About a Girl

TRACI MARANDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With all respect, I think to properly understand this song, and any great work, one has to pull one's self away from the love of the artist and knowledge of their personal trivia. Let the song stand for itself. It is a terrific piece of minimalist poetry with its own meaning that will endure long after Kurt Cobain’s personal history and relationships are forgotten.<br /> I don’t know anything about “Tracy” and certainly did not know Kurt personally and so would not suggest either was actually involved in prostitution. The greatest artists are not that self-centered and write, instead, of the tragedy they see and feel in the lives of others around them.<br /> I hear this song as a dark, disturbing “Roxanne”. It is the story of a very lonely man who has fallen in love with a hooker. She treats him as a friend when they are together and listens indulgently just as a good professional should. She probably does have a “clue” of his feelings for her but she does not want to acknowledge that because she does not feel the same.<br /> “Take advantage while… you hang me out to dry” a bitter complaint that the relationship is one-sided.<br /> “I’m standing in your line. I hope you have the time. I take a number, too.” Like every other customer waiting for his number to be called at the meat market, this man is waiting his turn with the object of his affections. That he has to take a number and wait like everyone else reveals the tragic awareness that he is just another “John” to her.<br /> And, because of her professional view of him, because she does not love him the way he loves her, he can’t have her every night for free… only when he pays.<br /> The repeated, plaintiff refrain, “I do”, is a sad reference to one half of a wedding vow.<br /> Damn good music!<br />

@CompleteNirvana Her name was actually Tracy. not Stacey.

@CompleteNirvana Her name was actually Tracy. not Stacey.