Nirvana – Something in the Way

General Comment'The “something in the way” was Kurt. He felt like he was just something in the way. The song details the time he supposedly lived under a bridge. (He never actually did live under a bridge, but told people that he had.) The song is essentially about being discarded by those around you and made to feel like a burden. It’s a pretty personal song.'
–The Amazing Atheist

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  @Psychonomaly
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  @Psychonomaly yeah this is bull shit

  Flag davdichon January 29, 2018  

General CommentActually it's about when his parents kicked him out and he was living under a bridge.

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  @King Nothing
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  @King Nothing Its Obviously not about his parents kicking him out because he lived with his aunt and uncle

  Flag bryson1000on April 29, 2015  

General CommentThrough reading Charles Cross's Kurt biography it's been found from a number of reliable sources (family and friends of the time) that the story of running away and sleeping uner the bridge in aberdeen is untrue - the people that say that it isn't true (His aunt and two friends I think) explain it in a really good way - they say that "Kurt never let the facts get in the way of a good story" I like to think of him that way - he wrote these amazing songs and although we dont have to read them as though they are all autobiographical, they still hold so much poetic imagery and beauty! Bye4now!

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  @CaNiS mAjOr
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  @CaNiS mAjOr I'd say it was probably what Kurt imagined it felt like living under a bridge, or at least a metaphor for his feeling of abandonment.

  Flag sokornyon March 01, 2016  

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  @CaNiS mAjOr I agree. He was a song writer. He had imagination. He was an artist. Props to saying that. People dont realize that. Ive personally written poetry thats untrue lol and it just occurs to me that this poetry would be better. Its more common for songs to be autobiographical or people want them to be or want to veiw them that way. Kurt wrote music first before lyrics. The feeling was more important

  Flag davdichon January 29, 2018  

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  @CaNiS mAjOr ETM, Bye-4-Now?

  Flag runningyankson May 09, 2019  

General CommentToo bad he never actually did live under a bridge.

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  @StephM168
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  Actually yes he did dumbass he said it in an interview.

  Flag nirvana68on November 28, 2010  

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  @nirvana68 most sources outside of Kurt himself suggests that he did have a transitional period in his life, but it is unlikely that he actually did live under a bridge (at least for any substantial period of time).

  Flag sokornyon March 01, 2016  

General Commenthey thats really cool... [adds washington bridge to places to go before i die]

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  @Punker829

General CommentMan, lol. Some people have it right on here some people don't.

This song was written by Kurt as almost a stab at his parents and family, telling them that this is where they have sent him, 'underneath the bridge'. Also, it was a methaphor for isolation and lonliness that all of us feel as adolscents.

It is NOT a true story. Kurt could not sleep underneath the bridge that he is referring to, as the Wishkah rivers tide rises and would wash him away!

Also, as a sidenote, Kurt recorded the Nevermind version of this lying on his back in Butch Vigs recording studio, playing his old beat up stella I believe.

They couldn't get the song right, so Kurt walked up to Butch as said 'This is how it should sound' and layed down on his back and started playing/singing. But was like 'Whoa, whoa, wait wait' and turned off everything in the whole place, put mics all around Kurt, and let him go at it. And it worked out beautifully.

No matter how sad some think this song is, I always get a chuckle out of imagining Kurt lying on his back and singing it, heh.

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  @OnTheMantle
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  @OnTheMantle very much agree with your interpretation regarding that "underneath the bridge" is a metaphor for his abandonment.

  Flag sokornyon March 01, 2016  

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  @OnTheMantle He did in fact live, more so slept, under the bridge. I too have slept under the same bridge on multiple occasions and not once did i ever get washed away. The water doesnt get that high unless it's flood season. I know he did this for a fact as my family is actually very good friends with his cousin and a lot of other people that knew him. "Something in the way" refers to himself feeling in the way as well as feeling like something is in the way of him being happy.

  Flag woofagoofaon October 06, 2017  

General CommentI think
Underneath the bridge
The tarp has sprung a leak

is literally, a bridge over troubled water.

and if you listen to the song that fits musically too, as the ending is in stark contrast to the first part of the song, and somewhat violent.


also

The album's title refers to the Wishkah River in Aberdeen, Washington, where Cobain claimed to have spent nights sleeping under the Young Street Bridge as a teenager (as referenced in the song "Something in the Way," from the band's 1991 release, Nevermind). This claim has since been refuted by Novoselic, who said, "He never lived under that bridge. He hung out there, but you couldn't live on those muddy banks, with the tide coming up and down. That was his own revisionism."[

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  @oliverthered
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  @oliverthered he was a story teller. I dare say one day whilst "hanging out" under the bridge he imagined what life would be like there, perhaps even felt living under the bridge was a great metaphor for where his life was at that stage.

  Flag sokornyon March 01, 2016  

My OpinionAfter hearing this many many times it made sense it's okay to eat fish because they don't have any feelings. Kurt was a Pisces aka a fish and he didn't have any feelings because he was numb. I know the song is just a song nothing really real happened but it's depression and my thoughts about Pisces and not having feelings (Kurt not everyone who's a Pisces ) makes sense.

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  @jamesgang90

General CommentLife under the washington state bridge....it hink thats the name of the bridge other meanings r also whats hes trying to say in the song, songs like these r called double-meaning songs kurt wrote alot of these

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  @KurtCobain2727
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  @KurtCobain2727

  Flag Vilomahon October 07, 2017  

General CommentWRONG

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  @KurtCobain2727