Pennyroyal Tea
| Pennyroyal Tea | |
|---|---|
| Nirvana | |
| publication | April 8, 1994 |
| length | 3:36 |
| Genre (s) | Grunge |
| Author (s) | Kurt Cobain |
| Producer (s) | Steve Albini |
| album | In Utero |
Pennyroyal Tea is a song by the American rock band Nirvana . It is the ninth track of the third and final studio album In Utero , which was released in 1993 by Geffen Records - sub-label DGC . The song was to be released as the third single on April 8, 1994, but after the unexpected suicide of lead singer Kurt Cobain on April 5, 1994, this project was discarded.
history
According to Michael Azerrad in his 1993 biography Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana , Cobain wrote the song in 1990 in his apartment in Olympia, Washington , which he shared with drummer Dave Grohl .
“Dave and I were screwing around on a 4-track, and I wrote that song in about thirty seconds. And I sat down for like half-an-hour and wrote the lyrics and then we recorded it. "
“Dave and I were working on a 4-track recorder and I wrote the song in about 30 seconds. I sat down for half an hour, wrote the lyrics and then we recorded it. "
Nirvana played the song live many times in 1991 and 1992, but it wasn't until 1993 that producer Steve Albini recorded it in the studio for the album In Utero .
A remix from producer Scott Litt appeared on the censored album version by Wal-Mart and Kmart . This remix can also be heard on the best-of compilation Nirvana from 2002 and the single.
meaning
The culinary herb Polei mint , also known as "pennyroyal" in English , is occasionally used as an abortive . In Cobain's Journals , which were published posthumously in 2002, there is an entry explaining the songs on the album. The explanation for Pennyroyal Tea is simply: “ Herbal abortive… it doesn't work, you hippie. ”
In an October 1993 interview, Cobain gives a more complete look at the song, which is about a person suffering from severe depression :
“When I ask Cobain if 'Penny Royal Tea' is about indigestion, he half-laughs. 'Penny royal tea is a herbal abortive,' he says. 'I threw that in because I have so many friends who have tried to use that, and it never worked. The song is about a person who's beyond depressed; they're in their death bed, pretty much. ' Cobain's own bout with serious stomach pain was well documented last year. 'Yeah, it did rub off on the song,' he admits. And I couldn't help noticing the 'Canadian' reference to a Leonard Cohen afterworld. 'That was my therapy, when I was depressed and sick. I'd read things like Malloy Dies [sic] by Beckett , or listen to Leonard Cohen, which would actually make it worse, 'he laughs. "
“When I asked Cobain if Pennyroyal Tea was about indigestion, he laughed. "Pennyroyal Tea is a herbal abortion drug," he said. “I threw it in because I have so many friends who have tried it and it never worked. The song is about a person who is extremely depressed; they're in their deathbed, pretty much. ”Cobain's own bouts of severe stomach pain were well documented last year. "Yeah, it rubbed off on the song," he admitted. And I couldn't help but mention the 'Canadian' reference to Leonard Cohen's afterlife. “That was my therapy when I was depressed and sick. I read things like Malone dies by Beckett or heard Leonard Cohen which actually only made it worse. "He laughed."
The Canadian singer and writer Leonard Cohen , whose name is mentioned in the song, made the following comments to the English daily The Guardian in September 1994 :
“I'm sorry I couldn't have spoken to the young man. I see a lot of people at the Zen Center, who have gone through drugs and found a way out that is not just Sunday school. There are always alternatives, and I might have been able to lay something on him. "
“I am sorry I was unable to speak to this young man. I see a lot of young people in the zen center who have taken drugs and figured out a way out that isn't just children's worship. There are always alternatives and I might have helped him. "
publication
The single was taken off the market before it was released. By the time of Cobain's death, only a few singles made in Germany on compact discs had been sold. All available Pennyroyal Tea records were confiscated and destroyed by the record company. The obvious reason for the rigid approach was the song on the single entitled I Hate Myself and Want to Die .
The record company did not make any direct profit from the death of Kurt Cobain. However, it is likely that some dealers, contrary to the record label's instructions, sold the single anyway. The withdrawn sound carriers were destroyed in the presence of employees of the record company, but sales staff probably succeeded in stealing some copies. Less than 100 promotional singles on CD produced by Nimbus in Great Britain have also "survived".
