Come As You Are: "Hey, It's Totally Safe to Come for a Visit. Honest."

 

In trying to understand the lyrics of "Come As You Are" by Nirvana (Number 445 in Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time), I thought it might be a good idea to go to the writer himself.

Kurt Cobain told an interviewer when asked about the second major hit off Nevermind, "It's just about people and what they're expected to act like. The lines in the song are really contradictory. One after another, they're kind of a rebuttal to each other."

Well now, let's see about that:

Come doused in mud, soaked in bleach

Can't say I've ever expected any person to act like that. But he's got the contradictory stuff down to a tee:

Come as you are, as you were

As I want you to be

As a friend, as a friend

As an old enemy

Take your time, hurry up

Choice is yours, don't be late

And then there's the whole "And I swear that I don't have a gun. No, I don't have a gun" that he keeps repeating and repeating. Sounds like "Want some candy, little girl? No, I'm not going to shove you in my van and drive away. I just want to give you some candy, some candy, some candy..."

Methinks thou dost protest too much.