The Song That HAUNTED Kurt Cobain (Pennyroyal Tea)

[@robbiepeterh]

“I’m so tired I can’t sleep” The most perfect lyric in rock history.

[@yermom420]

And junkie life

[@Blisteryn]

😂😂😂😂😂😂 no!

[@adrianj78]

Yeah, agreed. I took it for a song I wrote when I was in a band in the 90s

[@adamrichman6105]

John Lennon tribute

[@nicholaskruger9460]

What ever

[@martintraynor9938]

The solo performance on Unplugged was one of the most profound performances I ever saw when I first seen it. It's still one of the most iconic performances I've ever seen.

[@stanleykendallsinvertednipple]

Lol calm down

[@hemetelectricalservices]

Saw it

[@Lemoncrusher4455]

@@hemetelectricalserviceseither or is proper English. Seen it in its entirety or saw the video in full both can be used in the past tense

[@hyperspacestudiollc]

Absolutely! MTV Unplugged was at the core of 90s pop culture! Alice in Chains Unplugged has been at or near the top of my list since 1996!!!

[@Lily99468]

It's going to be the song played at my funeral.

[@DanHarkins-jk9mi]

I had the p.royal tea CD single. Ended up in my storage unit. Became addicted to heroin/phentanyl for 8 years after being started on pain meds for congenital birth defects. Storage unit gone, along with everything else in my life. But I'm still here. Clean for over a year. Tender age in bloom.)

[@reginamaria7591]

One day at a time! You’re still here! Everything else is replaceable. Congrats on a year sober! 🎉

[@leontregerman491]

I still have a copy. You’re not missing anything. Congrats on one year. Keep going!

[@tyruslawhorn]

Congrats on getting clean

[@MrElliott75]

I'm proud of you for cleaning up and staying alive. The minutes can seem like days at times. You got this! ❤

[@dinkystick]

The 1990 demo version he did with Dave is on the internet to listen to. Safe to say he didn't write it with Courtney unless it was some lyrics.

[@wvu05]

Indeed. They were very worried about the gold digger reputation, so it seems like he spent a lot of time doing things like moving the date of their relationship up and insisting that she really helped him write a lot of stuff. Funny how we have recordings of him working on Hole stuff (such as backing vocals on "Live Through This") but not the other way around.

[@dinkystick]

@@wvu05 but the hole song is the studio version not a demo.. He sang on it because he visited her in the studio.

[@wvu05]

@@dinkystick True, but she did have a habit of borrowing influence of those around her. My point was that she can't actually point to any documentation of her role as a cowriter. If she was, surely there'd be something.

[@thurtythree9668]

Yeah Courtney can get bent.

[@CameronDufour2010]

2:18 - I Believe (in my humble opinion) Kurt and Courtney probably didn’t write Pennyroyal Tea together. This is because Kurt Likely met Courtney in September/October, 1991. However, the song was debuted live 6 months earlier, on April 17th, 1991 at the “O.K. Hotel”.

[@ShnarfKat]

nice.. it way more kurt... Asking for it that's Courtney with Kurt just duet...

[@kongvinter33]

there is also a demo of it from 1990. the song is identical as the In Utero one, solo bit different

[@richpedals7117]

you can also hear it as "penny royalty" as in royalties from a song or album, lots of wordplay and puns in his songs it seems like

[@solidnywonsz]

I'm anemic royalty

[@colletti914]

I always thought of it like: royalty of those with pennies. Like some kinda juxtaposition.

[@_rapids3238]

ive read it as him coming from pennies into royalty

[@hynsey]

wasn't it a stab at their record company, in the same vein as radio friendly unit shifter. penny royalty for all their work on a song?

[@eddieorfield]

Nice

[@OldmanSk8ing]

The song seems to express personal pain and suffering. Letting out your pain through song can be therapeutic. Too bad the pain was too overwhelming for the guy.

[@aisle_of_view]

He used to sing "Give me, a Leonard Nimoy afterworld" on some live shows

[@anomiceleven]

Weird it might have two meanings, eh? Pennyroyal Tea and Penny Royalty? This was pretty much what we understood back in the 90s... Poetry is... creative. Not literal... and maybe to put it in terms that are easy to understand, as Robert Plant said "...you know sometimes words have two meanings".

[@floepiejane]

Well put. The man had layers.

