What does Polly mean?

Nirvana: Polly Meaning

Album cover for Polly album cover

Polly Lyrics

Polly wants a cracker
Think I should get off her first
Think she wants some water
To put out my blow torch

Isn't me... Have a seed
Let me clip... dirty wings
Let me take a ride... cut yourself
Want some help... please myself
I got some...

  1. LUCY
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    Feb 26th 2006 !⃝

    This song is about a rapist who kept a girl named Polly in his basement and he raped her. She escapes by coming onto the rapist. 'She caught me off my gaurd'

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  2. jimmymckoel
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    Jan 24th 2006 !⃝

    Yeah like everybody's said, it's about a kidnap and a rape told from the rapists perspective. when I first heard it I wasn't really listning to it but it sounded like a song about a budgy in a cage. which is a good contrast when I found out what it meant I was like woah! When he says that she cuts herself, it sounds like she's been cut by the rope when she's being raped or trying to escape. I get the impression she's tied to chair. Pretty dark song.

  3. slutkissgirl
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    Jan 10th 2006 !⃝

    I don't think the real girl's name was polly. I think Kurt just used it because at first, I thought this song was about a parrot. I'm serious. But then I watched the making of nevermind dvd, and dave grohl (I think) said that Kurt read in the newspaper that a girl (14 year old I think) was kidnapped and raped after a concert. She pretended to like what the rapist was doing to her and gained his trust, and then he took her out for a ride and he trusted her so much that he left the car unlocked and she got away. Kurt read that and was totally fascinated about how she controlled her kidnapper and wrote a song about it.... "amazes me the will of instinct"

  4. anonymous
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    Nov 6th 2005 !⃝

    Actually, anonymous, Kurt wrote Polly about a girl in the newspaper and after the song was released two men sang it while gang raping a girl. Kurt later referenced this in interviews and linear notes.

  5. Punx_not_dead
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    Oct 30th 2005 !⃝

    By the way, Jeremy, the real lyrics say "don't cut yourself", just later on Kurt only sang "cut yourself". Kind of sad, if you ask me...

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  6. anonymous
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    Oct 24th 2005 !⃝

    It wasn't just a rape that he had heard in the newspaper, the women was raped while the rapists were singing one of Nirvana's songs (can't remember witch one).

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  7. Jeremy
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    Sep 14th 2005 !⃝

    Yeah, this song is all about just the rapist keeping the victim hostage and "playing with her" so to speak, one of my favorite versus is
    "Isn't me... Have a seed
    Let me clip... Your dirty wings
    Let me take a ride... cut yourself
    Want some help... please myself
    I got some rope... Haven't told
    Promise you... I have been true
    Let me take a ride... cut yourself
    Want some help... please Myself"

    He just sees the vic as a pet of sorts, let me take a ride is raping her, and Promise you... I have been true is just the sick thoughts in the rapists mind that his "pet" likes him. Truely a twisted piece of art.

  8. Andrew_44
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    Jul 18th 2005 !⃝

    Yes, it was obviously written from the point of view of the rapist. In the end the girl tricks the rapist and gets away. "She's just as bored as me, she caught me off my guard, 'mazes me the will of instinct.

  9. anonymous
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    Jul 9th 2005 !⃝

    Well, DBC couldn't be more wrong. The song wasn't written through the woman's point-of-view. It was written from the point-of-view of the rapist.

  10. dbc031175
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    Jun 24th 2005 !⃝

    Although I'm not a fan of their music too much, Kurt had a great way with words. This song in particular, is an anti-rape song. It's coming from a woman's point of view.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  11. cobainfreak3270
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    Aug 16th 2004 !⃝

    Yea, what chicken said. And he didnt just set her on fire, he tortured her for hours with a blowtorch. Pretty sadistic if you ask me.

  12. chicken
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    Jan 22nd 2004 !⃝

    Kurt wrote this song after reading about a rape in the newspaper.(Polly wants a cracker, think I should get off her first)I think the rapist set the girl on fire as well.(think she wants some water to put out the blow torch).Thats basically all there is to it, he saw it in the paper and wrote a song about it.

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