 - - - - - - - - - - - - - By Scotty I'm only going to talk about "Celebrity Skin" because it's the one I really really dig. To me "Reasons To Be Beautiful" is about clicks. Maybe that's how I see it because I'm still in high school. It's about how you sometimes have to sacrifice what you think to stay in a group or fit in. It's about peer pressure and how when you're a teenager you just question yourself and if you can find 10 good reasons to stay alive that's awesome. That's what the whole album is about. Faith. Hope. I love that line in "Malibu" that says "Burn the sorrow from your eyes, oh come on be alive again, don't lay down and die". It's like things may be shitty right now but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. "How are you so burned when you're barely on fire"-How can you be so upset when nothing has fucking happened. There are people out there with real problems and you're upset over asking a girl out or a teacher giving you a hard time, or an asshole in your classroom. Malibu is music. Music is an escape for me. It gets me away from everything. It's like therapy. "Northern Star"-"I cry where no one can hear."-Your repressing all of your emotions. "No loneliness. NO misery is worth you"- Why am I wasting my time with you? "Heaven Tonight"- I bought this album when I started going to church with this girl I had a crush on so the whole album kind of reminds me of her and other girls who are really pure and in touch With God. "Playing your Song"- This is how sometimes your friends just fucking bail on you and blow you off because they have a new best friend. Then you do something "cool" and they act like they've been your friend through the whole ordeal. "Petals"- I can't think of anything even though I usually do when I listen to it. I'm kind of going blank. I love the end where it dies down at the end and the violins close the album. "She's too pure for the likes of this world. This world is a whore"- People are naive to think everything's fair and everybody's honest. This world has some serious shit in it. My name is Scotty and hopefully you can get something out of this or spark your own thoughts into the songs. This album is great. One of the best I've ever heard as overall. - - - - - - - - - - - - - By Sami I personally think that "Plump" is about Courtenys pregnancy with Frances Bean. If you listen there are images of morning sickness. And the title is like when you put on weight because of the pregnancy! But thats just my thoughts. - - - - - - - - - - - - - By Tami I'm perpetually trying to interpret the meaning behind hoLe songs, and here's an interpretation of a line that i'm pretty sure of and also means a lot to me. The line, "And I cry but no one can hear, inhale, the blinded eyes that see the chaos..." from Northern Star I think refers to how courtney was really crying out for help and understanding when she was acting chaotic, and rather than getting that the people (the blinded eyes that see the chaos) put her down and called her names and shit. and i think when she sings, "sittin on the corner i drink drown soda wanna bomb the whole state of minnesota", i think she was fed up with kat bjelland and the other minnesota people. but that's not too hard to see. - - - - - - - - - - - - - By Chris I've often thought about the meanings of words in hole's song's and here's what I think about two of my fovourites. I think celebrity skin is about how fleeting fame is and how shallow the whole celebrity thing is. miss world i think is about how even though you can be popular or famous or whatever you can still feel completly lost like "no body's listening, my friends" . what she's trying to say is that you can be surounded by friends but no one listens to you and acts like yes men (or the more politicly correct yes people :-)) - - - - - - - - - - - - - By Nikki I came upon your page, interpretations is a great idea, I myself have been going over "Northern Star" for an english project. The teacher wants the real meaning behind this, but I haven't seen anything really said about it. Anyway, my interpretation is as follows: Picture this, a dark room where Courtney is sitting. This is clearly in reference to Kurt but only because we know the situation and the media makes us think this. No Hole fan can grasp what Courtney is really saying so we pry ourselves. The way I see it, is that this is after Kurt's death. Courtney doesn't know what to do, she's saddened completely. Of course, who wouldn't be? "And I cry and no one can hear, inhale, the blinded eyes that see"-she cries but no one can hear the pain, she inhales and suddenly what has blinded her before she can see perfectly (blinded eyes that see referring to the "people" who told Courtney to leave and let Kurt find his own way instead of helping him). "And I wait for you, it's