[@anomiceleven]

@@floepiejane I mean - any good lyricist does, and Cobain wasn't nearly as good as Cornell

[@floepiejane]

@@anomiceleven depends on taste, really

[@anomiceleven]

@@floepiejane In terms of who is a better poet/lyricist? I guess... but Kurt would have said Chris.

[@floepiejane]

@@anomiceleven I like both equally

[@jasoncromwell4206]

This and "Serve the Servants" are definitely my favorite Nirvana tracks these days. As someone with a long history of Stomach trouble I have always been able to relate. I think it's a combination of the last thing you said about Kurt constantly feeling his insecurities much like his idol JOL. Sure Kurt and Dave seemed to get into it a lot, but nothing like John who constantly felt the need to tear his loved ones down. Secondly I really believe Kurt wanted to be free from his addictions and "Start Over" in every way, but he felt weak never being able to fully "Kick the Habit."

[@aaronarchermusic]

In the 90s l, I recall having a bootleg cassette of a '90/'91 show, with Kurt introducing the song as "Household Drugs".

[@chocolatemilk9319]

Show please

[@deejayaviva]

Those french bootlegs were epic. Outcesticides were my faves

[@Overlorddz]

That is the Detroit show at Saints Andrew Hall 91

[@jameswoollard6686]

Such a brilliant song, thanks for the video!

[@williamhurrelbrink3324]

Fantastic video. Loved it. ❤ “I’m a liar and a thief” “I’m on my time with everyone” very good lines and very introspective. But the “I’m on my time” line seems like it could have dual or multiple meaning. Does he mean he’s never alone? Or is it a reference to him being notoriously late and flaky to events? Or it could even mean he feels pushy or bossy. Maybe all of those or none of them. That’s what I love about Kurt’s music. It could just rhyme. It could just fit and serve the song and not be related to him in any way.

[@xXxzAAa0aAAzxXx]

considering it's followed by "i have very bad posture" - which is also kind of ambiguous - it might indicate it's about his attitude and how he's perceived

[@christoforos4126]

Hmmm the point about royalty is funny to bring up because once upon a time Hank Harrison mentioned in a interview that Kurt was from a royal bloodline

[@playlist9980]

Of course....Americans and their "bloodlines" are a bit like "spiritual people" and their "past lives".

[@GenXMind67]

MTV Unplugged is, and always will be, the most prolific thing that ever happened for music. Especially Grunge. Nirvana proved that.

[@jturquoise]

MTV unplugged is actually pretty cringe lol

[@TheDeadLepShow]

😂 the hyperbole 😂 combined with words in the wrong context is hilarious

[@grg537]

Any reference to "Royalty" in the song just refers to the name of the tea. "Penny-royal". Kurt probably loved this word composition especially as it has a strong reference to grunge itself.

[@le_th_]

This song is about him being a junkie...and the side effects: being so tired he can't sleep being a liar being a thief drinking warm milk taking laxatives (because heroin makes you constipated AF) cherry flavored antacids He's talking about being a junkie, which makes him not true rock royalty, but rather anemic royalty (distantly related to the true members of rock royalty who came before him). Remember, this is a musician who thought it was funny AF that he ripped off Boston's biggest rock and roll hit "More Than A Feeling" and used it for Smells Like Teen Spirit. This wasn't the only hit song he ripped off and laughed about doing it. Hence, anemic royalty. He tells you this. "I'm a liar and a thief" stealing a lot of his ideas from the true rock royalty while being a junkie.

[@-jank-willson]

@@le_th_ teen spirit sounds nothing like more than a feeling

[@MisterW00D]

​@@-jank-willsonYeah they must mean Godzilla by Blue Oyster Cult

[@paulgomusic]

Such a shame we didn’t get the Pennyroyal Tea single and video, would have been even more of a masterpiece!

[@mcmusic6450]

back in 2014 when i was a kid my uncles favorite album was nevermind and he always play "come as you are" which for me as a kid it was like the coolest guitar riff and then right after that hed play "penny royal tea" which i think it has the coolest sound for a song

[@UZH983]

Great video, brought me such detailed explanation of a song for a first time. Thanks.

[@curtisbush5728]

This would have nade a great single! Such a fantastic song! In utero is great, its half black flag and sonic youth and half indie rock dreaminess!

