All Apologies

Two version of a contemporary classic…

First the original; All Apologies by Nirvana, from their final album “In Utero” 1993.

I’ve always felt that Kurt Cobain was the last real rockstar, until Jack White came along. Kurt’s death was the symbolic death of good popular music, the beginning of the long dark teatime of the soul in the dry 90s.

Enunciation was never one of Kurt’s strong points, so his songwriting sometimes gets lost in all the feedback. This song shows Kurt’s poetic side.

Now, my favorite, Sinead O’Connor’s cover, from 1994′s “Universal Mother”. I like this because, clearly, Sinead O’Connor is a much better singer than Kurt Cobain.

I really admire O’Connor, for her honesty and courage. She’s not afraid to look bad. Sometimes she seems crazy, or does weird things. Like when she came out as  a lesbian and then promptly married a bloke. Or like the time she criticized the Catholic church, and then became a priest. But I admire that she’s honest about the struggles she’s gone through, with her faith, her sexuality, her personal life. When she came out of retirement a few years ago, she didn’t gloss it over or say she misses the spotlight or found her muse again. She just said the truth – she’s broke and she needs the money, so she’s working again. Honesty is so rare in famous people. Everyone just wants to make themselves look as good as possible. Sinead O’Connor doesn’t care about looking good. She cares about being herself and living her life and not making apologies.

All Apologies

What else should i be
all apologies
what else could i say
everyone is gay
what else could i write
i dont have the right
what else should i be
all apologies

in the sun
in the sun i feel as one
in the sun
in the sun
i’m married
buried

i wish i was like you
easily amused
find my nest of salt
everything is my fault
i’ll take all the blame
i conseed from shame
sunburn with freezer burn
choking on the ashes of her enemy

in the sun
in the sun I feel as one
in the sun
in the sun
im married
burried
im married
burried
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

all in all is all we are
all in all is all we are
all in all is all we are

Christy Turlington, I Love You

Finally, a magazine came in the mail that I’m happy to look at.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

W is usually head and shoulder above the other fashion mags, but lately they’ve been slipping down that slimy tabloid slope. Last month’s cover girl was Blake Lively, who is a C-list TV actress on a show with mediocre ratings and lukewarm reviews. But today my faith is restored. Finally God has sent me a real model, nay, a true supermodel of the kind they don’t make anymore. I love you Christy Turlington Burns. You’ve never been to rehab, or talked shit about anybody, or stolen anybody’s husband, or pimped out your baby to the highest bidding tabloid, or flashed the paps your hoo-ha, or ODed, or assaulted anybody, or got caught shoplifting, or made a crap movie, or did any of that other dumb shit that celebrities do. When everyone else was busy getting drunk and doing blow, you went and earned a Philosophy degree from NYU. You have two children, but never posed naked and pregnant on the cover of a major magazine. Christy, you radiate inner beauty and peace.