cold in here there's no one left and I wait for you, and nothing stops it happening and I knew, I'd cherish all my misery alone"- stating that although she waits for him, she knows that he won't come back, but even if there's a small chance, she's gonna wait forever, she knew this would happen but wasn't prepared, she couldn't stop it. "And I wait, praying to the Norther Star, I'm afraid, it won't lead you anywhere, he's so cold, he will win the world tonight, all the angels kneeling to the frozen lights"- she prays for him and she's afraid, she knows he won't go anywhere because suicidal people don't go to heaven, they stay in the middle, he's so cold but he will win over the world tonight, one last joke on everyone who ever caused him pain. "And I want you, and blessid are the broken and I beg you, no loneliness no misery is worth you, oh tear his heart out cold as ice it's mine"- She wants him, he is extremely blessed with talent and he is fragile and broken, she begs of him and no pain is worth him and tear his heart out cause it's cold as ice (for doing what he did), it belongs to her. I don't know about you guys, but I get chills everytime I hear this song, and for song quality itself is amazing, but when you dig deeper to the core it's scary. And Courtney doesn't have to talk about anything but once in awhile she does and her lyrics explain a lot of things. ------------------ And that is my interpretation. - - - - - - - - - - - - - By Kirsten I guess that the lyrics to Rock Star are pretty transparent, but I can really relate to them. I go to this preppyass private high school (where everyone's the same) and I HATE it. The first day was definitly the worst though. I walked in, in my skirt that's like six inches long, black leggings, and my skanky little tank top oh and a serious black eyeliner complex. All the little sweater-vest-khaki-pants-northface-backpack people just kinda gawked. (well what do you do with a revolution?????) The song is about how stupid conformists can't deal with anyone who breaks away from their strict standards and how angry that makes Courtney (and everyone else who has ever listened to them selves instead of everyone else). so that's what I think star is about - - - - - - - - - - - - - By Sarah My intpreation of Malibu is that,her cousin was travelling to malibu to live with her boyfrienf and she was in a car accident(Crash and burn) and courtney is just saying don't die tonight as they were close then her cousin boyfriend commited suicide by walking into the ocean and drowning himself. - - - - - - - - - - - - - By VOMITSTAR@aol.com "and i cry and no one can hear....bring the pitiful to me" "and i wake for you, it's cold in here, there's no one left" "and nothing stops it happening" These lines are an obvious allusion to the very day courtney found out kurt was dead. To me it illustrates clearly the image of Courtney lying in Kurts' Blood, looking for a peice of him in the poorly insulated room above the garage where he killed himself. "It's dark in here blot out the sun"-again, Courtney living on the floor. All the run on sentences and thoughts were probally the same ones going through her mind on the tile in a pool of kurts blood.The line "and he will ruin the world tonight" makes me think of the comments courtney made about how stupid kurt was, and how "don't remember this is was all lies". "Ghosts that haunt you", kurts selfhatred.. i could go on but it's probally all bullshit that i overread into the song. - - - - - - - - - - - - - By Krystal My interpretaion of use once and destroy is about a guy who does heroin and about the way he feels because of it. My interpretation of teenage whore is about a girl who gives her body out to everone and her mother is wondering why because she gives her everything and then she's gotta go do it with everyone to feel secure. My interpretation of Good sister bad sister is about sisters who hate each other and are striving for the luv of there parents and take advantage of one another by stealing one anothers boyfriends and narking on one another to make there parents happy. My interpretation of Loaded is about a girl who loses her virginity. Well those are my interpretations if you don't agree email me or think "well at least i know were different "We all have different oppinions and our oppinions vary. - - - - - - - - - - - - - By Alasdair Duncan Playing Your Song : I think that this song is about the death. Kurt's death, but also the death of grunge music. The line 'You burned right out' kinda refers to Kurt, and how he was unprepared for his rise from an underground rock star to becoming the idol of a generation. I think that the title, 'Playing Your Song', is a reference to 'Smells LIke Teen Spirit', and its huge mainstream popularity. After 'Nevermind', Nirvana became more and more