In Bloom

I feel that this song is about people who never get the full picture and idea or concept. They do things in vain, never understanding the deeper meaning. They live life as empty shells, never able to be truly fulfilled, on a spiritual/emotional level. Instead, they are satisfied by the superficial. A dog can throw his bone around and be quite contented by this simple action, and that is it- there is no more to it. A man can wave his gun around and much like the dog be contented, without putting any real thought into it. The man in the song is the primal force or aspect of society- nature in its true and crude form.

<i>I love how this song is in the video game 'The Rock band' or whatever, hypocritical, much?</i>

Because we all know it was Kurt's choice to put his song in a video game ;p

<i>Read the chorus carefully. Everything before the chorus it just random words. "Nature is a whore"-random. "Bruises on the fruit"-random. "Likes to shoot his gun" means likes to shoot his mouth. In other words someone who does have't a clue about what the song means likes to tell others what it means. You guys are doing exactly what Kurt is talking about.</i>

It's not random, you have to read into it. Look at it this way, the first line of the first verse goes into the first line of the second verse, the second line of the first verse goes into the second line of the second verse, and so on. It makes more sense that way (on the inside cover it is written that way in a poem)

He uses nature as a metaphor for human fertility.

<i>Sell the kids for food, we can have some more</i>

The kids in nature would be fruits, which you'd sell as food, since you'll always be able to have more fruit. It's about using the reproductive system for something other than what it is meant for (in this case food, the theme is linked to again in the chorus).

<i>Weather changes moods, nature is a whore</i>

This is about the mood swings that girls experience going into puberty and pregnancy (the weather of her body). Mother nature is a whore because she makes us so volatile.

<i>Spring is here again, bruises on the fruit</i>

Another reference to entering puberty and this time abused genitalia (abused in that it's used carelessley too often).

<i>Reproductive glands, tender age in bloom</i>

The most literal sentence here, again using the nature theme to describe human fertility.

Then the chorus

<i>He's the one who likes all our pretty songs And he likes to sing along And he likes to shoot his gun But he knows not what it means Knows not what it means And I say He's the one who likes all our pretty songs And he likes to sing along And he likes to shoot his gun But he knows not what it means Knows not what it means And I say yeah</i>

Shooting his gun is shooting your load, and the man doing it is blissfully ignorant of the importance of the creation of life that it represents. The first line of the verse is about using the reproductive system of plants for food, and the chorus is about using the reproductive system of humans for fun, without paying it any respect.

The song no doubt has a meaning describing people who listen to catchy, "pretty" music without really paying attention to what it means, but I think there's a much deeper meaning about adolescents who sleep around as soon as they start getting horny, as soon nature lets their little bodies develop.

Kurt was a great lyricist.</i>

I believe this is about people who listen to music for the wrong reasons.

This is about his own generation, Cobain was so frustrated and pissed of at his own Generations inability to truly rebel and bring about any real change in the world. Just about everyone of his songs screams this. Don't just sit there and say "Hmmmmmm, yeh". GET OUT THERE or IN HERE AND CHANGE THE FU!&*IN WORLD. Its not just about takin drugs and listenin to the music. Listen to it, get inspired and do something. Turn on, Tune in Drop out was one of the rallying crys of the last one. Find yours/ours and be the change you want to see!

This is what I found a about the song

the song addresses people outside of the underground music community who did not understand the band's message.

When breaking down any Nirvana song, keep in mind that Kurt thought our the melody of the lyrics to be more important than the words themselves. His lyrics were rarely on the nose at this point in his career (think about this song compared with About a Girl). By the time they were into writing Nevermind, his lyrics were more Impressionistic, more blotches of colors, ideas and impressions rather than strong 'logical' lines.

This album has incredibly specific mood without telling a full story, just amazing atmosphere. I think this really separates them from their contemporaries like Fugazi (straightforward politics) and Pearl Jam (storytellers). I don't think one is better than the other, but I more often find myself pondering Nirvana lyrics than the others. Grasping at the vapor of their meanings, which are often ineffable.

The idea that this song is some sort of anti "jocks" and "preps" rant that parodies an unlikely audience for Nirvana's music is obviously born from those who perceive the world through the myopic lens of a high schooler. Don't you think this belittles the band's intelligence and creative genius? I do. Also, nobody with this narrow interpretation of the song has yet explained how it's reflected in one of the most important clues to a work of art's meaning: its title.

Given the title "In Bloom", I agree with previous posts that the song is about reproduction. That's a good one word summary. However, once you read the lyrics in more detail you can see that the song is about the irony that GROWTH AND REPRODUCTION CAN ALSO BE DESTRUCTION. Sell the kids (destructive) for food (to live/grow). Nature (drive for life/growth) is a whore (uses itself up compulsively until it's ruined). Bruises (damage) on the fruit (symbol of life/growth). Tender (weakness, vunerability) age in bloom (growth). "Reproductive glands" is an overt reference to one's body becoming fertile in puberty. "He likes to shoot his gun" is an indirect reference to meaninglessly wasting this power of fertility as teenagers commonly do. It also alludes to the pleasure, power and aliveness that weak and ignorant people feel when playing with destructive force —or how sex and drugs make a us feel alive and powerful but are destructive when coupled with teenage weakness, inexperience and lack of purpose. These teenagers are grown-up enough to "like all our pretty songs", but are too young (superficial, naive, jaded, etc) to "know not what it means". So, for all those with minds still "in bloom" who prescribe to the simplistic "jocks" and "preps" interpretation of this song: it appears that in a way it may be describing you!

And here's the real beauty of this song: Not only does it represent the sexual and intellectual plight of the American teenager, how the very things that keep us alive also lead to our demise and make life just as ephemeral as a spring bloom, but it also represents Nirvana itself. A concept well portrayed by a baby swimming after money, it was their drive for growth and reproduction that destroyed them. I'm guessing this is why the band resonated so well with a generation of confused and misguided adolescents. :)

kurt's own take on wannabees

I think this song is there to poke fun at people that listen to music, and don't ever make an attempt to understand the lyrical content. A lot of people listen to Nirvana purely because they like their, hard rock, alternative, grungy sound. The people that don't listen to the lyrics sing along like zombies without knowing the meaning (just because it sounds good ). I believe that Kurt noticed this and it annoyed him. He would see meat headed, bigot like men, singing along to his songs (many of which had feminist themes), He wouldn't want these people as a part of his fan base. Inevitably these people would sing along to the song, and it was kind of a haha jokes on you, for Kurt. So in a way these people are insulting themselves without ever realizing it.

Excuse me if someone already said this because i only read a couple of the comments on the top of the list, anyway Kurt Cobain was a man who was in love with emotion and when he wrote a song that was more of a head banger and saw the people in the audience more affected by that song than one of his more mellow and emotion filled songs it broke his heart, (there isn't anybody in the world that knows what any of cobains songs are about even if he came out and said thats what it was about he could have just been saying that because thats what mtv wanted him to say the way cobain wrote songs was anybody listening could relate whether i was about them or not he was was definitively a talented man) anyway what i see this song as is kurt talking about that emotionless person who sells his kids for food and doesn't give a shit about nature (hence "nature is a whore) and all the other emotionless things this guy does and how this guy thinks hes a nirvana fan he likes all there songs and he likes to sing along and likes to raise hell at there conserts and talk about what a big fan he is (shoot his gun) but he doesn't really understand what these songs that he loves so much are even truly about so he isnt really a fan he just thinks he is (he don't know what it means when i say yeah) but like i said it can be about whatever you want it to be about thats how he wrote his music.