Полли: История песни Nirvana

1991 song by Nirvana

"Polly" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist Kurt Cobain. It is the sixth song on their second album Nevermind, released by DGC Records in September 1991. The song was written about the abduction, rape, and torture of a 14 year old girl returning home from a punk rock concert in Tacoma, Washington in 1987. Written from the perspective of the perpetrator, "Polly" has frequently been cited as evidence of Cobain's support of feminism and women's rights.

Originally titled "Cracker", "Polly" dates back to at least 1987. The earliest known version is a home demo featuring Cobain on vocals and guitar. This version was released on the Nirvana rarities box set, With the Lights Out, in November 2004. The song was first performed live on June 21, 1989, at The Vogue in Seattle, Washington. It was first recorded in the studio in August 1989 by Steve Fisk at Music Source in Seattle, Washington. The sessions were for a planned EP to coincide with the band's European tour, but only two of the five songs recorded, "Stain" and "Been a Son," were officially released, on the Blew EP later that year. Unreleased during the band's lifetime, this version of "Polly" also appeared on With the Lights Out. On October 26, 1989, the band recorded a version during their first BBC Peel Session, at Maida Vale Studios in London, England. The four song session, engineered by Ted de Bono, was originally broadcast on November 22, 1989. The recording featured Cobain playing a five string Stella guitar that he said he purchased from a pawn shop for $20. "I didn't bother changing the strings," Cobain told Jeff Gilbert in a 1992 Guitar World interview. "It barely stays in tune. In fact, I had to use duct tape to hold the tuning keys in place." According to Vig, the guitar's "strings were so old they didn't have any tone to them. A real plunky sound." Cobain's guitar and Krist Novoselic's bass were recorded live, after which Cobain recorded lead and harmony vocals, and then Channing added the cymbal crashes. According to Vig in the 2005 Classic Albums: Nirvana Nevermind documentary, Cobain accidentally sang the first two words of the third verse, "Polly said," too early, during the instrumental break, but the band decided to leave it in. and three of the four songs from the session, including "Polly", appeared on the band's compilation album Incesticide in December 1992. This faster version of the song appeared under the title "(New Wave) Polly." In December 1992, a live version of the song, recorded at Del Mar Fairgrounds in Del Mar, California on December 28, 1991, was released as a b side on the fourth single for Nevermind, for the song, "In Bloom". An acoustic version of "Polly", featuring Pat Smear on second guitar and Lori Goldston on cello, was performed during Nirvana's MTV Unplugged appearance at Sony Music Studios in New York City on November 18, 1993. The last live performance of "Polly" was at Nirvana's final concert, at Terminal 1 in Munich, Germany, on March 1, 1994.

"Polly" was ranked number 18 in NMEs 2004 "Top 20 Nirvana Songs" list. In 2015, Rolling Stone ranked it number 29 in their ranking of 102 Nirvana songs, with Julianne Sheperd writing, "Though it's certainly not a protest song, it deftly delves into the mind of a sicko, like a succinct Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, and is an example of the thoughtful depths Cobain was willing to plumb." In 2019, it was ranked at number 14 in The Guardians list of "Nirvana's 20 greatest songs". In 2023, the A. V. Club ranked it at number 22 on their list of Nirvana's "30 best songs," with Stephen Thomas Erlewine calling it "a stark counterpoint to the fury of Nevermind" whose "stillness was spookier than the noise that surrounded it." According to Charles R. Cross's biography Heavier Than Heaven, American singer songwriter Bob Dylan was impressed with "Polly" upon hearing the song while at a Nirvana concert, remarking of Cobain that "that kid has heart". American alternative rock musician Amanda Palmer, who covered "Polly" on the 2011 tribute album, Newermind, discussed the song in a 2011 Spin interview, saying, "It's entirely possible that the production on Nevermind is going to feel dated in 50 years, if it doesn't already. The mystery in the lyrics to a song like 'Polly' is so profound. People will always be trying to make sense of what the fuck exactly Kurt was singing about. That's what makes a song last".

The song appears as downloadable content in the video games Rock Band, Rock Band 2, Rock Band 3 and Rock Band 4. "Polly" was covered by producer Cain McKnight for the noteworthy charity album, ′Nirvana Reimagined as House and Techno′.

A live version of "Polly", recorded at the London Astoria on December 3, 1989, was released in Australia as a promotional single in 1996 to promote the live compilation From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah, released in November 1996.

The MTV Unplugged version of "Polly" was released as a promo single in 1994, the promote the album, MTV Unplugged in New York, released in November 1994. The single received moderate airplay on American rock and alternative stations in 1994 and 1995. Video of the full MTV Unplugged performance was released on the MTV Unplugged in New York DVD in 2007. The DVD also featured footage of the band rehearsing "Polly" during the show's soundcheck as bonus material.

The versions of "Polly" recorded for the BBC in London on October 26, 1989, and for VPRO in Hilversum on November 1, 1989, have never been officially released.