Tacoma, Washington

Polly by Nirvana

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She caught me off my guard
It amazes me, the will of instinct Read full Lyrics
The story of Gerald Friend, which inspired Nirvana's "Polly," isn't a pleasant one. In fact, it's downright disturbing.

In June of 1987, a 14-year-old girl was walking home from a concert at the Tacoma Dome when a stranger pulled his car over and offered her a ride. The girl accepted. There was no way for her to know she was getting into a car with a monster, but she would quickly find out.

The stranger's name was Gerald Friend. He pulled a knife on the girl and took her to his mobile home. Once there, he tied her hands to a pulley attached to his ceiling. Over the course of the ensuing days, he raped and tortured her repeatedly.

The Tacoma Dome, a grim backdrop to the "Polly" story<br>photo: Jeff SuwakThe Tacoma Dome, a grim backdrop to the "Polly" story
photo: Jeff Suwak
Eventually the victim escaped. While Friend stopped at a gas station, she broke free from the vehicle and got help. The next day police pulled Friend over for a traffic violation. They recognized him and arrested him for the abduction.

Saddest of all in this story is that Gerald Friend shouldn't have been on the streets to begin with. The 14-year-old girl hadn't been his first victim.

The story of Gerald Friend and his debauchery had actually started 27 years before that Tacoma Dome attack, in July of 1960, in the town of Sumner a little ways outside of Tacoma. It was there that Gerald Friend kidnapped a 12-year-old girl while she was hitchhiking with her brother.

Friend assaulted the girl sexually, beat her, and cut her hair. The victim managed to escape and jumped into a river.

Friend hid in a field near his house - his father eventually discovered him. After a scuffle, Friend was injured and taken to a hospital, where he was arrested.

Gerald Friend was sentenced to 75 years in prison after his first attack, but he was paroled early in 1980, despite the violence of his first offense and despite two escapes. Seven years later, he took his second victim, the aforementioned 14-year-old kid just trying to get home after a show.

After Friend's second crime, he was sentenced to finish his original 75-year sentence, with another 75-year sentence on top of it. None of that helps his victims or changes the fact that Friend shouldn't have been on the loose to begin with when he took that second victim. The girl later sued the state for the early parole.

Kurt Cobain read about Gerald Friend and his second victim in a local newspaper. From that story, he wrote the song "Polly."

Cobain was no stranger to Tacoma, either. While he is primarily associated today with Aberdeen and Seattle, Cobain played quite a few gigs in Tacoma. It was in Tacoma, in fact, that his band first played under the name Nirvana. Previously, they'd called themselves Ted Ed Fred, Skid Row, and Fecal Matter. Their Nirvana debut was in a place called the World Community Theater, which lasted only about a year but hosted many big acts of the era.

"Polly" makes no bones about what it's meant to be. The song is catchy, but also creepy and morose. Knowing it narrates a true story only makes it more disturbing.

The song's horrific backstory seems somewhat odd, really, considering that Cobain was so outspoken about women's rights and about compassion. Years later, Cobain was deeply disturbed to hear that two men raped a girl while singing "Polly" to her.

What, exactly, inspired Cobain to write a song about someone who must have disgusted him is unclear, but the creative mind is a multifaceted thing. Besides, there's obviously something compelling enough to have kept people listening nearly 30 years later.

-Jeff Suwak
November 13, 2020
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Comments: 1

  • Stance from Los AngelesI don’t think he was writing about Friend, the song is titled Polly which is a fictional name for the girl who was raped and in the end of the song (as in reality) her will & instinct to survive overrides everything else and she escapes from him. From what I know of Cobain I definitely believe he wasn’t glorifying the actions of the killer. Plus the name Polly and the bird/pet tone of “Polly wants a cracker”— to me he’s showing this man was treating her like she wasn’t even a human being.
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