"Choking on the ashes of her enemy"??? Is that right? I never heard that before at all. How sad.

i dont think this song has any real meaning,as such.
What else should I be-------i think he hated the limelight
All apologies
What else should I say------fans are waiting for him to say something outrageous
Everyone is gay
What else could I write-----more than likely had no lyrics.
I don't have the right------he thinks he does not have the right to influence people
What else should I be
All apologies

In the sun I feel as one----i think he loved being alone.

i think kurt is pissing himself,the joke is on all of us.hhahhhha

One of my all time favourites.
Kurt Cobain is a genius.

'In utero' was front loaded with all the 'tunes' and descends into a dissonant squall towards the end (which I love).

It was a deliberate attempt to alienate the very people that had bought their records and put them where they were. The Album finishes with 'All apologies'. Basically a sarcastic retort to all the mugs who liked them for their 'pretty songs' and had bought this album, scratching their heads going WTF?!

It's like he's saying 'Not what you expected? Nevermind II? Sorry guys.....' with a wry grin on his face.

PS I think 'In Utero' is head and shoulders above 'Nevermind'

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'all in all is all we are.' - i'm getting this tattooed on my wrist.

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'all in all is all we are.' - i'm getting this tattooed on my wrist.

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'all in all is all we are.' - i'm getting this tattooed on my wrist.

Everyone comes so close to getting this song, but are off by just a bit. Firstly, yes, this is akin to a suicide note. It's position at the end of In Utero is no accident, it's Kurt's final message to the world

"What else should I be
All apologies"

Most get this, this is like, what else can I be? To put it in today's terms, should I be like Pearl Jam and just make forgettable records a decade after anyone cares about them anymore, or be like U2 and criss cross between techno and saving the world?

"What else should I say
Everyone is gay"

Many times Kurt wrote in an abstract and intuitive way. And other times, he was blatantly direct. This is one of those times. This line has nothing to do with being happy or whatever bullshit people are telling themselves. It means exactly what you all deep down know it means. Everyone has homoerotic feelings. Everyone. Get over it. So what else do you cretins want me to say? How about this!

"What else could I write
I don't have the right"

He mentioned in his suicide note that he didn't have the right to write music if he no longer felt the passion anymore.

"What else should I be
All apologies

In the sun
In the sun I feel as one
In the sun
In the sun
I'm married
buried"

Most people get this. The sun is the equivalent of being dead, and feel as one is being free. Married and buried? Maybe that's what comes to us all? Or maybe that's what makes you feel as one? Or perhaps both. Nirvana lyrics frequently had double meanings

"I wish I was like you
Easily amused
Find my nest of salt"

He wishes he could be like most people, and be happy with their TV's and beer and strip clubs. Or be like most celebrities, and be happy with the money, fame, drugs, and whores. He can't

"Everything is my fault
I'll take all the blame"

Again, this is very direct, and means exactly what it seems. No one is responsible for Kurt's suicide besides Kurt, and no one should feel responsible. This seems like it could be sarcastic, but it's not. Sarcasm generally doesn't litter suicide notes, sincerity does (as well as self-loathing)

"Aqua seafoam shame
Sunburn with freezerburn
Choking on the ashes of her enemy"

This is a little tougher, as it's very much on the abstract side. "Aqua seafoam shame" would seem to indicate shame that goes out to the ocean like ashes. "Sunburn with freezerburn" seems to indicate something akin to a double edge sword, or between a rock and a hard place. You get burned both ways. Maybe that's how he viewed being a famous band versus being an underground band? And "choking on the ashes of her enemy" would seem to go in line with "aqua seafoam shame," meaning the ashes of the enemy of mother nature will go out to be part of it. It's a self-loathing view. It has nothing to do with Courtney Love.

"All alone is all we are (x14)"

I changed it to what it really says. "All in all is all we are" means absolutely nothing. "All alone is all we are" means exactly what it says. We're all alone in this world. He says it very clearly, especially at the last line when the instruments go off. Listen closely to Kurt's final message to the world if you want to know what All Apologies says

This song is about a bitterness towards others expetations on him and the lyric's What else should I say
Everyone is gay is him mocking what society would want him to say. He is angry at the idea of having to always apologize for everything he is.

This song is quite controversal for me

its the last one of in utero album, the darkest and deeper album of nirvana ever, and this music is beaultifull and armonic, differing from heart shaped box and rape me, from the same album, that make u feel crazy...

anyway the lirics talk about what he felt on marriage: im married/ buried : for him, being married (waybe on a general way or with courtney) was a death sentence

the other verses are quite ironic

I think that this song has a lot to do w/ Courtney Love. I think it is his way of talking a/b him, the way he thinks, his past, his drug addiction, & how he looked & felt a/b his own life-CONFUSED!! I think some people can relate to this song from their own personal experiences also.


