Nirvana: Come As You Are Meaning

Song Released: 1992

Come As You Are Lyrics

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,
The choice is yours,
Don't be late.
Take a rest,
As a friend,
As an old memory.
Memory, ah.
Memory, ah.
Memory,...

1. anonymous

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   May 26th 2009 !⃝

   I think its about how difficult it is to trust people to be honest and be themselves and all the betrayal and pain that people inflict.
2. shroomfreak16

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   May 11th 2009 !⃝

   i believe that the part i dont have a gun has to do with the fact that he was not going to kill himself but when he got all hyped up on heroin he decided that it was time. i think that he was gettting sick of fame and fortune and couldnt handle it since he was used to living under bridges and was done with the high life and offed himself. they were one of the best bands of all time and kurt deserves some recognition.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
3. anonymous

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   Apr 14th 2009 !⃝

   I alwas think of this as a welcome to to those who feel like misfits or outcasts. "Come as you are" "Doused in Mud Cept in Bleach" meaning even if you are dirty and have held onto to that way of life or have been wronged by society "cept in bleach" striped of your identity that you are welcome to listen to the music. Kurt had a bit of a loner lifestyle growing up so he relates it the song and also notes by saying that he doesn't "have a gun" that he is not trying to hide anything dangerous from the listener. He notes the relationships people who listen could have to the music "trend" "friend" "memory" wether you are tuning in because its popular, you genuinely like it or it reminds you of who you used to be he'll play his music for the sake of it. It not only welcomes people but also asks people to remember themselves instead of submitting to social pressures.
4. anonymous

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   Dec 23rd 2008 !⃝

   Good interpretations by all. I have always thought this song was about exactly what the title says. Come as yourself, not anyone else. "doused in mud, soaked in bleach" What color is mud? usually brownish/darker brown and bleach? the color is clear but we all associate it with white. Black/brown skin and white skin.
   
   "Take your time..hurry up...the choice is yours..don't be late" Just be there. I don't care how you get there but show up.
   
   A gun represents the most violent, murderous, harmful tool in our society. Bigots and racists use a variety of weapons to keep down people they view as inferior but I think Kurt chose the gun as the symbol he felt was most threatening and swore he didn't have one for this meeting.
5. anonymous

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   Oct 23rd 2008 !⃝

   I think DKING has got it right, the song is about having a friendship with someone and deciding whether or not to take it further
   "Come As You Are" really speaks for itself as "don't be someone else" but I think it means as "I like you as you are"
   If you look at the lyrics they change each line to be one saying "let's do it" and the other saying "let's stay friends" such as 'Come as you were - as I want you to be' (the second one was the sexual one) 'Come as a friend - as a trend' (the second one being the sexual one)
   Also I forget who posted it but the one who mentioned haveing 'a gun in your pants ready to shoot' yea I think that's what Kurt Cobain was trying to say, that he really took the person as a friend rather than a sexual partner
   finally I think a few of DKING's interpretations were spot on although maybe badly explained. The first one being 'take your time - hurry up' I think that is another one of the friendship/sexual lines and I think 'Come doused in mud, soaked in bleach' is also one of these. These are saying, "we are friends but I have a burning sexual desire" and many lines alternate like this.
   
   BTW this is only my interpretation, I don't know if you like it though
6. dking777

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   Oct 3rd 2008 !⃝

   "Doused in mud, soaked in bleach" is a reference to a "pure spirit" covered in the clay of the earth. It is about the reward of sharing a friendship based on a heart felt attraction - more so than one based on a material one.
   
   Slang for 'sexual' or physical motives where I grew up was "carrying a loaded pistol below the belt that was cocked and ready to shoot." Some one carrying a gun in that manner would be given himself over to "lust" driven temptations. Once again implying a pure friendship for the sake of the love born through a pure heart - verses - one hoped for - for some sort of selfish gain.
   
   "Hurry up - take your time" is a reference to the constant struggle between the "flesh and spirit" or the "mud" verses the "bleach." Kurt was a Pisces and that is the symbolic trait of the "fish." Constantly swimming in two different directions at once.
   
   The song is about the rewards of a friendship based on pure motives - verses one based on base motives.
7. jeff_mitchell91

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   Aug 26th 2008 !⃝

   Simply like the rest of you have said...
   to "come as you are" means to come as you would regularly be as you are deep down inside, to not change yourself for anyone but you
   kurt is more than likely explaining to come as you are to be yourself because when Kurt was in his childhood and teenage years he was always himself and people were changing themselves to fit in but he never changed one bit for anyone
   "doused in mud, soaked in bleach"
   kurt was as we all know a very horny teenager..come (dirty horny, wanting to have sex etc) and soaked in bleach to come clean and pure (free from diseases and std's and not all literally dirty)
   but to also come to you (kurt) as he would want and at the same time being yourself
8. anonymous

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   Feb 12th 2008 !⃝

   Thorn495's interpretation is somewhat poetic and interesting, but I doubt it's what the song means; good observation, though. I've read at nirvanalyrics.net it's aboot the paradox of what we act like vs. what we think society wants us to act like. Good interpretations, they are partly right. Especially aboot the gun part, read aboot what Kurt Cobain meant on Wikipedia aboot the gun, that it symbolized him not having anything to hide, and him wanting fans to think aboot his lyrics.
9. Thorn495

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   Dec 22nd 2007 !⃝

   What is really interesting is if you take the lyrics and pretend they are a deity speaking to you, does it make more sense to you?
   
   I picture wingless angels in a lounge playing this song on their jukebox in an alternate reality along with some other behind the scenes action when life begins..
   
   I think some of those In Utero concert photos where Kurt was standing in front of the winged anatomy woman just right so the wings she had looked like they were pinned to him may not be such a coincidence..
   
   All the imagery (in the video) is also beautiful and powerful. It's like the song for the beginning of your life for the end of it.. and on to the next one...
   
   "And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty four thousand, who were redeemed from the earth." - Revelation 14:3
   
   Come as you are..
10. JEMinENG

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    Nov 13th 2007 !⃝

    The Song is a love song about not knowing what you want or need from someone or what someone wants in needs from you. The phrase 'No I don't have a gun' means that I have nothing to hide.
11. YourFan

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    Aug 29th 2007 !⃝

    I agree with the first interpretation, but Kurt also said that this song is "an old-fashioned love song coming down in three-part harmony."
    
    He also said that the lyrics "Come doused in mud, soaked in bleach" refer to a campaign in San Francisco in the late 1980s for drug users to bleach their needles to reduce the risk of contracting diseases.
12. anonymous

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    Jun 19th 2007 !⃝

    It is about pretending to be someone you are not just to fit in or be "cool" and just doing something because someone else is doing it and not because its what you would do

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