "She was meant for you".
  
  When slowed, you hear there's an extra syllable in the "meat" line. This makes a lot more sense when looking at that line as a sex metaphor: "She (his daughter Frances, as a sperm) was MEANT for you (T. Vail, instead of C. Love), PASSING back and forth (penis going in and out a vagina), in a passionate kiss (sex itself), from my mouth to yours (the opening of the penis and vagina are both known as the mouths)!
• Steven from Winnipeg, Mbgreat song no matter the
  meaning i still admire
  nirvana...although i wish they were
  around the music is a real
  help especially if one is bi-polar
• Laura from Weymouth, MaStephen King's 'Dark Half' came out a couple years before this song. It was about a man who had absorbed his twin brother in utero, which gave him a split personality. Wonder if Kurt was a Stephen King fan.
• Aaron from Seattle, WaThe only problem with the meaning of this song is that only Kurt knows what it really refers to.
• Fucu from Buttfalls, AntarticaThis song is about how Kurt would spew out mindless random jumble just to mind f--k you. And it worked.
• John from Baguio, Philippinesthis song is about the twins, "it is now my duty to completely drain you" draining the nutrients from the other baby in order to survive.. "i travel through a tube and end up in your infection" simply the babies travel through the FALLOPIAN TUBE, and the other baby did not survive cause of infections.
• Joe from Ludlow, United KingdomThis song is very under rated and in my opinion one of if not nirvanas best
• Mirann-e from The Borough, OnThis song is mainly about Kurts fascination with the more disgusting aspects of the human body, and sex. It also has some references to Tobi Vail thrown in. All the heroin metaphor claims are retarded. This song is not about heroin, at all. It's about what it sounds like it's about.
• Ben from New York, NyThis song is about ridding one's self of a selfish, egotistical mind state. Draining your impurities and having the courage to be submissive.
• Adrian from New Castle, CoThis song is actually about a story of these twins that Kurt read in a newspaper. One of the twins took all the food and nutrition from the other one, and when they were born, one of them was already dead. He was fascinated with the story, and decided to write a song about it.
• Jack from Jerilderie, AustraliaI think it's about a teenage mother "one baby says to another" means one is actually a baby and the mother is very young, maybe too young.
  the next lines talk about how the child is now completely dependant on the mother and changes her life dramatically
  "I don't care what you think unless it is about me. It is now my duty to completely drain you."
  the next line i think the word is not 'infection' but actually 'affection'.
  "I travel through a tube and end up in your affection" - the tube being a metaphor for the female reproductive organs.
  "chew you meat for you" - she has to do everything for her child.
  not sure about the next few lines in the chorus.
  "With eyes so dilated, I've become your pupil. You've taught me everything about a poison apple." -babies look like they have big eyes, the mother has to teach her about life, danger, etc. the poison apple being a metaphor for dangers in general.
  
  So, yeah, i love Nirvana and i wish i could have seen them live, it would have been awesome.
• Joseph from Oklahoma City, Oki think this song is about doing drugs!
• Shannon from Bakersfield, CaHillary is right.This song is about Tobi Vial.
  He also wrote "Loange Act" about her to.
• James from Ffrfr, Bermudathis song is about a girl getting her period and using a tampon. really look at the lyrics.
• Eric from Maastrichtthis song is said to be about water sports (sexually) :-)
• Ix from Seattle, United StatesI have always thought the title is about draining a woman of her love. Giving a woman an orgasm until she is drained.
• Sanitarium from Sharon, KsEd, It's "You taught me everything ABOUT a poison apple".
• Edward Holmes from Portland, MeSome intresting interpretations, but this song is about Cobains first kiss. Once you know this the lyrics make sense.
  
  "In a passionate kiss
  from my mouth to yours.
  Sloppy lips to lips."
  
  "You've taught me everything without a poison
  apple."
  
  remember the fairy tale snow white where the girl eats a poisoned apple and is awakened by a kiss.
  this has always been my favorite nirvana song i like how he looks at kissing from an outsider viewpoint
  
  "Chew your meat for you.
  Pass it back and forth."
  