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He is basically trying to explain that he's songs offend people but they stem out of who he is and it's the most natural thing for him to be.

This song is about someone who apoligizes for the things that he says and does, but he continues to do them regardless. Eventually she starts to doubt his sincerety. If he was really sorry then why does he continue to do the same thing over and over. She starts to understand that he truly isn't sorry. She never saw him express true remorse. He didn't seem sorrowful when he saw her in pain. He knows she has low self-esteem and has a hard time standing up for herself. He only seemed sorry to see the consequences of his abusive behaviour. He reverts back to his abusive behaviour as soon as he thinks he can get away with it again. She eventually understands that he isn't that man she thought he was. She keeps clinging to the hope that she's wrong about him. He's still really the man she first met. She starts to accept reality for it is.He doesn't love her. Because love always protects.

well, kurt usually had songs that left people baffled as to what they meant, but i believe this one is about the craptacularness of marriage. being married to courtney love would make anyone dislike the whole idea of marriage. it could be a general look at it though. apologies having to be made by the man, even when he didn't really do anything wrong. also in the second verse, he may be talking about escaping the bullshit through drugs. for years i thought the line "aqua seafoam shame" was "ah/oh, deceitful shame" which made a little more sense than seafoam shame. but either way... and the last line i always thought it was "All we know is all we are" too...oh well... very sad little ditty. so...do any of you think some of these songs were a cry for help? i seriously think cortney murdered him (or had someone else do it). anyone else think the same?

For the last line, I all ways thought he was saying all we know is all we are.

love the song my whole life I have listened to Nirvana (My family played alot of it on guitar), kinda makes me nostalgic=[

i thought she was the one who got him hooked on drugs

when he says "all in all is all we are" it makes me think about how we always judge people's lives and our own as a summary (all in all) of what we've done, but our lives are really about so much more than that

i'd like to think that's how Kurt intended it anyways

this is the song that made me like nirvana, hearing it at the stupid age of 12, my interpretation was stupid and it has not changed over the past three years, but i think i'm on to something, maybe, idk, but i like my interpretation!

What else should I be
All apologies
-to me, this is him saying, sorry, i'm not perfect, what do you want from me?


What else should I say
Everyone is gay
-this is a confusing line, but i like to think that he's just saying all you haters that want me to be perfect, your all gay! since thats wut lots of guys like to tell other guys...

What else could I write
I don't have the right
-i think maybe it could be about how as a famous person knowing other famous ppl, he is expected to gossip but he's above that, or it could be about how ppl want him to write more mainstream stuff and he thinks its not fair to his band or his fans

What else should I be
All apologies
-hes just saying sorry again

In the sun
In the sun I feel as one
In the sun
In the sun
I'm married
buried
- this is him saying when im high, i feel as one, and then he feels buried in his marriage... well duh, hes married to Courtney Love!

I wish I was like you
Easily amused
-talking to someone that's easily amused, not as deep a thinker, someone that can blissfully go through life

Find my nest of salt
Everything is my fault
- i think hes talking about drugs when he says nest of salt, and hes just saying that he feels everythings his fault, guilt for everything hes done and caused and how the drugs have effected others

I'll take all the blame
Aqua seafoam shame
-...... i think hes just describing his blame.... im sure it made sense in his mind...

Sunburn with freezerburn
-sunburned from sitting in the sun(just wiped out from drugs) i think freezerburn describes how crappy he feels out of the sun (when hes not high)

Choking on the ashes of her enemy
-im just going to make an educated guess... hes choking on his own ashes cuz he knows courtney love is going to kill him

All in all is all we are (x14)
-we are who we are. period.

1 Reply

"I wish I was like you
easily amused
find my nest of salt
everythings my fault"

Beautiful.

toute personne qui n'aime pas cette chanson ne comprendre pas évidement la musique en général. honestly, this song is fucking genious and the lyrics are so beautiful.

i think this song is about being who you are regardless of what the world whats you to be everyone is just them and we dont have the right to say their wrong for judgeing us just like they dont have the right to say we're wrong about the world because we could sit there and apologise all day but it wouldnt change anything

Choking on the ashes of her enemy__mabe about people who try to burn the ones he loves but they just end up looking dumb and burning themselves

thats how i feel about it

also understanding that just by saying this will probubly void my opinion (if you havnt already) i kinda think courtney got him hooked

Ive seen loads of interviews where Kurt has said he found himself having to come up with explanations for words and lyrics hes wrote when he didnt even really know himself why he wrote them!!! Its proof that people read too far into it and half the time kurt was writing material based on whatever came into his head at the time. Thats how lyrics should be in my opinion.

kurt always says his songs ment nothing, i like to think he wasnt telling us so we could have our own meaning and own emotions to each one of his songs instead of bringing just one meaning. just u no how the song makes u feel