Pennyroyal Tea

Single infobox
Name = Pennyroyal Tea


Artist = Nirvana
from Album = In Utero
B-side = "I Hate Myself and Want to Die"/"Where Did You Sleep Last Night"
Released = 1994
Format = CD
Recorded = 1993
Genre = Grunge
Length = 3:36
Label = DGC
Writer = Kurt Cobain
Producer = Scott Litt
Chart position =
Reviews =
Last single = "All Apologies"/"Rape Me"
(1993)
This single = "Pennyroyal Tea"
(1994)
Next single = "About a Girl"
(1994)
Misc = Extra tracklisting
Album = In Utero
Type = studio
prev_track = "Milk It"
prev_no = 8
this_track = "Pennyroyal Tea"
track_no = 9
next_track = "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter"
next_no = 10Extra tracklisting
Album = MTV Unplugged in New York
Type = live
prev_track = "The Man Who Sold the World"
prev_no = 4
this_track = "Pennyroyal Tea"
track_no = 5
next_track = "Dumb"
next_no = 6

"Pennyroyal Tea" is a song by the American grunge band Nirvana. It is the ninth song on their 1993 album, "In Utero". It was scheduled to be released as a single in April 1994, but after the song's author, Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain, was found dead that same month, this plan was abandoned, because one of the B-sides is called "I Hate Myself and Want to Die".

Meaning

The herb Pennyroyal is sometimes used as an abortifacient. Some have speculated that it was written, at least partially, about Cobain's stomach pains (later discovered to be caused by a pinched nerve). The lyric "I'm on warm milk and laxatives" may have been about Cobain's heroin abuse, since addicts sometimes consume laxatives in order to combat constipation resulting from use of the drug. Pennyroyal tea could also be a metaphor for Cobain's reasons for using heroin. "Sit and drink pennyroyal tea, distill the life that's inside of me" could refer to pennyroyal's use as an abortifacient, which is used as a metaphor for ridding the problems that he was dealing with at the time.

An alternate explanation is that the song is just what it seems about at face value: a person "sitting and drinking pennyroyal tea." In Cobain's Journals, there is an entry where he explains (as much as possible for someone who said that his songs did not have a single meaning) the tracks on "In Utero". The explanation simply reads: "herbal abortive... it doesn't work, you hippie."

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." However, the song didn't receive studio treatment until 1993, when it was recorded by Steve Albini for "In Utero". 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 was to appear on the single (see below).

David Fricke of "Rolling Stone" favorably compared the song to R.E.M.'s then current single "Drive."

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.Jeffery Plansker then signed on as the new director. With Cobain's death though this was ultimately scrapped. [cite web|url=http://www.crimson-ceremony.net/pr3/prt/videoscript.html|title=Pennyroyal Tea Video Script|publisher=Crimson-ceremony|accessdate=2007-12-22] Jeffery would go on to have success directing music videos for bands such as Radiohead, 10,000 Maniacs, Urge Overkill, and Soundgarden.

Other versions

A solo, stripped down performance of "Pennyroyal Tea" appears on the acoustic "MTV Unplugged in New York" album. An acoustic demo (recorded in 1993) appears on the 2004 Nirvana box set, "With the Lights Out". The box set DVD includes yet another solo rendition of the song, from a live concert at the OK Hotel on April 17, 1991.

Covers

"Pennyroyal Tea" has been covered by the following artists:
* American rock band Hole (fronted by Cobain's widow, Courtney Love).
* American rock musician Kristin Hersh.
* American alternative rock band The Flaming Lips.
* Welsh rock band the Manic Street Preachers.

The single

Though most copies of the "Pennyroyal Tea" single were withdrawn from the market, some were sold. The majority were ordered to be destroyed at the BMG pressing plant in Germany but copies were essentially stolen to later find themselves in private collections or on various auction sites. The single has been heavily bootlegged, some better than others.

#"Pennyroyal Tea (Scott Litt Remix)"
#"I Hate Myself And Want To Die"
#"Where Did You Sleep Last Night? (Unplugged)" (Lead Belly)

The latter song is not included on the vinyl release of the single.

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 songs 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."

Chart positions

Accolades

*Ranked #8 in "NME's" "Top 20 Nirvana Songs" (2004)
*Ranked #2 in "Q's" "10 Album Tracks That Should Have Been Singles, But Weren't" (2004)

References

*Azerrad, Michael. "Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana", Doubleday, New York: 1993, ISBN 0-86369-746-1