  "It is now my duty to completely drain you.
  I travel through a tube and end up in your infection."
• Vikki from Staten Island, Nykurt said he wrote this song for Tobi Vail, a girl who he was seeing. But if you listen to it, this song has many connotations to Kurt's excessive use of herione
• Jake from Bettendorf, Iasongs about drugs man...throw a tube and end up in my infenction..the infection is his stomich illness...i dont care what you think unless it is about me..is just showing how herion can take over your life
• Echo from Normalville, MaGreat power chords. And the squeaks in there is the squeaky mouse toy along with many others Kurt brought to the session. Just an FYI
• Madalyn from Greensburg, Pathis song is sooo catchy one of there best in my opinion...love to listen to my guy friend jake play this
• Meg from Jesse, NdOh, and by the way, it was 'About a girl' that Cobain wrote about Tracy Marander
• Meg from Jesse, NdActually, 'Drain you' was written by Cobain about his ex-girlfriend and Bikini kill drummer Tobi Vail. When Cobain got involved with Courtney Love he refused to play it whilst she was in the room.
• Ed from Chodania, Flim pretty sure this song is played at half a step down, because on the live and loud show, that whole show was half a step down, and on the muddy banks version it sounds way different.
• Mark from Djbouti City, CaAs much as I enjoy this open, relatively non-judgmental forum, please stop romanticizing heroin. The man was an addict. Brilliant, obviously, but a sad addict. And it robbed us of our generation's John Lennon. Three albums. That's all he was able to leave us with. And a daughter with lifelong questions no one should have to struggle with.
• Mark from Djbouti City, CaI always believed the song was about twins within a womb. Often it is the case that one twin dies and the survivor absorbs it. As we know from Kurt's artwork, he had a bit of an obsession with fetises. Listen to it with this in mind. I've never been a fan of lyric-reading / interpretation. Often I find I am dissapointed when I read that the actual lyrics are not what I'd thought them to be. Art is art, it's all in how we, the individual, find it and therefore, our interpretations are never wrong. Despite this belief, or possibly due to it, reading these comments are very inspiring.
• Chris from Dracut, Mathis song rules great melody
• Handalf from Mymum, OtherOne of my favourite songs ever.
  The meaning of this song as Liz from insomnia town stated it can be anyones interpretation.
  I think its about cheese, listn to it and think of cheese, it all makes sence.
• Kim from Seattle, Wathis song has a great melody and like all nirvana songs the lyrics complement the already wonder full melody. i love the drum roll thet leads into the second verse then it explodes i LOVE this song
• Mark from Latham, NyI totally agree with you guys who say this song is about selfish relationships.
• Dan from Sydney, Australiai agree with Joe, Hartsdale, NY
• Liz from The Town That Never Sleeps, NvI think this song has alot to do with both his drug addiction and Tobi Vail. I mean c'mon everyone its Nirvana... they always had at least 2 meanings to everything they did. Plus i think most of Nirvanas stuff was made for us to come to our own individual meanings on it. Everyone has a diffrent perspective. We all see things diffrently. If we like it the wat we see it whos to tell us any diffrent???
  -Liz
• Grunge=dead from Nowhereville, CaIf you listen to the lyrics you can obviously infer that this song is about Courtney Love. I love when the song breaks down and gets a little instrumental, then Kurt just stats riffing, you can almost just imagine Nirvana in concert,, and kurt playing, guitar. SIC, I miss kurt
• Mike from Ottawa, OhK if you listen to DRain you without knowing exactly wat the lyrcis you can get a completely differnt meaning about the song
  
  Mainly the first couple verses,
  
  This is wat i hear,
  
  One baby to another says to another
  Im happy to have met you
  I dont care wat you think
  Unless, it is about me
  
  It is now that dirty tube, complety drains you
  I travel threw a tube and pin at your infection
  
  She was made for you
  pass it back and forth
  an infected kiss
  from my mouth to yours
  Iiiiii Like YOu
  
