Nirvana – Very Ape

"Very Ape" as written by and Kurt Cobain....
I am buried up to my neck in
Contradictionary lies
I take pride as the kind of illiterature
I'm very ape and very nice

If you ever need anything please don't hesitate
to ask someone else first
I'm too busy acting like I'm not naive.
I've seen it all I was here first

Out of the ground
Into the sky
Out of the sky
Into the dirt


Lyrics submitted by justinjtp, edited by spacebat11, BudGreen0420

"Very Ape" as written by Kurt Cobain

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management

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Very Ape song meanings
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  • +20
    General Commentat age 16 in my bedroom with a hand gun to my head had just about enough of this fucking life nirvana is playing in the background and just when i'm about to pull the trigger i hear
    "... if you ever need anything please don't hesitate
    to ask someone else first
    i'm too busy acting like i'm not naive
    I've seen it all i was here first ..."
    what it meant to me at that moment i'm gonna keep to myself (and its noway near to what some of you are posting here) but it did save my life
    i'm 34 now and have no plans to check out early.
    thank you Kurt for being there at the right time, i wish i could have been there for you man.

    any who, my point is, stop arguing about the meaning of songs and lyrics. get it the way you want to get it because none of you really knows true meaning of it and the only one who really knows what it means is no longer available for comments.
    muddywateron April 22, 2012   Link
  • +5
    My Interpretation"Out of the ground
    Into the sky
    Out of the sky
    Into the dirt"
    I see this as bipolar mania.. Because "out of the ground, into the sky" during mania you feel depressed and all of the sudden feel great and on top of the world.. "Out of the sky, into the dirt" back into depression...
    megnannon June 18, 2013   Link
  • +3
    General CommentThis is basically Kurt talking about all the hicks he used ot live by in Aberdeen, who were completely stupid, but failed to realise it. When they did realise it, they always tried to cover it up...

    He's also talking about how they feel that Aberdeen belongs to them, because their whole family was born and raised in this one little town.
    WishingOfHeron April 28, 2002   Link
  • +3
    General CommentThis is probably one of my favorite Nirvana songs of all time. I'm actually from somewhere close to Aberdeen, and for anyone who wants to know, it is a dank, muddy little piece-of-shit town not even worth visiting. I have to go there almost every day to go shopping. But yeah the people around here are exactly the way he expressed them in his song. They are so idiotic and they think theyre smart, which is sad because its so obvious that theyre morons. They think they are better than everybody because their ma's n' pa's were born and raised here and blah blah fucking blah. They try to act like they know everything and that they've "seen it all" when most of them had never even left the state. I always plast the song during PE when the jock guys are playing basketball and I chuckle to myself because they have no idea that I'm mocking them hardcore. Whenever they say something stupid in class, i start singing that song under my breath and they look all confused. haha. its great.
    diseased_and_amusedon May 09, 2004   Link
  • +2
    General CommentThis song is about macho guys and what not, its making fun of them. "I take pride as the king of illiterature
    I'm very ape and very nice" Mocking them so badly.
    floppyon August 22, 2002   Link
  • +2
    General CommentWell, I once read about how kurt refered to himself as 'the king of illiterature' to mock Coutney when she would rub it in his face, the fact that she was had read a lot more books than he had. And the rest of the song, I think, is not pointing the finger at the people he grew up with, but is revelaing his own warts. In interviews toward the end of his life, a Kurt who is becoming more and more painfully aware of his own short comings of chartactor emerges. Hence, I would be inclined to beleive that this song is a minor 'inventory' of defects. I could be wrong...
    Oh Peaon July 02, 2003   Link
    • 1 Reply
  • +2
    General CommentI always assumed the song to be kind of about evolution. I figured that's what the title meant, kind of a reference to the theory of evolution where we all came from apes. Then, I think because of Kurt's negative view of humans the lyrics tend to bring out common human short comings, such as the common arrogance displayed my most humans that he seems to be addressing with the line "I've seen it all, I was here first." Then also the "out of the ground, into the sky, out of the sky, into the ground" lines seem to be speaking of evolution because if you follow that pattern we came from dirt (out of the ground), we "blossomed" or "peaked" in terms of our human capabilties (into the sky), and then our downfall (out of the sky and into the ground).
    Cornerstoneon April 19, 2004   Link
  • +1
    General CommentI agree with floppy.
    fuckyouallon August 27, 2002   Link
  • +1
    General CommentOut of the ground
    Into the sky
    Out of the sky
    Into the dirt

    if it is talking about the people in Aberdeen, maybe this bit is talking about how they believe that they are better than everyone, high ang mighty, while in reality they are the lowest u can get, the real dirt of society
    i dont know...whatever
    ninjamonkeyson February 28, 2005   Link
  • +1
    General CommentI think it's about people who believe they're inteligent just because of his age (like my grandpa)
    he's a moron but he feels more intelligent than the entire family just because he was here first... ._.
    danundergroundon August 11, 2010   Link

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