commercially popular, and they were the unwilling victims of record companies ('their innocence tastes like candy'), and they were turned into a commodity ('they bought and sold it all, it's gone'), something which Kurt detested. There are also references to Kurt's suicide, particularly when Courtney says 'I had to tell them you were gone', which could mean what happened when Courtney read out his suicide note to Nirvana fans fans. The song isn't just about Kurt's death, though. I think it's also pointing out something about the death of grunge in general. When a style of music is popular in the underground, and then it gets mainstream popularity, people eventually tend to lose interest in it. Many of the great grunge bands of the early nineties have disappeared, and those who remain are either struggling (eg. mudhoney) or have gone in a different direction (eg. Hole and the Smashing Pumpkins). I've heard Courtney describe 'Playing Your Song' as 'the last grunge song that will ever be written'. - - - - - - - - - - - - - By Defxl3itch@aol.com Have you ever noticed that in the song Reasons to be Beautiful, when Courtney sings "Love hangs herself" and "Love hates you" she might not only be talking about love, but maybe even herself? since her name is courtney love and all. just a thought.... - - - - - - - - - - - - - By Patrick "Celebrity Skin"... is what Courtney calls a "burlesque of Hollywood", a mockery of the beautiful garbage and the vicious circle of Hollywood, with a rather brilliant "Merchant of Venice" allusion (pound of flesh..) "Awful"... is about the death of Grunge, and how it began so suddenly and ended the same way. Courtney said the line "the girls like you...etc" was her Gavin Rossdale part... Courtney wants that and "Playing your Song" to "bookend grunge..to be the last grunge songs ever written.." "Hit So Hard"... is about infatuation, with a neat play on words with the chorus. Does this persons beauty hit her so hard that she thinks he's God? Or is it actual physical violence? "Malibu"...A beautiful pop song about redemption and wanting to save a fragile spirit.. definite Kurt reference...or Jeff Buckley as well. Courtney said she has a love affair with the town, and she feels invigorated when she visits there... "Reasons to Be Beautiful"...has some of the best lines of the album. Great puns with the word "love". All about the exageratted importance and fascism of beauty... another Kurt reference at the end with a revision of his suicide letter-epitaph, "rise than fade away..." "Dying"...alludes to an old Hole song called "Cripple Dance" in the beginning... Nirvana reference with "I am so dumb"...about knowing your losing a battle, with a lover or a friend, and having to come to terms with a broken heart or defeat... "Use Once and Destroy"...about the black hole of drug addiction, and how one person can use drugs but take everyone he/she loves through hell with them. Obvious heroin reference. "Northern Star"...very Fleetwood Mac-ish...this song has many Kurt allusions, most notably the line "run to the pines", which was the original title to the Nirvana cover "Where Did you Sleep Last Night?" This song, from my view, talks of when Courtney locked herself in the greenhouse after Kurt died, sitting in the darkness, wearing his clothes, wondering where he was, if he was an angel now.... "Boys on the Radio"...one of my favorite songs, which stems from the song "Sugar Coma" that Hole has been working on for 4 years. With a smart Beach Boys echo of "endless summer nights", this song beautifully talks about Jeff Buckley and all the other "self destructive pop-boys" as Courtney said, and how she sees them with all their talent, yet their nihilistic need to self-destruct. "Heaven Tonight"...a brilliant double-entendre...many pop references...on one level, this song talks of a girl driving to meet her lover, with classic love imagery of horses and rain, and feeling ecstatic...on the other level, the girl dies on her way, the horses are actually Death, the rider on a pale horse, coming to literally take her to "heaven tonight"... "Playing Your Song"...another favorite of mine...the most explicit Kurt song, dealing with Courtney's anger and bitterness towards his suicide, and leaving her alone, and his complaints about being a sell out, predominant in his suicide letter.."don't you dare blame me...they've taken it and built a mall..." "Petals"...not really sure, I just like the echo from "Asking For It" in the chorus... ends the album beautifully. - - - - - - - - - - - - - By Kristyn 'Playing your song' is the song on the album that really means the most to me. I see Courtney yelling at what once was the most important thing in her life--Kurt. She's mad that he left her so suddenly and that she was blamed for it. I am a big Nirvana and Hole fan and personally