[@noahmusicstuff]

It was a single

[@aronkelley8634]

Sometimes lyrics don’t have to make sense or have a specific meaning or purpose. Simply put, I think KC was putting together some references and emotions at the time. Regardless, we miss you Kurt 💙

[@wethepeople3340]

I really belive if Kurt had slowly stop using drugs, and eating as healthy as possible(whatever that means to you) plus exercise and ironically Chamomile Tea, his whole depression would've be gone. This is comming from someone who always had stomach pain since can remember, and 10 year plus addict to Narcotics

[@livebassngames]

and today penny royalties is the reality of millions of artists on spotify

[@user-mw3dd6ys1u]

Beautiful, highly personal song by a very talented, complex man.

[@jokerzwild00]

Ya know, some songs tell a very clear story. And some are crazily deep and actually do have hidden meanings and layers of depth, but (and some people don't like to admit it) it is true that a lot of song lyrics are what they are, simply because they sound cool. People don't like accepting this because a lot of these kinds of songs have deep meaning for them personally, but the original writer was just looking for some words that sounded awesome or edgy or whatever together and might vaguely make some kind of sense. Many songwriters allude to this in not so many words. A lot of songs are based around a hook, a phrase, a concept or a rhythm and the words really don't mean anything at all. Now, is that the case for Pennyroyal? Maybe, maybe not. I say though, that whatever meaning you personally find in a song is the right one, and you shouldn't try to find a definitive answer to what it means because you might not like the answer to that one.

[@k3va]

When you know, u know, ya know .. ✨🕉️🕊️

[@ConcertFootageNate]

Great breakdown video! Thanks

[@danielroque8504]

The beauty of music is that there's a story behind making it. Today's music is just noise, with no story.

[@rschw76409]

I think the single was pulled in 1994, because of the b-side I Hate Myself and Want to Die

[@JDODify]

Cool video - I love the song but I'd always found some of the lyrics quite opaque, I had no idea what anaemic royalty meant. Cheers.

[@Overlorddz]

Pennyroyal tea started as a Leonard Cohen type song, then became a solo song (like the one at unplugged or ok hotel), by fall 1991 it had already grown into full band song which is plenty of time before he really got into Courtney. The version at Opera House in Toronto shows the last parts of the puzzle (the solo) were being worked on. 2 weeks later it was finished like the album except for the lyrics.

[@popskull42]

Kurt loved to play with words, at his best when phonic interpretation changes the meaning of the lyric to show the duality of a situation. It's no coincidence that "Distill the life inside of me" is nearly indistinguishable from "Steal the life that's inside of me" by him barely vocalizing the first syllable and moving the voicing of the i towards a long e sound rather than a a short i. We get this conflict of whether he's trying to rid himself of some core matter (steal) or get rid of some extraneous material to focus on something more pure (distill). In both cases, we're not sure if what he's losing is good or bad, or for better or worse. It's an absolutely masterful lyric.

[@superviewer]

I mostly remember that song for the Major 7th harmony in the chorus. The dynamic and the lyrics are memorable too.

[@mattsheezy5469]

Depressed, Sad, & Wants a new life…. That about sums up how I feel too.

[@Cloakdagger639]

I think it was a cry for help, that's why it was such a hassle for the releases, recordings even performances. I believe it was a poem he wrote an revisited as time went on it was something very personal, so personal it was a struggle to share because of the information an what he associated it with . Even as a performer in the public eye it's difficult to be on stage, but to go public with something so personal is a whole other challenge within the performance. If you know ,you know. I hope anyone who reads this knows there not truly alone an there's a person out there who might surprise you with how much they do relate to the struggle with mental illness, there's people just like you who have struggled an over come that weight. Don't give up ,if you keep pushing you will be surprised who you become an how strong it will make you.

[@DaveO-c9i]

Love learning abut thess songs I've been singing for 30 years.

[@user-pt8mu9wg3i]

the song is about how you feel depressed and suicidal.

[@adrianj78]

7:16 "distill the life inside of me"; and 7:30 "warm milk and laxatives" plus the "cherry flavored antacids" are all about his heroin addiction which he could not kick

[@angelmorrigan7680]

love the cover photo on this video of kurt with a cappacino cup- never seen it before- good video!

[@timbrown1834]

AI generated

[@VirtualsShit]

Pretty sure its AI, I know this channel uses a lot of it :(

[@debaser_666]

The song means to me that Courtney Love had no part in any way of writing it or any pieces of it.

[@Blisteryn]

Courtney wrote better songs than Pennyroyal tea.

[@rome8180]

What kind of comment is this? There is no meaning to this comment. I can't believe that five people liked it.

