Reviews for Pennyroyal Tea Lyrics

It's funny, but no one is complaining.
I think everyone is seeing a facett of the same diamond.
I'm so tired I cant sleep
I'm a liar and a theif
sounds like guilt and regret to me...something everyone suffers from though some can't admit their imperfections...Kurt could. I admire that quality.

I know it's not what the song is about, but it seemed to me when I heard it about getting old and not wanting to continiue. The concrete stuff like "I have very bad posture" and "warm milk laxatives" speak for them selves. The "I'm so tired and I can't sleep" part seemed to me that the person wants to die but he can't because the world won't let him.

Before you say that's not what it's about because I know it's not, it's my impression of this song the first time I heard it.

Going through withdrawal, I for one have had a non-stop stomach ache as though digesting glass. I have actually used what Kurt speaks about here, and it sure as hell helped. Didn't get rid of it, but reduced it to a level I can function at. Still miss him.

There's no need to speculate on the meaning of a song that's meaning is documented.

It is primarily about abortion, to quote Kurt's diary ""herbal abortive... it doesn't work, you hippie.""

Plus it's on the album "In utero", doesn't take much to see it's primary focus is the abortion thing.

Yes his stomach problems also arise in the song, but it's a throw away line not the main focus.

He spent 30 seconds writing this song, how long have you ninnies spent fighting over it's meaning?

This song is about a stomach illness that was killing him slowly and the opiate medication he needed to combat the pain. The tea is a metaphor for the brown liquid in the cup or spoon, distilling the life force from his body. This song will bring a chronic pain patient to tears ... his frank description of side effects and exhaustion could never be understood by everyone, very self absorbed ... as it should be. Sad.

ive heard a lot of good points here. to me though, this song is about getting older.
"im on my time with everyone"- hes gettin old and runnin out of time
"i have very bad posture"- a lot of older people have back problems
"Distill the life that's inside of me"- he wants to stop aging before he gets any older
"I'm on warm milk and laxatives"- a lot of old folks i kno drink warm milk and have to... um... take laxatives.
"cherry-flavored antacids"- my grandfather gets heartburn a lot and he takes antacids for it all the time.
thats just a couple examples of why i think that. but this is just my interpretation of the song, im not the one to say whos right or wrong after all, its kurts song rite? still this song is one of my favorite nirvana songs! RIP kurt.

If any of you have read Heavier Than Heaven the biography that Charles R. Cross wrote about him you'd know this whole song is about his stomach problems. It has nothing to do with abortion, mocking it or his drug use. The majority of his day was spent taking cherry flavored antacids and drinking warm milk to help soothe his stomach problems. He never meant for it to be about abortion just his problems dealing with his "mystery illness" that plagued him day in and day out.

Pennyroyal tea was an herbal birth control. Drink your pennyroyal tea... distill the life That's inside of me... I think he's saying to stop whatever life he was building. His anemic royalty. That and he had serious acid leaks in his stomach that he claimed was a reason why he did heroin... to take the stomach pains away. I mean of course that's the cure... ha..we all know better. Buts that's why he mentions the antacids. For as troubled as he was, we all love Kurt and Nirvana. I love how we all interpret his music.

imo the song is not about tea at all, but word play more on the word royalty.
He seems to be saying that he himself is a false king, or anemic royalty/penny royalty. The song is about self-effacement when people instead on treating you as though you special. 'I'm on my time with everyone' means that everyone bows to his demands,and he doesn't need to worry about his posture or what others demand of him. ie: "stand up straight, do this, do that" He is saying that he is undeserving of the throne, "a liar and a thief"; "distill the life that's inside of me" means that his life has been drained by marketers selling him to consumers, people who drink in his life essence are draining his life away, anemic royalty means he has no royal blood to offer, and what people are really getting is poison (penny royal tea is poisonous)

I don't think it's about drugs at all, no... It sounds more like a song about stomach illness.

Lyrics like 'I'm on warm milk and laxatives, Cherry-flavoured antacids' seem to suggest that, although Pennyroyal tea was usually referred to as a herbal abortive.

It also seems to be about depression, something Cobain himself said.

For the people complaining about anything on here. I just want to say something. You should let people play with the lyrics how ever they want. This is why they posted this site, so everyone can describe what they think it means to them. People come here, devoted fans and want to knock the whole fun out of the site. If you don't like that other people are defining it their way, then find another site where people complain about lyric definitions. I know what the song means to me, even if it meant shit to Kurt. I do think it is about his stomach ailments. He does have bad posture and Leonard Cohen is a Deppressive, so it makes sense but if anyone else thinks its about abortions or anything else, then fine. Kurt has created lyrics that probably meant something or didn't but its still music, its art and i am sure he wanted people to follow and feel they way they wish even if it made him sick to think about it.

the song is about self-medication... and whatever a person is dealing with, it's that individuals way of dealing that gets them through the day... in and out of reality, with feeling better as the goal... the pennyroyal tea is the means to the end, which in this case is again, getting through another day...

In my opinion. "Pennyroyal Tea" is a great song, and Kurt was a musical (lyrical works included) genius, and even if he was a depressed drug-user, he was a great musician and a great man. Kurt once was asked about what exactly "Pennyroyal Tea" was, and Kurt had laughed when that person thought it was about indigestion. Kurt said that it's about a person who's real depressed and on their deathbed.

This song was most certainly about his use or misuse of drugs such as "heroin" and at the same time he was as he does so well - mocking the listener as well. Pure genius ..... But why do so many only recognise that AFTER death?

It's already been said that Kurt himself didn't put much thought into deeper meanings of his songs because he was a veritable lyric-machine and melodic genius, and came up with many of Nirvana's hits in only mere hours. It took him years to finalize the lyrics for Smells Like Teen Spirit because it's likely he intended for it to become their first major hit, but there still isn't much latent meaning in the lyrics.

Pennyroyal Tea, however, isn't just a song about herbal abortives or stomach aches; it can be taken as a sarcastic commentary on depression. It's not that subtle, either, especially if you're looking for it.

Peace, love, and empathy, Kurt. You're sorely missed.