i think whoever thinks that she actually killed him isn't a true Kurt fan. They both loved each other, they'd never hurt one another. I think that's what this song is about. - - - - - - - - - - - - - By Nikki So here's a thought, I'm going over your interpretations page and most of the lyric interpretations are right on, I mean, anyone would think this especially knowing the history of Courtney and Kurt and Frances and whoever else right? And the past of Courtney's and how bad she had it. But being a songwriter myself, I was just wondering..I doubt that any of us will ever get the true meaning of this stuff and because we are all brainwashed by the media, we tend to believe that every heavy song has some reference to Kurt, well that is, not refering to Pretty On The Inside. And how do we go and say that a song is what it is when we don't know what it is? Shouldn't we just listen to it? I know that it's easy to pick a part a song and that's what they're there for but yet, it troubles me to think that everything is being brought up from the past and stuff. When you write a song, it doesn't neccessarily come from the past or experience I mean, sometimes there's an influence. Can you write a book without influence? I'm not saying that Hole has plagerized or anything, I'm saying that everything comes from somewhere and just because Kurt is dead, doesn't mean that every song is about him. I think the whole Celebrity Skin album is a revelation. I saw an interview and Courtney mentioned how they made what they wanted to make for so long. I mean, she's changed yes, but the music hasn't. It's just grown. So, in short, I think that interpretations are good, but we have to stop looking at the surface and dig deeper. There are some songs in which I believe are about Kurt (Northern Star, Playing Your Song) but isn't that only because we know of what happened? I don't mean to contradict myself but I think that everyone should dig deeper. Not to the point of obsession. Music is for the soul but it can blind you also. - - - - - - - - - - - - - By Jac "Doll Parts" when hole programmed rage last week courtney sed this song was about a time when she was really sad coz she thought kurt hated her and that he liked this "real poser" chick. i'm not sure if doll parts is courtney feeling really depressed about herself or if she's slagging off the poser chick. All of this is just my interpretation i'm not saying its right but here goes.. doll "parts" indicates that the parts are seperate. cold and unfeeling, sort of inhuman coz only parts of the doll is there. Even "doll" itself is an indication that this is an emotionless replica of a person without warmth. "big veins" sounds ugly - courtney might think of her heroin habit as an ugly thing. "yeah they really want you.... too" All kurts fans adore him and people love him but she feels as though she's been neglected. The thing that the people love that she wants is the cake (kurt) and she wants the largest portion. "I love him... ache" she feels like she's trying too hard to get his attention and ends up feeling like she's gotten on his nerves and that he hates her. She really oozes depression by saying "ache" coz its almost physical pain attached to the inner pain. "bad skin" courtney's or the poser's. she's either picking on herself or poser. "It stands 4 knife... life" i'm not exactly sure about this bit but the knife symbolizes betrayal and in this case its lifelong. "he only loves those things... break" kurt was sometimes known to test his relationships with people to the max. he treats them like toys that he only wanted to break in the first place. "i fake it so real... fake" courtney feels like she's faked it so long she cant remember who she was before she started and the fakeness is now her. Overall this is sooo depressing but a beautifully written (poetry and musak) song. - - - - - - - - - - - - - By Rose I would like to share my interpretations of few songs. "How are you so burnt when you are barely on fire" : I think this is about Kurt. She asks him how he was so fed up when he was such loved and a popular rockstar. "I can't be near you, the lights just radiates" : this is just about Kurt in lights ( death) and that he glows ( Courtney often said that Kurt had become an angel) so he is now her angel, her ray of light. "I'll give you my body, just sell me your soul" from Reasons to be beautiful are still about Kurt. Courtney feels that she lost her soul since Kurt died and thinks that she was the one who should have died so she sings to Kurt to take her body cause she wants a soul and because she wants Kurt to be alive instead of her. From Boys on the radio "In your endless summer night, I'll be on the other side, when you are beautiful and dying, all the world that you've denied, when the water is too deep, you can close