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| Hüsker Dü – Chartered Trips Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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As for the "boy going off to war" interpretation, I think it'd be more apt to say that it's about him briefly joining the military, but not necessarily going to war. Then again, there's nothing in the lyrics that explicitly suggest that the "chartered trip" is of a military nature. |
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| Hüsker Dü – Whatever Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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Greg Norton isn't gay, even though his mustache might have stereotypically signified otherwise. Bob and Grant both were, but they weren't lovers, that's just a very old and tired rumor, Captain Obvious. |
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| Hüsker Dü – Pink Turns to Blue Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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I obviously agree, it's a lamentation of a heroin addict whose girlfriend has overdosed and died. It also ties into the Zen Arcade narrative, as we're meant to believe the protagonist is the heroin addict. |
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| Hüsker Dü – Chartered Trips Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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To expand on the interpretation that this song is about a boy who dreams about running away and taking a bus out of town - which ties into the album's concept - I'd say "Chartered Trips" is about contemplating a "trip away."
As the saying goes, "the grass is always greener..." and running away to a different town seems like the solution to a problem, but "nothing's ever solved."
We assume the protagonist takes the "chartered trip away" because by the time we get to "The Biggest Lie" he is considering returning back to his day job, girlfriend, and home town, but is disillusioned with the hypocrisy of it all.
Regardless of what "Chartered Trips" actually means, it is hands down my favorite Bob Mould penned Hüsker Dü song. |
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| Hüsker Dü – New Day Rising Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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I completely agree. It's about hope and new beginnings and possibilities. I also view the building, belligerent delivery of the lyric as an ecstatic climax and not necessarily fueled by anger. |
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| Hüsker Dü – Could You Be The One? Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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The "crisis of faith" interpretation is interesting, but I'm not really convinced that's what "Could You Be the One?" is really about.
To me, it seems this song is about Mould's homosexuality, which by this point was an open secret and common knowledge, although he had never came out, as it were.
There's an awful lot of hiding and crying and broken hearts in the song to support this analysis. I admit, it's kind of an obvious conclusion to jump to, but it really makes the most sense to me. It also could be about a lovelorn longing and crush on someone.
Just throwing my those out there. |
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| Nirvana – Sappy Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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I think this is an accurate and insightful interpretation of "Sappy" and it definitely deserves the highest rating.
I'd like to add that, in some ways, it's an appropriate response or companion piece to Dinosaur Jr.'s "In a Jar" (http://songmeanings.com/songs/view/72835/), where that song illustrates the male perspective in a relationship through the metaphor of a pet kept in a jar. Not all men take the dominant role in a relationship, so both points of view are interesting and valid.
Kurt's feminism is often overlooked and it's the attribute which makes his songwriting perspective so unique and universal. |
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| Nirvana – In Bloom Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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You should write your lame review of the video on YouTube and not here. This is for interpreting song meanings and not just writing how much you like a song and its video. |
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| Nirvana – In Bloom Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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That's hilarious. Justin Bieber is more like the wigger Elvis-crossed with-Michael Jackson-and-Britney Spears of this generation; he's going to have a weird meltdown, get fat and/or have a sex change, and end up in Vegas.. |
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| Nirvana – In Bloom Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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Somewhat off the mark, considering Nirvana first recorded this song in 1990 and probably wrote it in 1989, when they were just a somewhat promising Sub Pop band that had some buzz in the UK. He wasn't directing it at the millions of trendy people that became fashionable Nirvana fans, but the song took on that meaning somewhat as their career progressed. That's why this song doesn't necessarily have to have an exact meaning. The song's mood captured a certain zeitgeist and continues to be relevant to this day. |
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| Nirvana – In Bloom Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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I agree with the first part about "In Bloom" not being an anti jock/prep rant, but going on to say the song is about pubescent and jaded teenagers is just as myopic. I don't think the song is aimed at teenagers specifically; it's aimed at humanity. But there isn't some grand statement; it's just a cool song with above average lyrics. |
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| Nirvana – In Bloom Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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Interesting and well thought out, but a little bit overdone. If "In Bloom" is about anything in particular, I think it's closer to what others have said; it's simply about people who operate on a skin deep level and don't truly "get it."
