Nirvana - Pennyroyal Tea Meaning

Song Released: 1994

Pennyroyal Tea Lyrics

I'm on my time with everyone
I have very bad posture

Sit and drink Pennyroyal Tea
Distill the life that's inside of me
Sit and drink Pennyroyal tea
I'm anemic royalty

Give me a Leonard Cohen afterworld
So I can sigh eternally
I'm so...

1. anonymous

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   Oct 19th 2006 !⃝

   Whoever said this song id about a baby shower is a stupid asshole. In what way does this song show signs of a women going to a baby shower. If I ever find you, they're will be hell to pay
   
   Just kidding, but I will have to punch you in the arm for being a dumb-ass.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
2. ilovekurtcobain

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   Oct 6th 2006 !⃝

   Going to a babyshower???? Are you fukin kidding me??? Its like what the 99% said in this interpretation. Its about his stomach problems and the shit he took to relieve it
3. anonymous

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   Oct 1st 2006 !⃝

   This song is plain and simply about suicide and pennyroyal tea is a metaphor for poison
4. anonymous

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   Sep 8th 2006 !⃝

   I think hopelessirk is very wrong, this is one of cobains greatest songs lyrically. It is about his manic depression. 'give me leornerd cohen afterworld'
   'so I can sigh eternally'
   
   Yes it is true that pennyroyal tea is a substance used to help abortions. But it also can cure stomach aces. When you are manically depressed and guilt ridden, your stomach will eventually hurt or have some kind of pain.The connection is that he wanted to make a chioce to abort his depression.'sit and drink penny royal tea
   'distill the lifeness inside of me'
   
   It is a hard connection to make, but that is what makes this a great song lyrically
5. hopelesserik

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   Aug 9th 2006 !⃝

   This song is about a woman going to a baby shower for herself, but the people throwing the shower do not know that she was planning on getting an abortion

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
6. nirvanarules

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   Jul 5th 2006 !⃝

   They are all right for the most part yes it was an abortive substance and it would have helped Kurt's stomach problem and also it helped with constipation from heroine. He would also take for his stomach ache. The abortion side comes from Kurt's fascination with the female body hence the name of the album In Utero which means in the womb.
7. anonymous

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   Apr 12th 2006 !⃝

   This is about him treating his stomach problem like a being inside of him; "distill the life that's inside of me." It seems that he thinks of his disorder as a being inside him...this was soo bad he often wanted to commit suicide.
8. anonymous

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   May 21st 2005 !⃝

   I've always heard that pennyroyal tea was used to provoke miscarriages (basically abortions) in pregnant women. Hence the lyric "Distill the life that's inside of me."
9. King Fish

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   Dec 30th 2004 !⃝

   “Even in his youth,” Cobain displayed a tendency towards depression. Penny Royal Tea is an age old remedy that aids the body to relieve depression, stomach and bowel irregularities, and it can also help a woman return to a steady cycle of menstruation, if for some reason it has been thrown off balance. Cobain was fascinated by the feminine qualities of nature. Additionally, there is no doubt in my mind that Cobain used Penny Royal medicinally as a child and possibly in his adulthood to sooth some of his ailments, including stomach problems accompanied by depression. The song is, in some aspects, a tribute to the substance.
10. anavrin

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    Jan 10th 2004 !⃝

    A song about making a tough decision and the difficult choices around it and the guilt following it. Pennyroyal Tea is an abortive substance.