your eyes and really sleep tonight." In these lyrics, Courtney says that she is still with Kurt, even in "the other side" like she will always be there for him even if he is "there' and she is "here". All the world that you've denied: all the popularity, hapiness (with fans/Courtney/Frances) he left behind. Then she sings " when the water is too deep...". This means : ok, if you're really fed up and sad, go ahead, leave me, I understand, you can rest in peace. Celebrity skin is a beautiful album, I hope everybody like it as I do!! - - - - - - - - - - - - - By Trinity Layer This song, as a b-side for Malibu, is like the second part of that single. Malibu is about a girl that goes to that city with her boyfriend's friends and there she discovers that it is the life she wants to live and that she doesn't love her boy as much as she thought. Back again with Drag, this song is about the whole thing on giving yourself completely to the person you love and the blind love (All alone in the city, love is blind. I don't care baby, tell me what to do). So, she feels so free that she despites eveyone that is not as happy as her and wants to laugh at them (I pity all of you tonight). Finally, in that weird guitar ending, she leaves her past burguoise life to living free and in love (Drive all the way to Malibu, drop everything that wasn't you, drive all the way to Malibu, drop all the diamonds that I knew). - - - - - - - - - - - - - By quietgrrrl I really don't have much to say about the interpretations just that I have one thing to say. Not every Hole song is about Kurt, in fact, I really don't think Hole off of live Through This is about Kurt's death at all seeing as how LTT was published way before Kurt's death. I know that Courtney must still feel sad about that. Celebrity Skin isn't all about Kurt, in fact her strange sexual metaphors aren't even generally about Kurt. I think it's time every one got over Kurt's death, Courtney and Kurt were going to get devorced before Kurt killed himself. I think it's very narrow minded to believe that all the songs are Kurt related, you're missing out on some very good lyrics. - - - - - - - - - - - - - By Suffer1978@aol.com This is my interpretation of "Playing Your Song": I think she's talking about herself. The old image and the new image conflicting with eachother. She's saying that she couldn't stay the same, that something happened...stopped her from being "bored and cynical". And the loss of that persona is actually a relief for her. I used to think the song had something to do with Kurt or Billy, but now I'm pretty sure it was all about her. Read the lyrics, you'll see what i mean. - - - - - - - - - - - - - By Amber *teenage whore*--i believe that this song is about not fitting in and inturn, turning into a "whore". *i said i feel so alone and i, i wish i could die, seen the things that you put me thru and i, i wish i could die...*--she feels alone, she wants to die. the only thing that makes her feel alive is by giving her body to people. *i pay good $ not to be ignored...*--she's obviously doing this just for the attension..she's tired of being ignored. *get out of my house.*--i feel that maybe she realizes what she doing and how unhealthy it is. She wants the person *out of her house* which could be literal or "house" as in "cunt". *babydoll*--i think she speaking of someone that she envies and wants to become. *babydoll, touch her oh i feel her chemical wedding her chemical peel*--i think she's saying that she feels the emotions/pain the "babydoll" feel. *i knife me, i slash my*--perhaps this is self-inflicted (??)--*sickened suddenly well here you are as ugly as me*--realizes that babydoll isn't anymore special than herself. *garbadge man*--*she tears the hole up even wider*--either a spirutal hole or cunt. *where the fuck were you when my lights went out? yah you don't want to look at it*--when this person is needed they're nowhere to be found. *and everyone of you looks the same, and everyone of you feels the same.*--a reoccuring like in many other hole songs. most likely about olympia. ~*these are my personal opinons about the lyrics. if anyone disagrees email me at Squidgrrrl@aol.com*~ - - - - - - - - - - - - - By Kerri This is my interpretation of Reasons To Be Beautiful, if you don't agree, to bad i'ts what it means personally to each of us that is important... I think that this is about a girl (not necessarily Courtney) being so in love with someone and then finding out they have fallen in love with someone else . This girl then attempts to become something that replicates this new lover to convince herself that she fits in and that she is doing the right thing to be loved again by this person, but then becoming disillusioned when she gets no reaction and feels useless so searching inside herself looking for reasons