What does Something In the Way mean?

Nirvana: Something In the Way Meaning

Album cover for Something In the Way album cover

Song Released: 1991


Get "Something In the Way" on MP3: Get MP3 from iTunes

Something In the Way Lyrics

Underneath the bridge
The tarp has sprung a leak
And the animals I’ve trapped
Have all become my pets
And I’m living off of grass
And the drippings from the ceiling
It’s okay to eat fish
’cause they don’t have any...

  1. illumanati76
    click a star to vote
    Oct 31st 2005 !⃝

    Mister kurt-cobain, was it?

    Look, actually, you're wrong. Cobain living under a bridge was a fabricated story that he's told so many times. He never lived in the Wishkah Bridge. Kurt had a problem with interchangable personalities. He fabricated the story, and it came a natural classic. One of my favorite songs though.

    "Something In The Way," is a song of emptiness, and the realization that the "Something In The Way" that Cobain discusses actually symbolizes himself as being that "Something."

  2. kurt-cobain
    click a star to vote
    Oct 28th 2005 !⃝

    This is the real interpretation! Kurt was kicked out of his house when he was young because he got shit by the cops so he had to live under Youg St. bridge in Aberdeen, Washington.

    He lived off of the grass, and the drippings from the ceiling, he had to catch fish from the Aberdeen River. I've got sources to prove this.

  3. balalaika
    click a star to vote
    Sep 30th 2005 !⃝

    It implies the relationship of generations. If "I" can abuse and kill the fish, some (the boomers)can do the same to "us" (the species of x-ers). That's something in the way.

  4. Doogle
    click a star to vote
    Jul 1st 2005 !⃝

    Just a quick note:
    "I'm living off of grass"
    This line in the song could relate to something Kurt said somewhere, might have been in a different song or in the journals but he said that marijuana is the only thing "I need to stay alive" or something like that. Anyway that is a possible meaning of that line. If you buy the journals, be warned because the handwriting is crazy soemtimes....maybe because of heroin and antidepressants (lithium) Kurt didnt strike me as someone who is going to stick to the recommended dose! High lithium makes you shaky. READ THEM SLOWLY

  5. Doogle
    click a star to vote
    Jun 11th 2005 !⃝

    As already stated, this is about Kurt being homeless for a while. I also think it is a song about him not getting what he wants "something in the way" Probably all he wanted was a point to life as he was being pretty much just pulled about by media, hard touring and issues with Courtney Love.

    This is one of my favourite songs of Nirvana which I can really relate to. I strongly recommend you get both versions of the song, there is also an electric version beside the acoustic one released on the album.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  6. anavrin
    click a star to vote
    Jun 2nd 2005 !⃝

    This song is about the time in Kurdt Cobain's life he spent homeless, living under a bridge, after being kicked out of his Mom's house as a teenager.

1234 next ›



More Nirvana songs »


 


Latest Articles

 


Submit Your Interpretation

[ want a different song? ]




Just Posted

Steve's Going to London anonymous
Yes I'm A Mess anonymous
Droppin' Plates anonymous
Rat anonymous
Cry for the Moon anonymous
And the Snakes Start to Sing anonymous
Gingerbread Man anonymous
Not Like the Movies anonymous
This Masquerade anonymous
Birthday Suit anonymous
Dollhouse anonymous
Death anonymous
Copy Cat anonymous
I Hate Jimmy Page anonymous
I Hate Jimmy Page anonymous

(We won't give out your email)