Artwork created in the United States and shipped to Great Britain was found for both a single record and a compact cassette . The writer Gillian G. Gaar claims in her book In Utero that Cobain made no contribution to the artwork of the single. Based on the song title, the record cover shows a cup of black tea with a tea infuser on a table, next to it an ashtray with leftover cigarettes, a sugar shaker and a teaspoon and some crackers lying around . The responsible graphic designer Robert Fischer commented:
“We got it done and I don't know that Kurt was around to approve it or not. I think it might just have been shot to management to approve or something. "
“We got it ready and I don't know if Kurt was there to take it off or not. I think it was just sent to management for approval or something. "
In January 1994, Kurt Cobain was critical of the recording quality in an interview with the music magazine Rolling Stone :
“A couple of songs might have been polished a little more, especially“ Pennyroyal Tea ”. That just hadn't been received adequately, something was wrong. It should have been recorded like Nevermind because it was a strong song that could become a hit single. In any case, we're playing with the idea of re-recording it or at least mixing it up. "
Music video
The Dutch film director Anton Corbijn was offered the shooting of the music video for Pennyroyal Tea . Corbijn rejected out of the feeling, no better video than that of Heart-Shaped Box to rotate, which is the first single from In Utero was and for which he received the award for " Best Alternative Video " at the MTV Video Music Award won . As a result, video producer Jeffery Plansker was hired to shoot. With Cobain's death, this assignment ceased. A music video was never released.
It would have been the second music video on the album In Utero , as the US-American music broadcaster MTV had informed the band Nirvana in advance that it would not broadcast a video of Rape Me due to the offensive title . Rape Me was the second release and appeared on a double A record along with the track All Apologies . In protest, Nirvana refused to shoot a music video for All Apologies , so the live recording of the MTV unplugged session was used instead.
Song list
All songs were written and composed by Kurt Cobain, unless otherwise noted.
German CD single (GED 21907)
- Pennyroyal Tea (Litt remix)
- I Hate Myself and Want to Die
- Where Did You Sleep Last Night (live) (Traditional)
British promotional CD single (NIRPRO)
- Pennyroyal Tea (remix)
occupation
Nirvana
- Kurt Cobain - vocals, guitar, backing vocals
- Krist Novoselic - electric bass
- Dave Grohl - drums
Recording manager
- Steve Albini - music producer , sound engineer
- Adam Kasper - sound engineer
- Scott Litt - Mixing
- Bob Ludwig - audio mastering
layout
- Robert Fisher - Art Director , Design
- Greg Stata - Art Director, Design
- John Skalicky - photographer
Cover versions
The following artists created cover versions of Pennyroyal Tea :
- American rock band Hole (with Cobain's wife Courtney Love )
- American rock musician Kristin Hersh
- American rock musician Jared Leto
- American alternative rock band The Flaming Lips
- Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers
- Korean rock band Jaurim
literature
- Michael Azerrad: Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana . Publishing group Koch / Hannibal, Höfen 1994, ISBN 978-3-85445-099-3 , p. 381 .
- Gillian G. Gaar: Nirvana's in Utero (33 1/3) . Bloomsbury Academic, 2006, ISBN 978-0-8264-1776-3 , pp. 112 .
- Kurt Cobain: Journals . Riverhead Trade, 2002, ISBN 978-1-57322-359-1 , pp. 304 .
Web links
- Pennyroyal 3 . In: crimson-ceremony.net
- Lyrics . In: metrolyrics.com
- Discography ( Memento from May 5, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) on sliver.it
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Anders Leirvik: Pennyroyal Tea single. In: crimson-ceremony.net. Retrieved October 5, 2013 .
- ↑ a b Michael Azerrad: Come As You Are . Verlagsgruppe Koch GmbH / Hannibal, Höfen 1994, ISBN 3-85445-099-0 .
- ^ Kurt Cobain: Journals . Riverhead Trade, 2003, ISBN 978-1-57322-359-1 , pp. 304 .
- ↑ Jennie Punter: In Womb. In: nirvanaclub.com. October 1993, accessed October 5, 2013 .
- ↑ Tim de Lisle: Who held a gun to Leonard Cohen's head? In: The Guardian . September 17, 2004, accessed October 6, 2013 .
- ^ Anders Leirvik: Penny Royal Tea promo. In: crimson-ceremony.net. Retrieved October 5, 2013 .
- ↑ Gillian G. Gaar: Nirvana's in Utero (33 1/3) . Bloomsbury Academic, 2006, ISBN 978-0-8264-1776-3 , pp. 112 .
- ↑ David Fricke: Oh well, fuck 'em . In: Rolling Stone . No. 10 , 2013, ISSN 1612-9563 , p. 43 (interview with Kurt Cobain).
- ↑ Anders Leirvik: video proposal. In: crimson-ceremony.net. Retrieved October 5, 2013 .