to carry on this lie (give me a reason to be beautiful) and giving up on the one she thought she loved so deeply and getting pissed off. Perhapes this song goes through the last motions of love dying, and the emotions she felt as it was dying or fading away for example depression (love hangs herself) anger (love hates you) shame and regret (I live my life in ruins for you) and then finally a last burst of hope that whatever this thing she had with her lover may be able to work. This hope however is short lived when the girl turns nasty, patronising the ‘summerbabe’ who has stolen her lover, and realising that it is not she that has the problem it is the asshole ex lover and the slutty whore that has latched on to him. The final lines of the song are like a quiet dignified ending to this love affair, where the girl makes peace with herself and ends the relationship once and for all, without taking it out on her ex or his new girlfriend. - - - - - - - - - - - - - By Asher Dollparts- i think it imcorporates all the ideas from being related to kurt to low self asteem but i do know from reading courtneys biography im not quite sure how reliable it is but i enjoyed it that the lines "i am doll parts/badskin/doll heart / it stands for knife for the rest of your life" were party of a love letter faxed to kurt on one of the many times they were apart. so the song must be about the way courtney felt and feels for kurt. - - - - - - - - - - - - - By Sharee Violet - this being one of the ultimate hole songs out there, I've tried to dissect it a lot over the last few years. Here's what I've come up with... 'You should learn when to go, you should learn how to say no'... I think she's referring to meaningless sex, where it's often hard to say no. Feeling loved for twenty minutes is better than not feeling loved at all. But in the end do you feel anymore needed? This song was written about Billy Corgan during their on again off again relationship. I also believe it's about the feeling (that we all know too well) of being left behind and not wanted. 'when they get what they want, well they never want it again' Being used. 'Might last a day, well mine is forever'. This could mean a whole heap of different things, but to me she's talking about depression/low self esteem... the fact that some girls have ugly or fat days, but for Courtney those days last forever. 'Go on take everything, take everything I want you to' She doesn't care anymore and why should she? This is all about power. A friend (hi Pink) taught me this not long ago. If you give anything, it's not really being taken... by saying 'take everything' she's saying that she can't be destroyed and beaten, nothing can be stolen from her because she's giving it away. 'When I get what I want, well I never want it again' Pay back. The bitterness has spilled out as Courtney is now the user, not the used. Pretty On The Inside - I know, this is such an obvious song but it's my favourite so I have to write about it... From the first line you can see what the songs about... 'slut kiss girl won't you promise her smack' ... prostitution? I hate that word but could that be what this line is referring to? What the 'slut kiss girl' would do for a hit? 'Is she pretty on the inside?' Does beauty really come from within? I don't think so, not these days anyway. Some people (mostly the male of the species) seem to think she's talking about being pretty on the inside literally, I have to disagree though. Courtney isn't that lame. 'Is she pretty from the back?' Well? If she isn't then she's just not good enough. Courtney having been a stripper for years would have seen the effects of beauty no end. You have to look a certain way, not only in the porn industry but in fucking every day life, it's like a new rule or something. 'Dead moon girl, molasses rot black strap' ... What happens when your strap rots? It falls down. Courtney is referring to 'slutty behavior' as some may say. Think about it. 'Is she rotten on the inside baby, ugly, ugly from the back??' Not just ugly, but rotten. Diseased, crusty, fowl and old, useless. If your not pretty your nothing, which brings us to the next part... 'There is no power, like my pretty power' I could go on for hours about pretty power ... it's one of my obsessions. When it comes to whether or not you have pretty power, it doesn't matter if you've got a nice, kind personality, if your caring and warm hearted... the looks are it. Society kills. That's what it boils down to. It's always been blonde vs. brunette, fat vs. thin, tall vs. short and unfortunately it's probably going to be like that forever. If your not what society perceives as a joy to look at then you're a waste of space. - - - - - - - - - - - - - Page 2 - Page 3 - Page 4 - Page 5 - Page 6 - Page 7 - Page 8 - Page 9 - - - - - - - - - - - - - |