caliban78 April 29th, 2008 01:35PM  
This is actually a much easier song to dissect than most of his work. Kurt is desperate to love and be loved, and feels that his best chance is to offer what he thinks most women want: security (we can plant a house, we can build a tree), but he doesn't want children if she doesn't. She doesn't care, because she isn't looking for anything specific (I don't really care, we could have all 3 she said)

Righteous August 16th, 2008 04:44AM  
The original song name of the song was immodium, named after the medicine that tad Doyle had taken while they were on tour in the uk. It wasn't after Dylan Carlson as some believe. There is also a little bit of kurt' feelings of religion in the song. as a teen, Kurt lived with one of his friends named Jesse Reed whose family attended church regularly, and Kurt went for a while, but eventually gave up on it.

eastlife1985 September 6th, 2008 08:48PM  
I was thinking what this line means:
"we can have all three", she said!
if what Righteous (the one above me) has said is true, it can be like this: in the rest of lyric the guy is talking to the girl (who goes to church and deals with religion and ghosts) that she should run away from home with him and they can live together in a house, and have tree (loving nature as a teenage) but not a child.

Her answer is positive and she adds (for their imaginary life) that they can have all three: house (place for living), tree (nature) and children.

in fact this song is about makin a family.
its a hopeful song and not about misery or obssesion or despair.

jtg08 October 12th, 2008 11:11PM  
CONSTIPATION???? Jesus you haven't explained how that ties into the song? Then I'll listen.
Let it be

anonymous December 31st, 2008 08:47PM  
Breed is a hyperbole used in reference to make a comparison to the poor, being careless, a runaway, and basically a wastecase, in contrast to the upper and upper-middle class citizen, the ones who strive for sucess and look down upon others. This song pokes fun at the higher class for thinking better of themselves

sergio February 14th, 2009 05:37PM  
I Like Cobain went threw my parents having a bad divorce. When I was younger( before puberty) I asked my father why my mom and him decided to have kids if their relationship was shaky. The fact that Kurt song says "We don't have to breed is telling his listeners to not breed and have kids with out knowing if your going to be there for them. Cobain and I wish our parents wouldn't have had us or at least been more committed before doing so. Ge tells us that sex followed by divorce messes up the child.

anonymous September 6th, 2009 08:17PM  
As I feel that most of Nirvana's songs are artistically ambiguous, I have my own interpretation of Breed. To me, it's about a guy who is infatuated with a girl and will do anything to have her, including forgoing sexual urges and (desperately) suggesting that they can "plant a house" and "build a tree," but the girl is ultimately uninterested ("I don't even care / We can have all three"). The second verse replacing "We can have all three" with "We don't have all three" can be a hint that they did eventually get together but the guy didn't keep true to his promises.