[@debaser_666]

@rome8180 It's a youtube comment. On a youtube video. Amazing, isn't it. And you're going to find in life as you get older that there are going to be many things that are unbelievable to you. But they're real. It's quite the life.

[@debaser_666]

@@Blisteryn Yeah, the ones he wrote for her on Live Through This.

[@xXxzAAa0aAAzxXx]

​@@debaser_666in bloom is about guys like you

[@its_davidserret]

I always think of the Boston Tea Party when I hear this one.

[@nothingimportant4504]

The mood of the Unplugged performance wasn’t really set until Pennyroyal Tea. You can kind of hear the band is playing very true, but there’s a nervous energy in the first four songs. I feel like Kurt let go doing this song alone, bare bones, and fragile, and found the real power in his voice and playing in this format, and the show went to legendary status after that.

[@joshkaseward]

It's so sad Pat didn't sing with Kurt because I think the dissonance in the harmony was pretty beautiful.

[@dariorodriguezdeamerica]

Heroin makes your intestines stop working as a side effect.

[@leonardsalinas2002]

To me when I first heard it, I thought it was about a sick dying man who wants to drink pennyroyal tea to cleanse his soul of his demons

[@DaveC9000]

These statements can both be true. Songs developed over long periods of time can go through stages. It's possible that the song was initially born in 1990 and Love was there during a later stage of its writing. I have songs with verses that were written years apart.

[@stephenbrooks9509]

Worst Nirvana song with a bullet. Desperately needs a bridge.

[@thehappinessmonster647]

This song, as you pointed out, has many layers of interpretation, each line meaning more than just one thing at once, and it would be very naive to think that it has only one meaning overall.

[@occiferkodi]

1:37 well Courtney’s dad was a verified FBI Informant who manages Grateful Dead so the hippie he’s talking about is Courtney 😂😂

[@elizabethsedai854]

Do what now? I've never heard this, and I'm interested! Can you expound on this and/or provide sources?

[@Koodayengine]

"I hate myself and want to die", if people write lyrics like these, they meant it, and we ALL relate to it, I dont care what you say, Lil Peep, Amy Winehouse etc...they lie about how they died in fear of copycat suicides, but they literally wrote what was going to happen and made videos, mental health one of top killers of all time.

[@jiskefetisj]

He had written the song when he was living with Dave, so no, Courtney had nothing to do with the song. There’s also version from 1991 where he sings it by himself on stage

[@ptgraphix]

No matter how it happened, Kurt was a musical genius! The grunge and late 80s and 90s+ music will mainly be attributed to Nirvana's talent! FOREVER!

[@rutger51]

About his ex girlfriend from the 80’s

[@kongvinter33]

>Courtney didnt help write it, it was written in 1990, even before they met.

[@Sundreesoro55]

6:13 you can hear dave grohl say this at the end of the MTV unplugged the man who sold the world nirvana cover

[@floepiejane]

I always understood the song to be an affirmation of life, as a small victory against his significant ailments, but honestly i never did do any research on it. I remember an interview where he explained that, of which this video meantions.

[@gstrou86]

Thought my tinnitus was acting up watching this video!

[@mimiru27]

I used to change the lyrics when i play it live to “I'm so tired of making money”.. 😂

[@Natalie-ok3bz]

Kurt was a jokester. He liked to pick and choose what to put into his music and laugh at us trying to figure it out. Key words are from memoires. The rest is just words that flowed with the melody.❤

[@Kristin-nr1mr]

What haunts me is the pedo stuff in his journals. Read them.

[@Liztonicedtea]

Steve Albini or Kurt? Or both?

[@064Films]

He sits and drinks... penny royalties... while the music industry/mass media distills the life inside of him... ? 🤔

[@MiKeMiDNiTe-77]

Excellent song from an excellent album

[@FrenchyCanuck]

The MTV Live and Loud is the best version of this great song.

[@TheErsatzMode]

What is the music played at the extreme end of the video, please; the guitar playing with the phaser/chorus effect?

[@tomfranco4866]

Kurt Cobain I think was mainly on this kick writing music about depression his life struggles women's anatomy don't get me wrong it made him a unique short-lived artist him and his band were in the right place at the right time

[@neverdive1059]

Kurt is probably the least reliable source. He’d admitted at multiples times his propensity to tell (and the usefulness of) “rock star lies”, for lack of a better term. He knew how big of a star he wanted to be, and he was fully aware of the romanticizing that comes with that. The story behind Something In The Way, him stealing his stepdads guns and throwing them in the river, etc are all examples of his willing to bend the truth to improve the story.

