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All Apologies

This is the best John Lennon song that he never wrote. In fact, it's better (in my ever so humble opinion). The melody is both stunning and brilliant; consider this line and its fantastic melody --- "Choking on the ashes of her enemy." The song could've been performend by John Denver and still be a stunning beast of a tune. Make the chorus' A chord an A7 and there you have the song as a Beatles tune fit for the White Album. It ends with a mantra lifted right from the inspiration of Lennon, too. "All in all is all we are" Remind anyone of Across The Universe just a little?

Care to elaborate on what you're referring to?

Track 12 on In Utero by Nirvana. Song written by Kurt Cobain, a man who could write a better pop song than the Beatles could.

Consider the song Serve The Servants. It is a strong backlash at the teenage angst which brought his band and himself to fame. It throws out numerous brilliant lines which really tap into the core of a person. " I tried hard to have a father but instead I had a dad. Besides the lyrics to it, it is also brilliant musically. Kurt picks through the chords, never playing the full set of notes assigned to the chord. If you were to play the verse with straight 7ths the entire time then you would have a wonderful encircling "Sgt. Pepper" feel for a song. B7, E7, F#7, E7: Go play this and be delighted.

Kurt was definitely influenced by the Beatles...I remember seeing in a doc on him (maybe "Kurt and Courtney"?) his aunt saying that when he was 10-12 he really got into the Beatles.  If you can hear past the grunge delivery, many of his songs sound like they could have been Beatles songs.  I don't think I'd go as far to say that he could write a better pop song than the Beatles could, but he was certainly a very underrated songwriter.

By whom? Cobain has to be one of the most deified musicians of the past 20 years.

I have to agree here.  Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Nirvana and think that Cobain was brilliant, I would never say hew as underrated.  I think he gets al the credit that he most certainly deserves.  He has been way to celebrated to be underrated.  Not taking anything away from him of course.

I'm not sure if Kurt was credited for the right things though. He complained himself that other rock musicians are being celebrated for their lyrics whereas people could never see past Nirvana as the band that did "Smells Like Teen Spirit". Kurt's lyrics are often very poetic and have a unique flow to them. He was a pop songwriter through and through, difference being with him that every song had a distinctive edge to it which was Kurt's own. Consider the song "Drain You" and the music and words to that one!

One baby to another says -
I'm lucky to have met you
I don't care what you think
Unless it is about me
And it is now my duty to completely drain you
I travel through a tube
To end up in your affection

Chew your meat up for you
Pass it back and forth
In a passionate kiss
From my mouth to yours
I like you

With eyes so dialated,
I've become your pupil
You've taught me everything
Without a poison apple
The water is so yellow, I'm a healthy student
Indebted and so grateful -
Vacuum out the fluids


.................................

Well I've certainly never heard anything like it before.  :)

Again, I'm not knocking Kurt.  I absolutely love his stuff.  I can still remember the first time I heard it and it hit me like a ton of bricks!  I was floored!   And I was even more shocked when I heard the whole Nevermind album!  Drain You just so happens to be a favorite of mine.  And I thought In Utero was even better.

I guess I can see your point a bit though.  Alot of people that champion Kurt don't necessarily do it for his art.  He is seen as some kind of a leader of some big angst ridden movement when he just really wanted to write great pop music.  Kind of like Dylan in that regard. Dylan never wanted to be the voice of a generation, he just wanted to make his music.  But, I still do think that Kurt is held in very high regards for his craft as well.  I just don't think I can say he is underrated.

Hes the one
Who likes all our pretty songs
And he likes to sing along
And he likes to shoot his gun
But he dont know what it means

I heard the producer tricked Kurt into recording all the guitar overdubs (there's got to be like six or seven in there) for Drain You and then added them without his knowledge.

My brother would never let me near his copy of Nevermind because he didn't want me to see the naked baby on the cover..

I can see that.  As much as I love Nevermind and as important a record I think it is, it is a very produced record.  I personally like the raw, underdone sound of In Utero more. 

Both records are top notch though.  And don't get me started on the unplugged album!!  It is such an emotional record that I really have a hard time listening to it at times.  I heard that when Nirvana left the stage after performing "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" that the show's producer tried to coax them back onstage for more but Kurt refused knowing that he couldn't top that gut wrenching performance.  I have to agree.  When I hear him take that deap breath before singing the last line, it destroys me every time! 