  
  Sounds alot like hes talking about Heroin
  
  But this is b4 i actually knew wat the lyrics were,Kinda strange , Kurts goods like that
  he may have added this supplimenal text in to show how he felt about Tobi , But i may just be crazy ...
• Tim from Philadelphia, PaWell said, Joe. This song has so many cool lyrics, like "WITH EYES SO DILATED I'VE BECOME YOUR PUPIL," with the whole double meaning of pupil as a student and as part of the eye. Phenomenal.
• Joe from Hartsdale, NyThis song is about a love that is selfish. It 's more about dependency than what would be classically defined as love. Its about the addictive nature of a tainted love. That love is never equal, at one point you are submissive, the pupil, and being taken advantage by the other for their selfish needs and the next moment you pass it off and take the dominant role and completely drain the other. It demolishes the idea of an ever-equal love and says its more of a give and take b/w states of being drained and draining. It's absolutely beautiful in its simplicity.
• Ella from Barrow, Englandit's not about Courtney, it's about Tobi. All the Nevermind songs are. It's in the 'Heavier thean heaven' biography.
• Ella from Barrow, Englandits not about Courtney Love. it's about Tobi Vail. all the songs on Nevermind are. It's in 'Heavier Than Heaven' biography.
• Tanya from Rotterdam, NetherlandsThe song is about the selfishness of lovers ("I don't care what you think, unless it is about me"). There's a very strong sexual association, but also releasing the other person from bitterness, through the image of sucking away 'the infection'. Like sucking away the poison after the bite of a snake. Again and again I'm so very impressed how Cobain puts so many messages and images in his songs, in such apparently simple words. "Simply a song about love" doesn't give this song the credits it deserves. By the way: Kurt was tricked by producer Butch Vig into playing the same guitarsessions over and over again, because the 'weren't completely right'. In reality he used them all to reach a 'bigger' sound. He also wanted to use voicedubbles, but it was hard to convince Kurt of that. So each time he wanted a voicedubble, he used to mention that John Lennon did it all the time. Kurt admired Lennon, and would soon agree after any Lennon-argument. Personally I think those were right decisions, but Kurt eventually wasn't too happy about it. He didn't like very produced records. 'In Utero', produced much plainer, was a direct reaction to that.
• Bob from Springfield, Ksto methis song is about schools and teachers draining kids of spirit and enthusiasm.
• Mario from Riverside, CaThe song is clearly about love and I can't think of a better interpretation of it. I only wish he did his version of a video of it. That song particulary sticks in my mind because it says so much about many truths.
• Robbie from London, CanadaIt is as good as smells like teen spirit, if not, better. That song has never been amazing yet some people dont take time to listen to any other songs and totally miss out on Nirvana's amazing material.
• Matt from Millbrae, CaAddition to my last comment: the line "it is now my duty to completely drain you" is supposed to be from Tobi's point of view, expressing the power that Kurt believes she had over him.
• Matt from Millbrae, CaThis song is about Tobi Vail and a conversation they had when she told him "I'm luckt to have met you". Kurt said this was just as good as Smells Like Teen Spirit, and I couldn't agree more. It's basically the same theme, just a little more Pop-y and more about love.
• Lauryn from Kitchener, Canada"You've taught me everything
  Without a poison apple
  The water is so yellow, I'm a healthy student
  Indebted and so grateful"
  
  The songs talking about how Tracy taught him to mentally to be more nice to people, Indebted and so grateful is talking about how he wouldn't get a job and he was happy about it.
• Sam from Racine, WiI think that this song is about the relationship between a baby and the mother- stop me if im wrong
  love the song-peace Sam
• Rob from Castaic, CaBest song off of Nevermind... or at least tied with Come As You Are. Still, its pretty awesome how that this love song turns creepy during that bridge... sends chills down my spine
• Chad from Orlando, FlI think this was written before he got with Courtney, as it's on Nevermind. Kurt said he wished this was the big hit instead of Smells Like Teen Spirit because he could play it every night without being tired of it.
• Hillary from Seattle, WaHEY! Its not about Tracy Marander or Courtney Love. Its about Tobi Vail, shes in the band Bikini Kill. "One baby to another says I'm lucky to have met you", thats what Tobi said to Kurt when they broke up.
• Katt from ...This is one of my favourite nirvana songs and is one of the best on nevermind along with lounge act.
• Frank from Fv, CaHe wrote it about his deteriarting relationship with Tracy Marander. It's in the book 'Kurt Cobain: Voice of a generation' my friend got me for XMas
  
  -Frank
• Dylan from Abby, CanadaGood song, probly the best song on Nevermind, or so i'd say at least... i think this song is about his pet dog he had, that he some odd infatuation with. and those "chimp-like" noises during the drum interlude were the squeaks of his pet dog's squeak toy.
• Kari Ann from Atlanta, GaKurt wrote the song about Courtney Love. It was one of his favorite songs that Nirvana did.

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