Polly (song)

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"Polly"

Song by Nirvana
from the album Nevermind
Released	September 24, 1991
Recorded	April 1990 at Smart Studios, Madison, Wisconsin
Genre	Grunge
Length	2:57
Label	DGC Records / Sub Pop
Producer(s)	Butch Vig
Nevermind track listing
"Lithium" (5)	"Polly" (6)	"Territorial Pissings" (7)

"Polly" Promo CD for the album Unplugged in New York

"Polly" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana. It is the sixth song on their 1991 album, Nevermind.

1 History
2 Meaning
3 Many versions
4 Covers
5 Trivia
6 Accolades
7 References

[edit] History

Dating back to at least 1989, "Polly" stands alongside "About a Girl" and "Been a Son" as one of singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain's earliest forays into unfiltered pop songwriting. It was left off Nirvana's 1989 debut album Bleach because Cobain believed it was not consistent with the band's heavy grunge sound of the time. However, it found its way onto the band's second album Nevermind two years later, and remained a part of the band's regular setlist until Cobain's death (and Nirvana's dissolution) in April 1994.

[edit] Meaning

According to Michael Azerrad's 1993 Nirvana biography Come As You Are, "Polly" is based on the true story of a female rape victim from Tacoma, Washington. The girl, 14, was abducted in 1987 while returning from a punk rock show, and was raped and tortured with a blowtorch by her abductor. Cobain's only narrative flourish is that the victim manages to escape by flirting with her captor, convincing him to let her go.

In the liner notes to Nirvana's 1992 compilation Incesticide, Cobain expressed disdain for an incident which occurred after the song's release on Nevermind. "Last year, a girl was raped by two wastes of sperm and eggs while they sang the lyrics to our song 'Polly,'" he wrote. "I have a hard time carrying on knowing there are plankton like that in our audience."

It was assumed that Cobain narrates the song from the rapist's point of view (he would do the opposite on In Utero's "Rape Me").

[edit] Many versions

The stark, acoustic rendition which appears on Nevermind is perhaps the most familiar reading of the song; however, no less than eight other versions have been commercially released. These are:

A live, electric version from late 1991, which appears as a B-side on import versions of the band's 1992 "In Bloom" single.
An electric studio version recorded for the BBC's Evening Session in late 1991, which appears on Incesticide. This version is dubbed "(New Wave) Polly," perhaps because of its faster tempo. This "New Wave" version was played live in Manchester, England, about a month later.
A live, acoustic version recorded during the band's MTV Unplugged performance in late 1993, which was subsequently released the following year on the band's posthumous MTV Unplugged in New York album. This version features Pat Smear on rhythm guitar, and Lori Goldston on cello.
A live, electric performance from late 1991, which appears on the 1994 home video Live! Tonight! Sold Out!!.
A live, electric rendition from mid 1991, which appears on the documentary 1991: The Year Punk Broke.
A live, electric version from late 1989, which appears on the band's 1996 live compilation, From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah.
A solo, acoustic home demo which appears on the 2004 Nirvana box set, With the Lights Out.
An electric studio demo from 1989, which also appears on With the Lights Out.

[edit] Covers

"Polly" has been covered by the following artists:

American experimental rock band Animal Collective.
American musician Kirsten Krush.

[edit] Trivia

Cobain was reluctant to play "Polly" right after "Dumb" during Nirvana's MTV Unplugged performance, joking that they were "exactly the same song."

According to Charles R. Cross's 2001 Cobain biography Heavier Than Heaven, Bob Dylan was moved after hearing "Polly" in concert, and said of Cobain: "That kid has heart."

Music critic Greil Marcus has suggested that Cobain's "Polly" is a descendant of "Pretty Polly," a murder ballad perhaps a century old already when recorded by Dock Boggs in 1927.