Sliver Lyrics - Nirvana

Kurt Cobain was amazing. I agree with almost everyone else here that anyone who tries to figure out the meaning of the songs...shut up. Kurt wrote it because he wanted to, and because it had a meaning to him. No one but Kurt will ever know EXACTLY why he wrote it, he probably didn't even know why he wrote it. lol anyway....yeah, think what you think..but don't go sayin that you know why Kurt wrote what he did. Because we'll never know, even if he was asked the question, he probably didn't answer it the way he would have wanted to. You can't say you know, if you don't. Keep it to yourself, and if you HAVE to say something, say you "think" because you'll never really know. Unless you are Kurt Cobain, in which case you will know, but I highly doubt that you are him....so.....yeah...

Whatever it means, the song lives on through my five-year-old's favorite musician, CASPAR BABYPANTS (Chris Ballew formerly of The Presidents of the United States of America "Lump" and "Peaches").

He is just singing about his childhood and maybe something that happened often. The meaning is literal. Haven't you ever as a child said you got hurt and you arm or head or toe "killed"?? A term kids used in the 70's- 80's. Grandpa Joe was no molester. People who are reading into these lyrics are seriously demented. Grandpa Joe just probably made him eat all the food he didn't like and maybe made him pull weeds or something. Grandma was the loving sympathetic understanding one who he could turn to and whom he was very fond. Like some of my memories, I woke up in my mom's or dad's arms as they caried me to the car or to my bed. Its just that simple. People talking about hidden meanings and killing toe is really soul and molesting grandpa's are stupid and ridiculous.

Songs mean something different to whomever is listening. I hear artist say this all the time and most like and respect that it means something different to even them(the one who wrote it) Kurt was very creative and put out lyrics that seem to not add up, I am sure they made sense to him and I have my own thoughts of what he was saying or wanted to say without saying it specifically. When he said "I killed my toe" I have a feeling he mean "soul" and changed it on purpose so that it was not so direct. Like the song title itself, Sliver, I believe he said he named it that because he knew everyone would read it as "silver" and he just wanted to screw with people. He may have been too deep for most of us to ever really know.

It's amazing. This song is simple but I couldn't get it out of my mind. I Think the last line "I wanna be alone" is a great ending 'cause across the entire song he semmed to mean "I'm alone, I wanna be with somebody" but in the end (no matter whom were around) it didn't happend. So I think it's like "forget it. it's too late"

I love every Nirvana song. They sound like there talking about you. I know absolutely everyone can relate to at least 1 song by them. Kurt wrote for the outcasts.....no matter how much popular chicks pressure me to be cool I stay weird because of Kurt Cobain...My idol forever.

I love this song along with all others.
It said that the meaning of this song is that Kurt was abandoned often by his parents and hence birthed the lyrics of this awesome song. He was just always alone as a kid and hardly with his parents. But yet again, only Kurt knows the TRUE meaning of these words. R.I.P Kurt.

To me it sounds as if grandpa Joe wasn't too good of a guy. He only gets mentioned once, yet it is grandpa Joe's house he goes too. And then requests grandma take me home. He can't chew his meat too good but that doesnt says his meat was tough or overcooked it says his jaw hurt. And then when he awakes in his mothers arms the last line of the song is I want to be alone. My interpretation is that grandpa Joe was sexually abusing the boy.

You folks denying meaning - EVERYTHING has meaning; Napoleon Dynamite has meaning. To deny that is to deny reality. Delusions. So be it if you like. Kurt "meant" something to all of you. He means something to me, too; but clearly he was a confused, troubled person. What is so wrong about interpreting and understanding? This song is pretty weak lyrically; however, it still has meaning. The surface meaning is - sounds like a whiny little kid who can't deal with separation from parents - duh, there's separation anxiety. All kids go through it. . He is very imagistic - that's good. The strangest line is the one about "killing the toe." Everything else fits with a silly kids' point of view. So what the heck does killed his toe mean? Is that the sliver? Where is the sliver, if not? Killed my toe - presumably while riding his bike - is a strange idea. Perhaps it is sort of - a kid's interpretation; perhaps being mad, and bitter, he was riding, and hurt himself - angry.

There are some other strange meanings too - like, what does "grandma take me home" mean, especially after the boy woke up in his mother's arms?

The lyrics are quite confused and seem not to follow logically; they - the kid would be done with grandma take me home. So - there are some clear oedipal things going on here - with being in mom's arms, and with grandma - kind of a bit Harold and Maude, really. The bad guys - the men; grandpa, and rival, dad, who steals mom's attention and time. Pretty obvious here. So - and then perhaps the sliver is a projection - he is stabbed by the world, and - the world has become a bad male figure - thus in a sense, he is - abused - perhaps how he wants to imagine happens to women, who are mistreated and injured by other men.

I don't know if it is personal or not; lots of his music seems to take a piss at everything and make crude, silly, teenage jokes. I find his pathos troubling, and quite common - it strikes a nerve with many of us. However, his spite and scathing criticism seems really destructive, to the point of self destruction even, and persecutory.

@Adam twelve
it is sad that you had a bad childhood experience, however not everyone had it. i for one loved being at grandmas house. it was fun there, food was great (in candy-side grandma gave me much mroe thna parents did) and we used to stay up late playing games and whatnot. but that was not often as my parents usualyl took me with them when they went somewhere. and i liked that too. even wnhe i was 12 i would have taken theater over bike ride any day.

Listen... my parents used to go out... when they couldnt get a sitter to come over my house I would have to go stay at my grandparents... it was boring there, and as I was a child I didnt like regular food like meat and potatos.. I wanted hot dogs and cereal.. thats what this song is about... how bad it sucks that you have to spend a night at your grandmoms house, eat there and go ride your bike on someones else's block away from your friends... period. nerds.

Stop reading too much into Kurts songs. Kurt said himself too many people are reading too much into his songs when the meaning is on the surface. To me this is the best adivce to understanding Kurts work e.g. Drain You is obviously about a parasitic relationship and that should be clear by the lyrics, however with a song like Sliver there is no real deep meaning behind the song its just a song, it has no real meaning to the audience, it could of to Kurt e.g. Childhood memory, but then again most singers/bands (who write their own songs) write songs that reflect on their past yet mean nothing to the listener, Sliver to me is simply a great song. Not all songs by good singers have to mean something.

Kurt Cobain is the one person I look up to and respect more than anyone else, I have my own connections to every one of his songs, but they may be different than yours. All I can say is fellow rockers, keep grunge alive! Amen :)

ok so everyone who wants to analyze it, please analytical thinking leads to differing opinions due to the discrepancy of life experiences. therefore keep your opinions to yourself, because it is very annoying reading people argue over a song that can be interpreted in multiple ways, because again it is a song and it was meant to make an impact on everyone in the audience. yes, kurt probably wrote it about a childhood experience, but really he wanted to connect his audience with his message and his life.

Everything Someone Says has a meaning..whether it be controversial or insignificant.Everyone has an opinion...Nirvana is a SuperHero Band and UMMM Many People Dont have a clue.....KEep RockIn Kurt..The World Will Never KNOw...Keep RockIn BRah