Drain You

jus because he did drugs doesnt mean all his songs were about them! get a grip!

Kurt wrote this about this chick he liked, Toby Vail, but she didn't like him back...he felt that whenever they were close that they could make it work, but then she just rejected him again...hence draining him

treestump is right. It was about a girl. Not drugs. Go read the bio. Its in there.

One baby to another says, "I'm lucky to have met you"

Baby saying to teenage mom that he is happy to have been born and thus meet her.

I don't care what you think unless it is about me

self explanatory. He just wants nourishment. He does not have the mental capabilities yet to care about much else.

It is now my duty to completely drain you

Raising a child is draining, especially for a teenage mom. Self explanatory here.

I travel through a tube and end up in your infection

He travels through the filopian tubes, and is born into the "infection" that is his life and this earth.

Chew your meat for you Pass it back and forth in a passionate kiss From my mouth to yours I like you -

Extremely self explanatory

With eyes so dilated, I've became your pupil

Baby is ready to learn from mom.

You've taught me everything about a poison apple

Could be referencing the mom reading him fairy tales, because poison apples are in them. Also religion? I think it is just a reference to her teaching him in general of "fables" about how the world is not that bad of a place, but he knows better.

The water is so yellow I'm a healthy student

His urine is yellow, which is a sign of good health.

Indebted and so grateful Vacuum out the fluids

He is grateful to have not been aborted.

Chew your meat for you Pass it back and forth in a passionate kiss From my mouth to yours I like you, you, you, you, you, you

self explanatory

The song is about being in love. And anyone who thinks about drugs, is a fuck dumbass.

As a foreword, Kurt said that the most important line to the interpretation of the song was the first line.

Starting there (where else?)... I think the "babies" he's referring to are not babies at all, they're, in fact, two immature people. They're mentally "babies" in their maturity and thought process, narcissistic.

"One baby to another says, I'm lucky to have met you" The start of a relationship, seems good and in this case it seems like it's a positive thing.

"I don't care what you think unless it is about me" Each person is narcissistic and selfish. They don't care about the other person's opinions or thoughts, they just want them to be the center of attention and focus in their mind. And in the metaphor as a baby, a baby is unconcerned with greater thought and is naive and unaware of any other needs besides its survival-- the need to be fed, nurtured, loved, etc.

"It is now my duty to completely drain you" Such a person will take, take, take from others until they have nothing left to give. And they don't care as long as they were the recipient. They'll leave you drained because they're so selfish or self-concerned. Like a nursing baby, literally draining the mother, haha; such will an adult baby if you nurture and allow that behavior.

"Chew your meat for you, pass it back and forth in a passionate kiss, from my mouth to yours, I like you" Like a baby bird, unable (or a person that is unwilling) to do things for their own, in human context, a co-dependent person needs the other one or so they feel and they need to feel nurtured and taken care of... it's co-dependency in the intended context (as I see it). Two people so co-dependent on each other that down to something as basic as chewing their own food they need that level of "babying" from their partner. The rest kind of is self-explanatory, passing it back and forth in a passionate kiss, I like you-- just indicative of this back and forth feeding of two people in a co-dependent relationship clinging to each other desperately. Passionate kiss and I like you shows it's a romantic relationship, I think is pretty clear.

"With eyes so dilated I've become your pupil" As others have said, to debunk a heroin reference-- opiates cause pupil constriction, NOT dilation-- BUT it could mean the opposite, a person in withdrawal-- but in this case, not heroin, but a different drug-- a co-dependent relationship. When you separate two such people, they go into "withdrawal" and crave being back with that person, even if it's not good for them at all. May be metaphorical for that kind of withdrawal in parallel to heroin withdrawal... or it could also reference the fact that when we think about or look at someone we're enamored with, our pupils dilate. Dilated pupils could be indicative of love and infatuation, alternatively.

"You taught me everything without a poison apple" Always see this line misquoted as "about a poison apple". Poison apple referring to the Garden of Eden and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (though, technically it wasn't "poison", it was just forbidden to taste of)... I'm not quite sure to make of the pupil/knowledge/teaching part, to be honest.

"The water is so yellow, I'm a healthy student" To me, what comes to mind is when you're taking vitamins, it turns your piss yellow. And if the water is so yellow, it means you've been taking your vitamins, and therefore you're assumably "healthy". This also ties in with the next to last line about "you're my vitamins". You can finish that correlation for yourself.

"I travel through a tube and end up in your infection" This is the one line that leads me to possible other interpretations, such as the one suggested about a baby traveling through a fallopian tube and ending up "your infection", metaphorical for being born into/as "the virus of life" (as Slipknot would put it). But if I'm to try and fit that into all of the above which I've said (which to me, makes a lot of sense) I kind of imagine traveling through a tube as one getting that sort of tunnel vision of love where you are blind to any bad things about the person or situation because you're so infatuated with them, only later to have your eyes opened to who they really are and the reality of things (the infection)... to end up in a relationship that you're both so completely overcome by and engulfed in, yet you're addicted and dependent on a person and relationship that is totally infectious.

And that's my take. If not the later lines, I think my interpretation of the overall meaning or portrayal that this song was meant to paint seems pretty accurate... but as always, who knows. Interpretation is interpretation and there's my 2 cents...which, at this point, combined with the others would make this thread worth $3.84-- not that great, haha.

This is one of the more disturbing popular songs I can think of. This song is not about love or a heroine addiction. It's about abortion.

Mom's pregnant but she's got a surprise. She's got twins and doesn't know it. A lot of the dialogue in the song is hello, goodbye, and thanks between the 2 embryos. One of the babies makes it through the procedure and the other is paying homage to the lost brother or sister.

The next time you listen to the break and build up in the song listen for the squeaky noise effects. Those are babies toys. Listen for the back and forth effect as the vacuum does it's business. Listen to the scream diminish as the baby is sucked away.

Consider cobain wasn't scared to address the subject in pennyroyal tea. Consider the constant medical references throughout in utero as well as the almost obsessive use of babies in the album art. Consider the name of the song. Quite bluntly titled Drain you.

This song is a dark masterpiece and as I said disturbing. If you've managed to read this far, Drain you will never sound the same again.

This song is about Cobain's first kiss. Notice the reference to the poison apple think back to your fairy tale days...

I think a lot of people misinterpret this song because of the weird lyrics don't take them so literally. Cobain is actually just looking at kissing as an outsider(it almost seems as if he is disgusted by it too!). The tube is her mouth it is not a drug reference, ha ha.

god dammit, yes, that could it be also! a travel through a tube and end up in you affection = giving birth... for some reason when i start "analyzing" this song i always get stuck on that particular line... sigh... i'm going to my room now.. try to figure out

This is a good love song. Its definitely one of the more upbeat nirvana songs, not quite so depressing. i enjoy listening to it.