Dumb (song)

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"Dumb" is a song by the American grunge band Nirvana. It is the sixth song on their 1993 album, In Utero.

[edit] History

Although the song was first released on In Utero in 1993, this Kurt Cobain composition dates back to 1990.

"Dumb" was debuted on September 25, 1990, when Cobain played a solo acoustic rendition on an Olympia, Washington college radio show hosted by Calvin Johnson. It was first performed in concert on November 25, 1990 at the Off Ramp in Seattle, Washington.

[edit] Other versions

 Music samples:

"Dumb"

"Dumb" is the sixth track from In Utero and, despite never being released as a single, found moderate radio airplay. This sample contains the second verse and the chorus.

Problems listening to the file? See media help.

After In Utero was released live versions of the song would feature a revolving door of cellists, including Lori Goldston (who played on the song's MTV Unplugged rendition) and Melora Creager, of the band Rasputina. The Unplugged version of Dumb appears on the band's 1994 album, MTV Unplugged in New York.

An electric rendition was recorded on September 3, 1991 during a John Peel session in London, England. This version was posthumously released on the 2004 Nirvana box set, With the Lights Out. The first true studio version of the song was recorded in October 1992 by Jack Endino in Seattle, but Cobain never recorded vocals for it.

The In Utero version was recorded in February 1993 by Steve Albini in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. This version, which was re-released on the band's 2002 best-of album Nirvana, features Kera Schaley on cello.

[edit] Meaning

According to Cobain, "Dumb" was inspired by the envy he feels for unintelligent and "easily amused" people, who are seemingly able to move through life without ever feeling sad or depressed. "I've met a lot of dumb people," Cobain said in an interview with Melody Maker in 1993, "they have a shitty job, they may be totally lonely...and yet, for some reason, they're happy."

In a 1993 Chicago Sun-Times interview, Cobain offered a strange alternate meaning of the song. "Actually, that was a song about a concussion," he said. "It was just one of those 4-track demo things late at night," he revealed. This was offered in response to Jim DeRogatis's idea that Dumb was about drug addiction.

[edit] Covers

"Dumb" has been covered by the following artists:

• American rock band Hole (fronted by Cobain's widow, Courtney Love)
• American post-hardcore band Finch
• American pop punk band Yellowcard

[edit] Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• Though never released as a single, "Dumb" was picked up by many alternative rock radio stations and became a modest radio hit.

• Like some other In Utero songs, "Dumb" was extensively bootlegged long before the album was released; when Cobain played its opening chords during Nirvana's set at the Reading Festival in August 1992, a large part of the audience started to sing along, prompting Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic to joke, "Power of the bootleg, Kurt!"

• A brief live clip of "Dumb," recorded on November 10, 1993 in Springfield, Massachusetts, appears on the vinyl version of the band's 1996 live compilation album, From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah. It features Cobain accidentally repeating the song's second verse instead of going into the bridge, then stopping to apologize to the audience.

[edit] Accolades

• Ranked #7 in Q's "10 Greatest Nirvana Songs Ever" (2004)

[edit] References

• Azerrad, Michael. Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana, Doubleday, New York: 1993, ISBN 0-86369-746-1
• Dark Side of the Womb: Part 1 by the Stud Brothers, Melody Maker, August 1993