[@lycanthrogenic979]

7:05 "hippie left-wing fascist propaganda" this is so beautiful

[@alexv1190]

He hated the right and religion even worse if you read his last diary entries a week before he died

[@alexv1190]

He hated the right

[@alexv1190]

And religion

[@alexv1190]

Even worse if you read his last diary entries before he died

[@Jasperkins7]

@@alexv1190 ...and hated himself

[@AlexHall-m4r]

He's talking to a foster parent

[@adamblackman6660]

I can’t wait to hear what kind of music Kurt Cobain and Mark Lanegan are cooking up in the spirit world

[@pepuletrz]

himself....obviously.

[@i-am-lostt]

pennyroyal is one of my favorites

[@vishkavishovski300]

When did he ever say he hated the Albini mix?!?!!!!!

[@alezaba]

Penny royalty

[@Horizontality321]

Courtney Love didn't even write her own songs

[@ralphhutchinson940]

He didn't write the song it was a bootleg illegally copyrighted. Listen to Teen Spirit closely it's about the paparazzi recording crew and Kurt Cobain's ghost songwriter. Here we are now entertain us..

[@sk8rtim709]

Great song and I do love the unplugged version a lot...that's for everyone's perspective and or opinions.

[@blackmatterlives9865]

" Hippie, left-wing facist propaganda" wow the guy was truly ahead of his time! I love it!

[@smokingzombiefilms]

Love the album but for some reason, this song never worked for me…

[@SOAMLE]

he shouldve called it penny royalty

[@Pennyroyal_T.]

💜

[@roknrolbilly]

[@inelhuayocan_aci]

I disagree with the sentiments that conclude this otherwise masterful piece of documantarian content in that it's not about any one person's truth concerning how the song came to be or what it means. It came to me one way and meant one thing to its author. To capture that is to solve the puzzle, which is paramount to understanding what the composer intended to convey through the means of the song.

[@JoshuaRicamonte-cr4oh]

Did nevermind overtook hotel California,

[@ChomperN00B]

whats with the ai slop

[@dondamon4669]

His unplugged version is up there with Noel Gallagher's slide away solo chiacago performance

[@maxx6095]

What’s the credit to the song we hear at 8:45 ?

[@philipalmen5116]

Royal tea royalty. Missed that in plain sight

[@JoshuaRicamonte-cr4oh]

Was debi mazar to blame for Kurt Cobain's death,

[@wdrean]

Nevermind is an album not a song

[@MrOctober44]

Never understood the popularity of the song. 🤷

[@beingsshepherd]

"[...] is a tea from an herb [...]" 🤔 If you're going to pronounce "herb" the *English* way (starting with a consonant) then "an" becomes grammatically incorrect ... and sounds very weird.

[@firestar30006]

What’s that theme from your outro

[@cobovideo]

The beep noise ruins this video

[@p.b.palaciosalmafuerte3463]

7:23- 7:24 its layne?

[@rov8055]

Alicia Harkey

[@liveshotsvideoproductions]

I've never liked this song on either In Utero or Unplugged and skip it nearly every time I listen to the albums

[@jebj1]

well you should go seek professional help

[@gabrielwendell8382]

was to be the 3rd single off in utero i thought

[@timothymacdonald5694]

I thought it was abt being bored...

[@connordebruler3264]

himself

[@GunnReqwan]

It's funny how Kurt reincarnates 13 years later... He walks among us

[@GunnReqwan]

He did start fresh and he's sitting in wait. Waiting for a time to make himself known

[@k3va]

Try had a new female babybod waiting for fate to take is lovedetermined place in this crazy existence, due date scheduled for 'kill the king in rome' day,, (re)born in Seattle the next. Soul'plits equal simply complicated rough times as we existed between the ties of two different bloodlines, makes sense actual day of "death" was to be exactly 1month later. The universe works in parcurlierly mysterious wayves. Soul recognition is very fuxkin rare nowadays. Thanks for noticing, man. 🕉️

[@pho3nixinflight]

Never cared for the song

[@user-mf3bp6kb5b]

Ok cool idrc

[@youtubesgay]

Same. Unimaginitive, uninspired, unlistenable.

[@robovac3557]

Yeah, me neither.

[@youtubesgay]

@@pho3nixinflight uninspired, unimaginative, unlistenable.

[@youtubesgay]

@@pho3nixinflight Uninspired, unimaginative, unlistenable.