"Pennyroyal Tea" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana. It is the
ninth track on the band's third and final studio album, In Utero. The song
was due to be released as the third single from In Utero in April 1994.
However, after the death of Kurt Cobain in the same month, the planned release
was cancelled. The single was re-released on limited edition 7 inch
vinyl for Record Store Day in April 2014 and charted at number 1 on the Billboard
Hot 100 Singles Sales chart. History
According to Michael Azerrad's 1993 Nirvana biography, Come as You Are: The
Story of Nirvana, "Pennyroyal Tea" was written by Cobain in 1990 in an Olympia,
Washington, apartment he shared with Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl. "Dave and I
were screwing around on a 4-track," said Cobain, "and I wrote that song in about
thirty seconds. And I sat down for like half-an-hour and wrote the lyrics and
then we recorded it." The band played the song live many times in 1991 and
1992. However, it did not receive studio treatment until 1993, when it was
recorded by Steve Albini for the In Utero album. A remix by Scott Litt
appears on the censored Wal-Mart and Kmart versions of In Utero; this remix
is also available on the band's 2002 best-of compilation, Nirvana, and is,
incidentally, the same mix that appeared on the single.
Meaning The herb pennyroyal is sometimes used as
an abortifacient. In Cobain's Journals, which was published posthumously in
2002, there is an entry where he explains the tracks on In Utero. The
explanation given for "Pennyroyal Tea" simply reads: "herbal abortive... it
doesn't work, you hippie." In an interview in the October 1993
issue of Impact, Cobain gave greater insight into the song, saying that it
was about a person suffering from severe depression:
"When I ask Cobain if 'Penny Royal Tea' is about indigestion, he half-laughs.
'Penny royal tea is a herbal abortive,' he says. 'I threw that in because I have
so many friends who have tried to use that, and it never worked. The song is
about a person who's beyond depressed; they're in their death bed, pretty
much.' Cobain's own bout with serious stomach pain was well documented last
year. 'Yeah, it did rub off on the song,' he admits. And I couldn't help
noticing the 'Canadian' reference to a Leonard Cohen afterworld. 'That was my
therapy, when I was depressed and sick. I'd read things like Malloy Dies [sic]
by Beckett, or listen to Leonard Cohen, which would actually make it worse,' he
laughs." In 2004 Leonard Cohen told The Guardian,
"I'm sorry I couldn't have spoken to the young man. I see a lot of people at the
Zen Centre, who have gone through drugs and found a way out that is not just
Sunday school. There are always alternatives, and I might have been able
to lay something on him." Release
The "Pennyroyal Tea" single was recalled shortly after the death of Nirvana band
leader Kurt Cobain. At the time only retail versions of the CD single made in
Germany had been manufactured and distributed. The singles were recalled
by the record company and destroyed but some escaped destruction. The obvious
reason for the cancellation of the single was because one of the B-side
songs had the title "I Hate Myself and Want to Die". Although it may well have
been cancelled anyway so that it did not seem like the record label was profiting
from Cobain's death. It is possible however that some copies were sold by
retailers. The recalled singles were destroyed in the presence of people from
the record label, however distribution employees managed to put some copies
aside which seems to be the main source for the copies that have survived. A
promotional CD single was manufactured in the United Kingdom and has survived
in even smaller numbers than the German retail CD. The sleeves for 7 inch vinyl
singles and inserts for retail CD singles were also manufactured in the UK
but the vinyl records and CD's themselves were not manufactured due to
the cancellation of the single's release. Artwork made in the USA and
sent to the UK has been found for proposed 7 inch vinyl and even cassette
singles. = 2014 Record Store Day re-release =
On April 19, 2014 the "Pennyroyal Tea" single was re-released on 7-inch vinyl
for Record Store Day 2014, limited to only 6000 copies. It was the top-selling
vinyl single of Record Store Day in the US.
= Artwork = The book In Utero by Gillian G. Gaar
states that Cobain had no input into the artwork for "Pennyroyal Tea", which was
scheduled for release in April 1994; the track had been remixed by Scott Litt at
Bad Animals on November 22, 1993. Playing off the song's title, the sleeve
pictures a cup of tea on a table, next to an ashtray filled with cigarette
butts and a rooster-shaped cream pitcher, with a few animal crackers
scattered around. "We got it done and I don't know that Kurt was around to
approve it or not," says designer Robert Fisher. "I think it might just have been
shot to management to approve or something."
Music video Director Anton Corbijn was asked to
direct the video for "Pennyroyal Tea". He refused, stating that he felt he
couldn't make a video better than "Heart-Shaped Box" which was the first
single from the In Utero album. Jeffery Plansker then signed on as the new
director. With Cobain's death, though, this was ultimately scrapped and no
music video was ever released. Track listing
All songs written and composed by Kurt Cobain unless otherwise noted.
Chart positions Other versions
A solo, stripped down performance of "Pennyroyal Tea" appears on the acoustic
MTV Unplugged in New York album. This was the only song during the MTV
Unplugged performance that Kurt Cobain played solo. Kurt however does not play
the guitar-solo in the MTV Unplugged version of "Pennyroyal Tea". The full
band plays during the rehearsal for "Pennyroyal Tea" with Pat Smear on
backing vocals available on the DVD release. An acoustic demo appears on the
2004 Nirvana box set, With the Lights Out. The box set also includes a live
version from a concert at the OK Hotel on April 17, 1991.
Personnel All personnel credits adapted from In
Utero‍ '​s liner notes except design personnel adapted from "Pennyroyal
Tea"'s liner notes. Nirvana
Kurt Cobain – vocals, guitar, backing vocals
Krist Novoselic – bass Dave Grohl – drums
Production personnel Steve Albini – producer, engineer
Adam Kasper – engineer Scott Litt – mixing
Bob Ludwig – mastering Design personnel
Robert Fisher – art direction, design Greg Stata – art direction, design
John Skalicky – photography Accolades
Cover versions "Pennyroyal Tea" has been covered by the
following artists: American rock band Hole.
American rock musician Kristin Hersh. American rock musician Jared Leto.
American alternative rock band The Flaming Lips.
Welsh rock band the Manic Street Preachers.
Korean rock band Jaurim. American rock band The Ian Moore Band on
the albums Ian Moore's Got the Green Grass and The First Third.
References Bibliography
Azerrad, Michael. Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana. New York: Doubleday.
ISBN 0-86369-746-1. References
External links "Pennyroyal Tea" single information at
Pennyroyal 3 "Pennyroyal Tea" discography at
sliver.it Full lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics