Kurt Cobain — The Great Interpreter
In which I contend that of Kurt Cobain’s many talents, the ability to interpret other peoples songs might just have been the greatest
I don’t really believe in musical heroes. They’re just people after all, and will only disappoint you in the end. If I ever had one though, it was Kurt Cobain. Nirvana were my favourite band during that crucial period where childhood turns to adolescence. Nevermind was the first album I truly, truly loved, In Utero the first album that I rushed to the store to buy on release day. And not only were they a great band, but Kurt seemed like a great person, standing up against homophobia and sexism, an independent spirit who introduced me to bands like The Vaselines and The Raincoats, whilst struggling to inhabit the role of world-famous rock star. (Of course we usually don’t know what our musical heroes are actually like as people, but I’ve been lucky enough to get to know someone who knew Kurt a little in real life, and they confirm he was a great guy).
When he died I was devastated, more than by the death of any musician before or since (although the recent loss of Mimi Parker from Low runs it close). It upset me more, if I’m being completely honest, than the deaths of some members of my own family. And not because of the music we’d lost, but because of the person we’d lost, and the wife and small child, friends, family and bandmates he left behind. It made me wish I’d never heard of Nirvana, that instead of becoming world famous, Kurt had found a way to live a quiet, happy life some place I’d never heard of.
In the near 30 years since, I’ve continued to listen to Nirvana, if not quite as fervently as I did in my teens, and I’m now glad he left this music behind for us. My relationship with that music has changed a great deal though. My favourite Nirvana record is now Unplugged in New York, rather than Nevermind, and I have come to realise that most of my favourite Nirvana songs were written by other people. I used to think Kurt was the best songwriter in the world, the only one who really spoke to me, but now I think his greatest talents lied in his astonishing voice, and his ability to interpret songs.
This is by no means a criticism of his songwriting. He was certainly a good, sometimes extremely good songwriter. You don’t come up with songs like About a Girl, or Pennyroyal Tea or Smells Like Teen Spirit by accident (and he was really only just getting started). But, man, that voice was something else, from the sonorous yet somehow fragile voice he used in ballads, world-weary way beyond his years, to the fearsome scream he employed elsewhere, so powerful but always cracked with emotion. His voice transformed even an average song into something wonderful. Just listen to Lounge Act and the way his voice changes in the third verse, becoming almost unbearably intense. It turns a song which is probably no-one’s favourite, which could easily not have even made it onto the album, into something special.
His voice was part of, but not the entirety of, what made him a great interpreter of other peoples songs. It takes more than just a good voice to do that, you just need to watch any TV music talent show for proof. You have to understand the song you are singing, to feel it, to see something in the song that only you can see, so you can transform it and make it your own. This ability was there right from the start with Nirvana, their first single being a cover of Love Buzz, a relatively obscure song from the Dutch band Shocking Blue, Kurt’s voice turning a decent if lightweight song into something dark, sinister & wonderful. There were also those Devo & Vaselines covers, recorded for radio, that ended up on Incesticide. These versions were less transformative, but showed the band had an excellent ear for songs that would work well for them.
The magnitude of Kurt’s talent for performing other people’s songs became truly apparent on ‘Unplugged in New York’. Of the 14 tracks almost half were written by others. Bowie’s ‘The Man Who Sold The World’ becomes stark and desolate. ‘Where Did You Sleep Last Night’, a traditional song best known in a version by Leadbelly called ‘In The Pines’, is perhaps the best vocal performance on the album, maybe even Cobain’s whole career, the power and rage that builds in his voice absolutely astonishing. The Vaselines crop up again, with a version of Jesus Don’t Want Me For A Sunbeam, which seems like a wry nod at his own miserable reputation, like when he wanted to call In Utero ‘I Hate Myself and I Want To Die’.
The heart of the record though is the three tracks by The Meat Puppets. Songs I may never have heard if it hadn’t been for Kurt, undoubtedly good songs in their original form, but made great by him. I always struggle to decide which of the three is my favourite. Plateau, with its killer line “Who needs action when you’ve got words” was my favourite at the time the album came out, then I grew to appreciate ‘Lake of Fire’, with another extremely powerful vocal from Kurt. Now though, it’s ‘Oh Me’ which I love the most, a gentler, more languid song, which shows a different quality to Kurt’s voice, something more peaceful, more beautiful.
I often wonder how Kurt’s music might have changed, had he still been with us. I can imagine him as a solo artist, like a latter day Johnny Cash, singing a mixture of covers and originals. I can certainly imagine that his deep love for music, and desire to promote lesser known artists could have led to some interesting collaborations. If Nirvana had stayed together, I wonder if Kurt would have ended up singing some of the songs Dave Grohl later recorded with the Foo Fighters (a Nirvana version of Everlong would have been quite something).
We’ll never know of course, but I feel sure that Kurt would have continued to produce wonderful versions of other people’s songs. In a music industry where singing your own songs is often seen as the only way to be authentic, to suggest someone’s greatest talent is performing other peoples’ songs may seem like an insult, but it is in no way meant to be. It was good enough for Elvis & Aretha, and Kurt deserves to be mentioned in the same breath.
Kurt Cobain, an underrated guitarist, an excellent songwriter, a voice like no other, and a great, great interpreter. RIP Kurt.
Originally published at http://colourthecortex.wordpress.com on January 23, 2023.
