a first time listen of lithium by nirvana
okay so i've done a little bit of background reading into this song uh specifically the title
which turns out to be a reference to lithium salts which are used in medication to treat
manic depressive disorder which is a super cool concept to begin with and it's kurt cobain so
i've heard so much about his songwriting skills i'm curious to see where he kind of takes this
i've also got the lyrics up to kind of decide for what's going on and yeah if the uh single
art is anything to go by it's uh it's gonna be an interesting listen so let's check this out
bass intro i'm so happy cause today from my friends
i'm so ugly that's okay
okay so immediately i'm reading reading into a little bit of uh sort of
duality i guess he's saying i'm so happy because i found my friends but they're in my head
and i'm so ugly so he's going back and forth with it here so i guess it's uh
yeah it's playing into that manic depressive theme already see where this goes
in our days cause i found god
yes
wow
um wow what a chorus uh just at the end of the first verse uh he was saying
sunday yes sunday morning is every day for all i care and i'm not scared light
my candles in a daze because i've found god so sunday morning i'm guessing he's talking
about church here it's every day for like there's uh there's some religious themes
going on what i'm what i'm kind of seeing is especially after that chorus which was
an absolute explosion is a sort of quiet loud dynamic i'm i'm seeing there's a bit of like uh
he's almost holding back in the verses you know a little bit unsure of himself and then the chorus
seems to be the release of all that tension just i mean it's just a bunch of years but the
music is just it just punches you in the face man that's a incredible chorus if i've ever heard one
i'm so excited i can't wait to meet
okay again kind of cryptic lyrics i'm sorry he shaves his head but he's not sad
i'm just excited to blame for all i've heard okay hmm so this is clearly a guy who's uh
in a lot of pain and trying to find kind of the positives of his kind of strange actions
me you dare i'm so horny but that's okay my will is good kind of hard to to read into that maybe he
sees horny him being horny as a bad thing and the fact that he's able to hold strong my will is good
um interesting verse to say the least quite cryptic there
oh that chorus
okay
okay that is a [ __ ] amazing chorus man um the drums
bassline guitar and his vocals especially with that extended part of that chorus where he's going
with the drums going it's like everything is in sync together um the the parts aren't the most
complicated in the world the way that they come together especially with his vocals and
kind of his uh his delivery of this i mean it sounds like a complete release to him
from the insecurity and kind of the madness in his mind from the verses um again you have a
lot of going back and forth in terms of lyrics um where he's like i like you i miss you i love you i
killed you so interesting i guess is this is the exploration of the manic depressive
disease which is a a bunch of highs and lows um but yeah i mean that that chorus is just
amazing i don't know who the drummer is but he's in [ __ ] pocket there
i'm so happy cause today i found my friends in my head i'm so ugly
that's okay so repeat of the first verse again
it's interesting you chose to repeat the first verse again perhaps if i'm reading
into it a little bit i think it's sort of a play on the fact that there's no escaping
these sort of thoughts that are in your head just as you think there's
a release it comes back again those same unsure feelings and thoughts
are back in your mind again but it sounds like we're building up to the chorus again
for a punk punk grunge kind of band i think there's a lot of a punk influence in in nirvana i
mean he has amazing melodies he's he's actually a great singer which uh is one aspect of punk music
uh which always kind of had me um unable to enjoy the music as much because of the lack of melodies
but i think this is the perfect hybrid um again i guess it's a sort of a testament to how good
kurt cobain is as a musician and a songwriter he's made something inaccessible very accessible
wow those loud quiet dynamics of the verse and chorus it's a killer formula why change it it's
a pretty simple song in terms of structure uh the verse even repeats itself again
but with that fantastic melody i mean you have uh you have a a perfect song almost i think
i love when a song executes on a concept and he's clearly done so here with the writing
the dynamics and structure of the song yeah this is an amazing track man amazing track
if you've made it this far like and subscribe and catch you in the next one peace