This is my all-time number 1 passion song, not a favourite song that ends up in a list of your top 10 anything songs, but a song that no matter when I hear it, it transports me to another place, another plane. Most recently and the main reason for this blog post is the use of the song in the trailer for the upcoming film, The Batman. To my knowledge, this is the second cinematic outing for this beautiful masterpiece of sonic heaven. The first being in the movie Jar Head. Hearing the bassy notes slowly plucked in 7.1 surround sound really made my emotional state quiver.
From the first strum to the soothing sound of Kurt Cobain‘s whispering vocal, this song brings both sadness and joy to my soul. the sadness and loneliness conveyed in the story the lyrics carve-out and the comfort of a man confiding in you like an old friend.
I recall watching a documentary many years ago, on the recording of Nevermind producer Butch Vig explained they had some trouble getting the song to sound as it did in Kurt’s head, when asked how it should sound Kirt sang it so quietly and delicately, they had to turn the mics right up, in fact, if you listen to the track with the volume high enough you can hear the words forming in Kirts’s mouth as he positions his tongue to form the sounds, that form the words and make the song. It’s little things like this, that really make the song extra special to me. I love a song that sounds one way through your stereo and gives you a new experience with your headphones/ear pods or whatever your preference. this is a song that you’ll forget about for months or years, but you’ll hear those opening chords and be right back to your teenage self, knowing it’s nirvana, stamped on your own personal timeline.
Being the last song on the album and also being like nothing else on the alum, it’s almost the adopted son of the family of tracks that make the Nevermind family. Often forgotten but loved equally (can I say that about a pseudo-family of songs). It does stand tall all on its own and stands ironically in the way of the secret track Endless Nameless (look it up) I often think that although Kirk wasn’t homeless as the song implies when he wrote it, he may have wished he was, indicating loneliness and venerability we’ve all shared at some point or other, feeling as chronic loneliness even amongst friends.
I couldn’t tell you when I first heard it, I guess it would have been the first full listen of Nevermind, or maybe it was unplugged in New York album I had constantly played in my car’s tape deck. I’m sure I would have dismissed the album version, as it wasn’t as hard-hitting as the rest of the album. bum time has proven me wrong here, and I’m glad of that.
get your headphones in have have a play of this song, tun it up a little higher and bathe in the sonic bliss.
