I'm not sure it matters, the why and the what of Kurt's performance of this song. We all agree it's incredible, haunting, the most amazing performance we've ever witnessed. The synergy of the conversation beforehand, Leadbelly being his favorite performer, the $500,000 for the guitar, all of that, then followed by a performance that eclipsed Leadbelly as a performer, and in some way brought Kurt's guitars up to the millions they sell for now. It all comes together in a way that is just fucking moving.
I don't know if Kurt intended any personal meaning to the song. Maybe it was a blast at Courtney. Maybe it entails all of his depression and suicidal thoughts, to say as the first line of his goodbye note, the "experienced simpleton who obviously would rather be an emasculated, infantile complain-ee." But maybe, and this is what I think most, and for his sake I hope it's true, maybe for his final performance for the world (whether he committed suicide, or just intended to walk away and was murdered for it, I think he knew this was his farewell) he just wanted to play a song he loved the best from a musician who was his "favorite performer." He said himself afterward that he could never top it. I think from the perspective of a musician that's the power of the song and the performance. I have no musical ability, but an intense love for it. The look, the moment when his eyes open was overwhelming when I saw it first, also the first I'd heard the song. I think I'd most have to call that look freedom and love. Love of music, and freedom, the feeling, the total deep down inner emotion more powerful than any other that he and so many others find in music. His goodbye note talks of how it wasn't the crowd he loved. There is no doubt though that he loved music as much as any man ever has. You don't get to be that good, you don't have that emotion in your songs without an absolute love of it. He lost that love at the end, but I'm all but certain that instant his eyes open he's feeling again the freedom in music that had been absent as his life spiraled out of control. I think having lost that feeling is what caused the spiral. I don't know. I can't know. To know the mind of that great a man must require an equal mind, and I'm not sure such a thing has ever existed.
No, the why and the what of this song don't carry any meaning at all, at least not any that can compare to the meaning of a man capable of such amazing performance and such raw emotion. That's what makes us all shiver.
@spartacus51
Well said Spartacus51. Thank you for your comment. It truly describes how I feel about Kurt and his music. I just never really could come up with the words to sum it all up.
@spartacus51
Well said Spartacus51. Thank you for your comment. It truly describes how I feel about Kurt and his music. I just never really could come up with the words to sum it all up.
I'm not sure it matters, the why and the what of Kurt's performance of this song. We all agree it's incredible, haunting, the most amazing performance we've ever witnessed. The synergy of the conversation beforehand, Leadbelly being his favorite performer, the $500,000 for the guitar, all of that, then followed by a performance that eclipsed Leadbelly as a performer, and in some way brought Kurt's guitars up to the millions they sell for now. It all comes together in a way that is just fucking moving.
I don't know if Kurt intended any personal meaning to the song. Maybe it was a blast at Courtney. Maybe it entails all of his depression and suicidal thoughts, to say as the first line of his goodbye note, the "experienced simpleton who obviously would rather be an emasculated, infantile complain-ee." But maybe, and this is what I think most, and for his sake I hope it's true, maybe for his final performance for the world (whether he committed suicide, or just intended to walk away and was murdered for it, I think he knew this was his farewell) he just wanted to play a song he loved the best from a musician who was his "favorite performer." He said himself afterward that he could never top it. I think from the perspective of a musician that's the power of the song and the performance. I have no musical ability, but an intense love for it. The look, the moment when his eyes open was overwhelming when I saw it first, also the first I'd heard the song. I think I'd most have to call that look freedom and love. Love of music, and freedom, the feeling, the total deep down inner emotion more powerful than any other that he and so many others find in music. His goodbye note talks of how it wasn't the crowd he loved. There is no doubt though that he loved music as much as any man ever has. You don't get to be that good, you don't have that emotion in your songs without an absolute love of it. He lost that love at the end, but I'm all but certain that instant his eyes open he's feeling again the freedom in music that had been absent as his life spiraled out of control. I think having lost that feeling is what caused the spiral. I don't know. I can't know. To know the mind of that great a man must require an equal mind, and I'm not sure such a thing has ever existed.
No, the why and the what of this song don't carry any meaning at all, at least not any that can compare to the meaning of a man capable of such amazing performance and such raw emotion. That's what makes us all shiver.
@spartacus51 Well said Spartacus51. Thank you for your comment. It truly describes how I feel about Kurt and his music. I just never really could come up with the words to sum it all up.
@spartacus51 Well said Spartacus51. Thank you for your comment. It truly describes how I feel about Kurt and his music. I just never really could come up with the words to sum it all up.