Nirvana – Sifting

General CommentKurt uses child-like rhymes and his own nonsense to portray his hatred of authority figures, with personal experiences added.

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  @RehersedInsanity

General Commenti like how when the song opens up with the palm muting it sounds like your walls are gonna cave in, it vibrates your speakers and everything. i love palm muting, and too bad this is the only album nirvana does that for the most part. bleach is a great album, stunningly simple and the solos are almost dumb in some of the songs, especially floyd the barber, but it still sounds really good. nirvanas other albums were good and have never been replicated, but this one is different. i read in a review once that its more like a force than actual music you know. i think bleach is my favorite album, for a long time i didnt have a favorite nirvana album, but i think that has changed.

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  @wally the walrus
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  @wally the walrus i love cobains speaking, and even tho he gets no ''soloist'' credit to the guitar keenest.. its not all that bad. the words and fun always make up for it with Kobain, and it sounds darkish with his style when he needs it.. but moody . ?

  Flag wild146519on January 25, 2015  

General CommentThis is my all time favorite nirvana song. There is no way anyone can sit and tell what he meant in any song some seem obvious others not so obvious. Thats the great thing about Nirvana and Kurt Cobain you can get several different meanings from every song. It depends on the traumas, life experiences, and views of the individual. Thats why Nirvana is so popular in such a widespread group. The generation that thrives to be different from everyone and everything. Nirvana is different and can mean so many different things to so many different people. They made me feel like I wasnt alone in all my flaws and differences. Dont hide them celebrate them. For the influence Nirvana has given me is the best gift I have. A lot of people think Im nuts for a band to influence and impact my life so much and others know how I feel because they touched them in a different way. We all have our own values of Nirvana and what it means so lets all take pride that we got to have ownership in these feelings and Nirvana was a part of our lives and will continue to be forever!!!!

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  @graceofeden2002

General Commenti think personifythelies is right about overanalyzing the music, just enjoy it and find a meaning that fits u is wut i say. To me this song is a drug reference. The line "your eyes..." is what made me think this at first cause when u get stoned usually ur eyes get red. And then the lines "teacher said" and "preacher said" kinda push that idea cause it's not that unbelieveable for a teacher, preaher or some other authority figure questioning u if they thought u were on drugs. i don't know that just wut i think....

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  @queenjane
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  @queenjane yup. same here. they are too silly, and even kc knew.. grunge was a great aesthetic still is but music kinda is stuck ;/ unless we make our own a bit.. as always probably.

  Flag wild146519on January 25, 2015  

General CommentAgreed. Don't overanalyze anything Kurt does. He brags about saying something and then saying it again differently. He does this over and over in almost every song. Sifting is a classic... the whole song is just a few repeated lyrics but none are repeated the same. Listen to it.

Don't have nothing for you. Don't let him come in for you. Don't have nothing for you... don't let him come in for you. Don' t have nothing for you.

Cross says floss. Cross says FALSE. Wouldn't it be fun?

It's your own crossword puzzle.

It's whatever you want it to be.

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  @Timaay
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  @Timaay yeah , thats poetry and singing blending tones, talk and etc. its music and fun cause you can ''sift'' it to your meaning while the artist vents.. its the best artists can do in our money society to give ''sell'' . to us for enjoyment while surviving. i love venting with this riff on my guitar. kc inspires and yes its a crossword. all my favorite artists are. and were. ?

  Flag wild146519on January 25, 2015  

General CommentI actually agree with one person finally. Dont try to analyze his songs.Enjoy what he has left behind.

Goodbye

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  @Milk-It 411

General CommentYou are all gravely mistaken in your interpretations.

These lyrics are extremely false, you obviously just went by ear.


To the piece of swine that referred to the lyrics of School as "dumb", just because you do not understand them at all, does not make them "dumb".


It's so damn sad that there are hardly any real Nirvana fans in existence, most of you just think Kurt's songs were about drugs, but he saw a much bigger picture.

This song is about life itself, the state of the world. Here, I'll give you an interpretation for the first line, use the same tactic to determine the rest, you'll come to more logical conclusions then your small minds usually allow.

"Afraid to grade
Wouldn't it be fun?"

Turn that around, and it makes more sense to fools, as in, something like this, "Wouldn't it be fun if you were afraid to grade?", basically means, wouldn't the world be a better place if everybody wasn't so instinctively judgmental.

But I doubt you understand, and if so, then you will NEVER understand Kurt.

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  @JimiCobain
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  This is pretty much exactly the over-analyzing of lyrics that Cobain is documented to have hated. He's also documented to have worked on melody and music first, and lyrics came a distant second.
  
  The lyrics in the song are just rhyming words, sometimes humourous or aggressive, but rarely meaningful.
  
  Great song, passable lyrics, the end.

  Flag Starqueston February 16, 2011  

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  @JimiCobain Althought I have a different interpretation of those lyrics, I completely agree with you about the fact that Kurt's lyrics always have a deeper meaning, but very few people are trying to find it. The saddest thing is that most of the people who call themselves Nirvana fans, actually don't see that deeper meaning in Kurt's songs. It's such a shame, and their listening to Nirvana was waste of time.

  Flag IvonaNirvanaon August 13, 2019  

General Commenti agree with rehersedinsanity. cobain used a lot of (painful) childhood experiences as lyrical inspiration, especially on bleach. but i think these kind of nostalgic childhood songs are usually funny... or not as serious as they could be. the line "wet your bed, wouldn't it be fun?" keeps it from getting too serious. likewise... the song "school" is musically very angry, violent, and ardent ... but the lyrics are so dumb. ("you're in high school again... no recess!")

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  @once_i__
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  @once_i__

  Flag IvonaNirvanaon August 13, 2019  

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  @once_i__ The lyrics of "School" are dumb???!!! Obviously you don't get it.

  Flag IvonaNirvanaon August 13, 2019  

General CommentThis song is classic grunge, and so is the whole bleach album, how can anyone say it is rubbish?
Kurt was obviously stoned when he wrote this song, yet I believe the song has benefitted from this anyway!
the little sentences, e.g. "Wed your bed" and "Afraid to grade" compliment the grunge riff
The lyric is "Wed" your bed, not "Wet" the song is ultimately about people who have mental illnesses like phobia's and compulsions

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  @stezza

General CommentStezza, first of all; Bleach is more hesher rock. The Melvins are given credit for being the #1 influence on NIRVANA's original playing style. Grunge was a concept created by Green River and The Melvins, together spawning Mudhoney, Mother Love Bone, Mookie Blaylocke, and now Pearl Jam. Personally, I think people over-think these things. Don't ruin the music by trying to understand it, just enjoy it. After all, Kurt Cobain himself said (in an interview) that people keep coming up with ellaborate meanings for his songs, when most of them are just pieces of poetry he wrote or mindless garble- garbage. Just enjoy the music. :)

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  @PersonifyTheLies