2. 

Contents:

2.5 Three Interpretations

2.5.1 Pearl Jam: Alive

1 "Son" she said 
   "Have I got a little story for you: 
   what you thought was your daddy 
   was nothin' but a... 
5 while you were sittin' 
   home alone at age thirteen 
   your real daddy was dying; 
   sorry you didn't see him. 
   But I'm glad we talked." 

10 Oh I'm, oho I'm still alive. 
    Aay I'm, oho I'm still alive... 

    Oh she walks slowly 
    across a young man's room. 
    She said: "I'm ready for you." 
15 I can't remember anything to this very day. 

    Kept the look, the look 
    oh you know where. 
    now I can't see, I just stare. 
    Oho I'm still alive. 
20 Aay I'm, oho I'm still alive... 

    "Is something wrong?" she said. 
    Of course there is. 
    "You're still alive." she said. 
    Oh do I deserve to be? 
25 Is that the question? 
    And if so, if so, 
   who answers? Who answers? 

    I'm, oho I'm still alive 
    Aay I'm, oho I'm still alive... 

This is the original text taken from the booklet of the album Ten with some small additions.
As you could read in 2.3.1 there are lots of intimate details in the songs of most grunge poets. Therefore the lyrics are often very veiled, obscure and unclear. Alive is kind of an exception at this point and is easier to interpret, especially as I know a lot about Eddie Vedder's youth.
Alive is a good example for a song which was written to deal with a bad experience from the past. Eddie Vedder was adopted by a man whom he not so fondly called "that lawyer fuck" after his real father's death. His name changed from Edward Louis Severson III. to Edward Mueller. But after his mother divorced he took her maiden name - Vedder. He never saw his real father. One day his mother just came along and told him that his natural father had died long ago and that the man he knew was in fact his stepfather. This must have been a massive shock for the young Eddie. Therefore he couldn't love his parents anymore.
So after this brief description of the circumstances here is my interpretation:
In the first eight lines of the song Vedder reflects about the moment when his mother came to him and told him the story I explained above. Then she excuses briefly that he didn't see his father and simply ends her short speech by the words "But I'm glad we talked" (line nine). This was really cruel from her if you consider what she told him and how casual she did it - as if she told him something about the weather or a similar trivial thing. She surely should have taken more time for her son and should have sat down with him and explained him all that. She didn't even try to console him but simply leaves him alone with all his feelings and confusion about the news. But Eddie was strong and got over this shock. His strength shows in the determination with which he then sings the chorus. He exclaims that he is still alive and screams out all his anger and hate with this. In the second verse he describes a new shock. Whenever I hear these seven lines an image forms up inside my head. It is the picture of a boy standing at the door of his parents' bedroom. The door is ajar and so he can look inside. He sees his mother who walks towards the bed on which the young man mentioned in line thirteen is lying. Then he watches his mother and the young man having sex. I think this image fits to the text very well. The mother says that she is "ready" for him so what else should this mean but that she is ready to sleep with him. The boy has never seen his mother in such a situation or perhaps he has never seen anybody having sex. Therefore he can't remember anything similar up to this day (line fifteen). He is stunned and can't move and run away. It is such a shock for him that he can only stand there and stare at the two lovers. But he also managed to cope with that. The chorus breaks in again. In the following four lines Vedder repeats two sentences his mother said to him and answers them to himself. She asked if something was wrong (line twenty-one). Certainly something was wrong so she just said that he was still alive (line twenty-three). Like that she somehow implied that everything was all right. It sounds as if she would say: "You're still alive so what's the matter? Why do you complain? What else do you want?". She simply pretended that nothing had happened. So after this bad statement of his mother he asks ironically if he deserves to live and if that is the question (lines twenty-four /-five). I don't think so because the real question for me is what was wrong, but his mother didn't seem to care about that. This is somehow expressed in line twenty-six when Vedder asks: "Who answers?". The answer to this question at least is clear: nobody answers because no one really cares. Here I'd like to draw a connection to another song from Ten called Jeremy. In this song the protagonist's (Jeremy's) parents don't care for their son. So this neglect is obviously something which bothered Vedder very long. But he also got over this. For the last time the thundering chorus is repeated followed by a long guitar solo. During this time Vedder usually jumped around on the stage, banged his head and now and then screamed something into the microphone. It looks as if the song reminds him of all those incidents which influenced his whole life and then he lets out all his feelings by screaming and running around to abreact.

2.5.2 Nirvana: Smells Like Teen Spirit (Angst version)

                   Smells Like Teen Spirit           Smells Like Angst Spirit

                   1    Load up on guns              1  Load up on angst
                        And bring your friends          And bring your black 
                        It's fun to lose                It's fun to smoke 
                        And to pretend                  Another pack 
                   5    She's overbored              5  We're unemployed 
                        And self assured                 Our future's bleak 
                        Oh no, I know                   Oh no, I know 
                        A dirty word                    My coffee's weak...

                        hello, hello,... how low?       It's angst, It's angst, ...
                   10   hello, hello,... how low?    10 It's angst, It's angst, ...
                        With the lights out             With the flannel on 
                        It's less dangerous             We perspire more 
                        Here we are now                 We're Generation X 
                        Entertain us[...]               But we're still hard core 
                   15   Yeah...                      15 Yeah...

                        I'm worse at what               I'm worse at what 
                        I do best                       I do best 
                        And for this gift               But my jeans are ripped 
                        I feel blessed                  Like all the rest 
                   20   Our little group             20 Espresso rocks
                        Has always been                 Snapple's OK 
                        And always will                 And I know Elvis lives 
                        Until the end                   With Kurt Cobain...
                        
