Nirvana - Pennyroyal Tea (Single Edit)

Here is some background information on "Pennyroyal Tea" from songfacts.com :

This song is about making a tough decision, the difficult choices around it, and the guilt following it.

Pennyroyal Tea can induce an abortion when drunk in large quantities. Due to its toxicity, however, drinking a lot of it is very dangerous.

Nirvana played this on their MTV Unplugged special, which was recorded shortly before Kurt Cobain killed himself. The album was released about 6 months after his death, and went to #1 in both the UK and US.

This was the only song during the MTV Unplugged performance that Kurt Cobain played solo, a decision which might have been made at the last minute given the dialogue by Cobain right before he starts playing.

The reference to laxatives and cherry-flavored antacids implies the song is about heroin addiction. Many junkies have laxatives around to combat the chronic constipation that opiates bring.

A remix of this was scheduled for release as a single, but it was pulled when Cobain died. The few copies that leaked out are now rare collector's items.

The lyrics could be Kurt thinking he's a lazy, weak figurehead who is depressed and sad and wants a new life. Some lyric analysis:
"I'm on my time with everyone" - He was usually late for interviews.
"I have very bad posture" - Childhood Scoliosis made him appear hunched over.
"Sit and drink pennyroyal tea" - This could be a drug he took to calm his stomach pains, but it is also a play on words with penny royalty, meaning a cheap figure head.
"Distill the life that's inside of me" - He wants to cleanse his life and start fresh.

The line, "I'm on warm milk and laxatives." could be about Cobain's dependence on DXM, scientifically known as dextromethorphan, which is available in most drug stores. As a result of consuming so much DXM (in the form of Robotussin), he developed stomach pains. One of the long term affects from this is the deterioration of the kidney and liver. The pain that you get from this physically addicting drug is unimaginable. It drove him to do heroine, which didn't last long so he used other remedies to cure his stomach pain.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Nirvana
• Pennyroyal
• Tea
• Single
• Version
• Greatest
• Hits
• 2002
• Kurt
• Cobain
• Dave
• Grohl
• Krist
• Novoselic
• R.I.P.
• Kurdt
• Kobain

[miracapoeira]

I have this cd

G8

[jimtheejim]

Great Song!! Simple, powerful, beautiful and dark. COOL / POP / ROCK not many bands pull that off! x

[boomsta89]

god bless him

[CoReYcRaCkDoWn]

@jjc19461 In the album version its more "pennyroyalll teaaaaaaa" In this its "pennyroyalll taaaaaayyyy" He enunciates it in the album version, and IMO it sounds less natural. By the way, Happy Birthday Kurt. R.I.P

[jjc19461]

so whats different between this verison and the album verison??

[redefyne]

HIs stomach pains were there from a very young age. It was caused by his scoliosis. The whole "he caused his own stomach pains and then went into heroin" is complete bullshit.

[ThePjlion44]

dont get me wrong nirvana is nirvana and i love anything they do. but this version is just fucking ass kicking and in your face. with kurts vocals double tracked and th e guitars louder, it gives it such a full sound i love every second of it

[roejogan8]

@undercoverLsX no this version is not on the album. it's remixed by scott litt.

[ChandlerTV100]

listen can't we all get along and hope that he see's it and quit's his job ( i'm talking about gaywad) ? i mean stop arguing? please let's all make peace.

[NotFruity]

@ChandlerTV100 Cool story, bro. Tell it again. How about you stop bitching about the music we have today? We all know the majority of it sucks. Stop reminding us, please, and just enjoy the music that we all came to this video to listen to. And calling Kurt an asshole for killing himself is completely insenstive, asshole.