After breaking into the mainstream with their second album, “Nevermind” (1991), Kurt Cobain claimed that the follow-up album “In Utero” was “very impersonal.” However, many of its songs contain heavy allusions to his personal life and struggles, expressing feelings of angst that were common on the band’s previous album. A standout example is the album’s opening track, “Serve the Servants.”
In the final months of 1992, Kurt Cobain completed many songs for his next album, which he was still referring to as “I Hate Myself, and I Want to Die.” Many of these songs touched on his childhood and with his wife, Courtney Love.
After years of estrangement, reconnecting with his father, Donald Cobain, deeply affected Kurt, and he became a crucial figure in this new set of songs. In “Serve the Servants,” Kurt Cobain wrote some of his most autobiographical lyrics.
“Serve The Servants” Lyrics
Teenage angst has paid off well
Now, I’m bored and old
Self-appointed judges judge
More than they have sold
If she floats then she is not
A witch like we’ve thought
A downpayment on another
One at Salem’s lotServe the servants, oh no
Serve the servants, oh no
Serve the servants, oh no
Serve the servants
That legendary divorce is such a boreAs my bones grew they did hurt
They hurt really bad
I tried hard to have a father
But instead, I had a dad
I just want you to know that I
Don’t hate you anymore
There is nothing I could say
That I haven’t thought beforeServe the servants, oh no
Serve the servants, oh no
Serve the servants, oh no
Serve the servants
That legendary divorce is such a boreServe the servants, oh no
Serve the servants, oh no
Serve the servants, oh no
Serve the servants, oh no
Serve the servants, oh no
Serve the servants, oh no
Serve the servants, oh no
Serve the servants
That legendary divorce is such a boreNirvana – “Serve The Servants“
Source: Genius.com
Songwriters: Kurt Cobain
Serve The Servants lyrics © Primary Wave Music Publishing
Nirvana’s “Serve The Servants” Meaning
Let’s break down some verses and explore the meaning behind Nirvana’s “Serve The Servants” lyrics.
“Teenage angst has paid off well, now I’m bored and old,”
Kurt Cobain experienced depression and anger as a teenager, and this past helped him write many of Nirvana’s greatest songs. This line is a commentary on Cobain’s public image and his life as a celebrity following the unexpected success of Nirvana’s second album, “Nevermind,” released in September 1991.
“Self-appointed judges judge, More than they have sold.”
Kurt Cobain hated music critics who judged his work despite the fact they didn’t produce anything significant themselves, indicating critics’ hypocrisy.
“If she floats then she is not a witch like we had thought.”
The lyric is a multifaceted critique of media scrutiny and public judgment. It references the historical witch trials while serving as a metaphor for the treatment of Courtney Love by the press. Cobain draws a parallel between the absurd logic of witch trials and the media’s treatment of his wife. Just as accused witches faced a no-win situation in the water test, Love was subjected to intense scrutiny and criticism regardless of her actions.
“I tried hard to have a father, but instead I had a dad/ I just want you to know that I don’t hate you anymore/There is nothing I could say that I haven’t thought before.”
In his 1993 biography Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana, Michael Azerrad stated that Cobain sent his father a personal and direct message with these lines. However, Cobain noted that the lines were included at the last minute and that “they just happen to fit really well.”
The dynamics between Don and Kurt reached a dead end during Kurt’s teenage years: Kurt desperately needed a father, and Don longed to be required by his son, but neither could admit it. Kurt later expresses this tension through a bitter lyric in the song.
“That legendary divorce is such a bore.“
In February 1976, when Kur Cobain was nine, his parents, Wendy and Donald Cobain, divorced. This event had a profound impact on Kurt’s life and personality development.
Kurt Cobain’s complex sentiments about this period are reflected in this sentence, which also conveys his fatigue through his repeated analysis of his early experiences. It appears that Cobain is resisting the media’s inclination to overexamine his background, especially his parents’ divorce.
“Serve The Servants” Video – (Live On “Tunnel,” Rome, Italy/1994)
“Serve the Servants” was performed, along with “Dumb,” during Nirvana’s final television appearance on February 23, 1994, in Rome, Italy, for the RAI television show Tunnel.