I know Kurt Cobain seemed to have a fascination with the reproductive process and it certainly shows up in this song, but I don't think it has any intended hidden meaning. It means whatever you pull from it; in your case, horny tweens. |
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| Nirvana – Floyd the Barber Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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Are you joking? Why the hell would he be writing a song about "the exploitation by the media on (sic) famous people/musicians" at this point in his career? He had no idea he was going to be famous and he definitely wasn't concerned with "media exploitation" either (that comes later with songs like "Serve the Servants" and "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter"). It's just a darkly humorous corruption of The Andy Griffith Show and that's pretty much it... there's no social agenda. |
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| Nirvana – Floyd the Barber Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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Aunt Bee's vulva, huh? Haha. Dork. It's a grotesque and corrupt take on the Andy Griffith Show that features sexual abuse; it's not about sexual abuse wholesale and does not has some socially-conscious agenda. |
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| Nirvana – Floyd the Barber Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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You've obviously never had oral sex before. What does taking turns cutting someone up have to do with "getting oral," as you so cleverly put it? Also, why would Opie and Aunt Bee take turns in "getting" blowjobs from a boy?? Opie is a boy himself and Aunt Bee doesn't have a dick, so that doesn't really make much sense. The only part about oral sex is when the narrator is getting mouth-raped by Floyd Lawson. The barber seems to be the only one who's getting a BJ and that's by force. The song is just a darkly comic take on the Andy Griffith Show and that's it. |
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| Nirvana – Floyd the Barber Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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Exactly... the sound of a fly being unzipped and Floyd pressing he pee-pee (dick) against the narrator's lips. "Flee, plea" is what "doesn't really make any sense." Also, why does a dick pressed against someone's lips equate to pedophilia? The victim isn't necessarily a child. Your two cents are worth just that. This isn't an argument forum, it's song meanings, however, you're certainly not going to win any arguments with this kind of logic. |
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| Nirvana – Floyd the Barber Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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How are you reading pedophilia into this? It's about being molested, raped, tortured, and murdered, sure, but I'm pretty sure the narrator isn't a child. |
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| Nirvana – Floyd the Barber Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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Way off the mark, but you definitely thought this one out.
It's "no doubt influenced" by The Andy Griffith show, reconfigured as a darkly comic and nightmarish fantasy about being molested, raped, tortured, and finally murdered by the main characters while in Floyd's Barbershop in fictional Mayberry, North Carolina. |
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| Nirvana – Floyd the Barber Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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Not quite, sorry. There's the following corrections:
Bell on door clank come on in* (not "hello cobain come on in")
Steam hot towel on my face* (not "steaming hot towell on my face")
They take turns and cut me up* (not "waiting turns they cut me up")
I die smothered in Andy's butt* (not "i die smothered in aunt beas muff") |
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| Nirvana – Floyd the Barber Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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"AUNT-B's MUFF"!? Hahaha. That's a pretty hilarious take on it, but it's actually "smothered in Andy's butt," which is just as gnarly, if not more so. |
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| Nirvana – Floyd the Barber Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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I'm not sure this is exactly what the song is about, but it's an interesting analysis/interpretation.
The song subverts and corrupts Andy Griffith's fictional town of Mayberry as an analogy to "a seemingly perfect town (that) has its dark secrets."
That "perfect town" could be Aberdeen (although it was a run-down, derelict, blue-collar town that was far from seeming perfect), but it's more likely to be a town like the fictional Twin Peaks or any picket-fenced, 50's conceived, American small town. |
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| Nirvana – Floyd the Barber Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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It's not necessarily a girl being raped in this song; it's the narrator and/or listener, it's Cobain himself... shit, it could even be Gomer Pyle. This song is not some socially-conscious anti-rape anthem, it's a slightly juvenile/genius/disturbing satire of The Andy Griffith Show. |
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| Nirvana – Floyd the Barber Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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I want to rate this up, but your grammar is atrocious. Don't you mean "(This song is) about the (characters) of The Andy Griffith Show turning out to be mass murderers (and rapists)"??? You are essentially correct though. It's a pretty hilarious subversion of a beloved American sitcom. |
submissions
| Nirvana – Floyd the Barber Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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This analysis makes it seem like Cobain had some social agenda and wanted to save the victimized children of America. There are no lyrics in Floyd the Barber that say "ashamed"--they alternate between "I was shaved/shamed." The song is simply a jet black, perverted satire of the Andy Griffith Show. |
submissions
| Nirvana – Floyd the Barber Lyrics
| 10 years ago
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As has been noted, Floyd the Barber is a reference to the Andy Griffith Show. The main characters of this show are all name checked in the lyrics: Floyd Lawson (Andy's neighbor and the town barber), Barney Fife (Andy's bumbling deputy), Opie (Andy's son), Aunt Bee (aunt and housekeeper), and Sheriff Andy Taylor (Griffith) himself. The setting is obviously Floyd's Barbershop on Mayberry's Main Street.
The song is a subversive and perverted fantasy/nightmare where the song's first person narrator goes into Floyd's Barbershop (first verse) for a shave and unexpectedly ends up getting sexually assaulted, tortured, and then murdered (second and third verses).
The lyrics to this song were featured in Cobain's published journals and are actually incorrect in spots on this site. The lyrics to the first and last choruses are "I was shaved" NOT "I'm ashamed". Also, from the third verse, the final line is supposed to read "I die smothered in Andy's butt," which is a pretty dark and hilarious way to go out.
The fact that Dale Crover played drums on this song makes a lot of sense; its music and lyrics are very Melvins-influenced. The black humor of Scratch Acid/David Yow also informs this song. Crover's playing also makes "Floyd the Barber" even gnarlier, more effective, and HEAVIER of course. |
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.