                        hello, hello,... how low?       It's angst, It's angst, ...
                   25   hello, hello,... how low?    25 It's angst, It's angst, ...

                        With the lights out             With the flannel on 
                        It's less dangerous             We perspire more 
                        Here we are now                 We're Generation X 
                        Entertain us[...]               But we're still hard core 
                   30   Yeah...                      30 Yeah...
        
                        A mulatto                       A Fruitopia 
                        An albino                       And Nirvana,
                        A mosquito                      Lollapalooza 
                        My Libido                       Kalapalooza,
                   35   Yeah, a denial               35    Yeah...
                        A denial
                        A denial...
The song on the right is a funny and very sarcastical variation of the original song on the left. I've got it from the so called Angst Page in the Internet 1*). Smells Like Teen Spirit was in fact the song which brought Nirvana's breakthrough and therewith also the song which launched the grunge phenomenon. So what would be more suitable as to connect it with all the things which got so typical for grunge fans and for Seattle.
In many lines only a single word was replaced but this already changes enough to show the main images which are connected with grunge. The original version is much longer so I've shortened it a bit by leaving out the third verse and by cutting a bit off the chorus. Indeed I want to interpret the angst version which only copies elements of the first two verses so the third one isn't very important.
As you can read in the definition in 1.3 angst is the word that describes the spirit of generation X and "black" (line two) in its figurative meaning also means something like sad or melancholic. So these two words fit together very well. Lines three and four touch upon the drug problem of the grunge scene. Andrew Wood and a former Hole member died of drug overdoses and Kurt Cobain and his wife Courtney Love Cobain also had problems with drugs. The word "fun" in line three somehow implies the mindless abuse of drugs and it also proves how stupid these people are as they consider it fun to take drugs. The next two lines also establish contacts with the loser feeling which is typical for generation X with the catchwords "unemployed" and "future's bleak". The last two lines of the first verse are just an almost senseless rhyme to the sixth one. I say only almost senseless because one of the drinks for which Seattle is famous is mentioned with the word "coffee". The following chorus is again flavoured with some sharp irony. With flannel the grunge fashion is mentioned and it is ridiculed by the following line. In fact there is a lot of sweat at the wild shows, especially in the mosh pit but also on the stage so this is not at all wrong. In line thirteen the word generation X falls at last. The second verse starts with the same two lines as the original but then the variation starts again. The ripped jeans belong to the grunge fashion. I think line nineteen is a very hard line. But it is not wrong either because some of the grungers (at least the fans) are really complete wrecks. They go crazy at the shows and are perhaps a little bit out of mind. The "all the rest" can also be associated to the souls of the people. Perhaps a bad childhood has spoiled them and made them mentally ill. But this interpretation is perhaps a bit too free. After this, the drinks of Seattle are mentioned again and in the lines twenty-two and twenty-three a connection between Elvis Presley and Kurt Cobain is drawn. This is a bit sarcastical because there has always been kind of a myth that Elvis is still alive and now he says that Kurt lives with him. But it might also mean that they live together in heaven. Finally there is the chorus again and the names of several festivals and tours of Seattle bands through the US are listed. In between Nirvana is mentioned as it took part in the Lollapalooza tour.

2.5.3 Alice In Chains: Nutshell

1 We chase misprinted lies. 
   We face the path of time. 

   And yet I fight, 
   And yet I fight 
5 This battle all alone. 
   No one to cry to 
   No place to call home. 

   Oooh... oooh... 
   Oooh... oooh...

10 My gift of self is raped. 
    My privacy is raked. 

    And yet I find, 
    And yet I find 
    Repeating in my head: 
15 If I can't be on my own 
    I'd feel better dead. 

    Oooh... oooh... 
    Oooh... oooh...

This text was taken from the original booklet of the compilation of the two EPs SAP and Jar Of Flies. The song shows the attitude of the grunge musicians towards the media and describes the life of the stars. Layne Staley wrote this song in 1993 and thus before Kurt Cobain's suicide. But he already described just what Kurt Cobain might have thought when he killed himself.
With the "misprinted lies" in line one he might mean the falsehoods and the rumours which were spread by the music magazines. If this is right Then he addresses the people and the fans with the "we" but includes himself. It is right that they chase the rumours from the press. They always want to hear something new from their favourite bands and don't care a lot whether the information they get is true or not. When he speaks in the first person singular he represents all the grunge musicians. They fight as single persons against the media machine which is sadly enough often a rather hopeless opposition. They are all alone because when you are a star you can't just talk to someone who is a "normal" human. When people recognise a star they usually want an autograph or ask him stupid questions and this annoys the musicians. So they rather live in solitude. But lines six and seven might also describe the life of stars when they are on tour. they live on busses and are far away from most of their friends and relatives. So the only ones they can talk to are the members of the band and the crew which goes with them. When you tour around the world for about half a year or longer and always have the same people around you this can also be very annoying. In lines ten and eleven Staley says exactly what the media does to its stars. It rapes their music which is their "gift of self" to the people. They wanted to give that but the media wants more. It makes the music a product it can commercialise and rakes the musicians' personal lives. Certainly the stars don't like it when the media search for stories in their privacy. So they think to themselves what is written in the lines fifteen and sixteen. This might also have been what Kurt Cobain thought when he committed suicide. He couldn't be on his own and so he rather killed himself than living on like that.
1*) from http://www.yahoo.com/Society_and_Culture/Age_Groups/Generation_X/ 
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