Old Age
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"Old Age" is a song recorded by the American rock bands Nirvana and Hole. For years, it was known only as a Hole song, first appearing as a B-side on their 1993 single "Beautiful Son," and again on their 1997 compilation album, My Body, The Hand Grenade.
Then, in 1998, a tape of the song being performed by Nirvana was leaked to the Stranger, a Seattle, Washington weekly newspaper. The tape was recorded in March 1991, as part of a boombox demo for record producer Butch Vig (who produced the band's second album, Nevermind, later that year), and seemed to contradict the song's official standing as a Courtney Love composition.
In a Stranger article written by Kathleen Wilson following the leak of the tape, Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic confirmed that "Old Age" was indeed "a Nirvana song." In an interview with UK music newspaper Melody Maker in 1997, Love stated that "Old Age" was "something somebody had a little bit of and I said 'let me have the rest of it', and I wrote this thing in it and tried to make it goth. I found it, wrote it, and recorded it in the same night".
Although, the song had been recorded a year before by Cobain, Love's lyrics were almost entirely different. Hole guitarist Eric Erlandson later clarified that the song had been given to Hole to re-write and record.
[edit] Nirvana's version
It is now believed that Kurt Cobain, Nirvana's lead singer and guitarist, wrote "Old Age" in 1990 or early 1991, and later gave the song to Love (whom he married in 1992) after abandoning it himself.
It was attempted during the Nevermind sessions, with a live instrumental take and scratch vocals being recorded, but Cobain never attempted formal vocal passes. This never-completed version was released on the Nirvana box set, With the Lights Out, in 2004, and on the band's compilation album, Sliver: The Best of the Box, in 2005.
At least one other version of the song is known to exist: a solo acoustic home demo which first surfaced on the internet in 1999. Its authenticity was challenged at first, but in 2004, an MP3 of the demo was sent by the website Live Nirvana to "a panel of band associates" - including former Hole guitarist Eric Erlandson - which confirmed that it is, indeed, a Cobain recording. Erlandson believes it was recorded as a demo for Love, who then reworked the song's lyrics in time for late 1992, when it was first recorded by Hole.
[edit] External links
- LiveNirvana Sessions History A guide to every known Nirvana and Kurt Cobain recording session.
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