From the very first second of audience cheer I get hairs rising on the back of my neck. Seeing the video of it is even better. Stage set up with flowers and candles everywhere, etc. The covers they chose were excellent. Chris playing the acoordian, then guitar on the Meat Puppet songs -- all great stuff. How generous of Nirvana to showcase three other artist's songs on their own performance! We have a David Bowie cover, a Vaselines cover, and three Meat Puppet covers. Bowie said of the cover that Kurt might as well have just wrote the song himself. The performance of that song on the In Utero tours was even better than on unplugged. As soon as the chorus kicked in, the guitars were distorted raging up the scales.

That unplugged broadcast is one of the defining musical moments from my lifetime.  I am 26 so I missed out on the glory years of a lot of my favorite music (Beach Boys, Beatles, etc.) But I can still remember sitting in front of the tv the night of the Nirvana Unplugged show and being so excited.  I am so glad they didn't do the obvious big hits.  They wouldn't have worked in that setting.  Everything about this show from the stage decor to the set list was absolutely perfect.  I am not an overly emotional person, at least not outwardly but I am not afraid to admit that it made me cry and still does on occasion.  I remember being really excited about what they would do next with a new album or whatever was in store and then being totally shocked and stunned, angry and very sad the day Kurt ended his life.  I really didn't get big into the "grunge" movement but there was something about Nirvana that hit me hard the very first time I heard them.  They were so much more than just a pawn in a stupid movement.  That unplugeed performance is one of the most perfect moments in rock history IMO.

Sorry I went off for so long about my personal reccolections there.  To sum it up:  Nirvana Unplugged=perfection, Nirvana the band=great!  Sorry to bore you all!

Atticus:

I really don't think Kurt's underrated.  He's a very, very talented musician, and most people see him as that.  I remember talking with friends in High school in the early 90's about what a great songwriter he was and how great "Drain You" was and all of that way back then.  So even before his death people were tuned into his craftsmanship as a songwriter, and he's certainly a legend and one of the best since the Beatles. 

Also, I can tell you haven't fully matured your tastes yet because of the way you slammed John Denver in the first post; John Denver was an excellent songwriter, I'd say he was of Kurt's caliber if not BETTER.

I present as evidence his most popular song (arguably).

Rocky Mountain High (Denver/Taylor)

He was born in the summer of his 27th year, coming home to a place he'd never been before.
He left yesterday behind him, you might say he was born again,
you might say he found a key for every door.
When he first came to the mountains, his life was far away on the road and hanging by a song.
But the strings already broken and he doesn't really care,
it keeps changing fast, and it don't last for long.

And the Colorado Rocky Mountain high, I've seen it raining fire in the sky.
The shadows from the starlight are softer than a lullaby.
Rocky Mountain high, Colorado. Rocky Mountain high.

He climbed cathedral mountains, he saw silver clouds below,
he saw everything as far as you can see.
And they say that he got crazy once and he tried to touch the sun,
and he lost a friend, but kept the memory.
Now he walks in quiet solitude, the forest and the streams, seeking grace in every step he takes.
His sight is turned inside himself, to try and understand
the serenity of a clear blue mountain lake.

And the Colorado Rocky Mountain high, I've seen it raining fire in the sky.
You can talk to God and listen to the casual reply.
Rocky Mountain high, Colorado. Rocky Mountain high.

Now his life is full of wonder, but his heart still knows some fear,
of a simple thing he can not comprehend.
Why they try to tear the mountains down to bring in a couple more,
more people, more scars upon the land.

And the Colorado Rocky Mountain high, I've seen it raining fire in the sky.
I know he'd be a poor man if he never saw an eagle fly,
Rocky Mountain high, the Colorado Rocky Mountain high, I've seen it raining fire in the sky.
Friends around the campfire and everybody's high
Rocky Mountain high, Colorado. Rocky Mountain high.
Rocky Mountain high, Colorado. Rocky Mountain high.

Yeah, definately.  Again, when I was in High School I knew girls in school that would cry listening to that song, unbelievably emotional, especially that section you mentioned.  You can't really just listen to that 1 track though and get it... but if you're listening to the whole album and it rolls around to that point, it just hits you like a ton of bricks.  If you watch the performance, at that part he's got his eyes closed then opens them right at that breath and you see everything he's made of right in that one instant.  I taught myself to play guitar off that CD... "the man who sold the world", "All apologies", etc.

Yeah I like John Denver more. Bring out the muppets  :lol :lol ;D