In many of Nirvana’s songs Cobain is telling the listeners about the world through his own perspective and I think that is exactly what he is doing in this one. In this song, there is an ongoing mockery of friendships and how “friends” act. I think it is important for people to always be their true self in order to be happy. Too often in the world around us today I see people putting on an act in order to be seen as something they are not and honestly I find this sad. Why do you feel that you can’t be yourself?
I also find this song full of contradictions, this is a part of Cobain’s genius. ‘Come as you are’ This is a warm, inviting gesture. ‘As you were’ can be taken as a military command. ‘As I want you to be’ is how Cobain truly feels, because the other ones canceled each other out. So, ‘Come as I want you to be’ and ‘as friend’. I want you to be a friend. ‘As a trend’ A friend is trend in Cobain’s view, common enough for most people. ‘Take your time, hurry up, the choice is yours, don’t be late, take a rest as a friend’ Take a rest as a friend is what the narrator wants most from the person he is talking to, because the other phrases cancel out like the ones before. ‘As an old memoria’ Tells the friend to rest, identifies the friend as an old memoria. Let’s his memory rest.
Throughout my life, I have met a lot of “fake” people or as I like to call them, “the opposition” these people tend to be people who use you for their own benefit. These people are terrible and I think everyone has met people like this, they seem like good people but as time goes on and through their actions you are able to seem them for who they really are. They don’t see who you are through who you are as a person but they see you as how you can accomplish something that they want done.
In the lyrics this is what Cobain is talking about, these fake people. But, Cobain contradicts himself, going off into a part of where Cobain talks about someone who had once been his enemy but he now has use for them in some way. I think that this has the implication that people cannot always be trusted, even though they might not have bad intentions, because a real friends would just be your friend instead of having to tell you that you’re their friend. People need to learn to earn trust in their actions, trust cannot be bought with promises.
With this I also think thins song can be interpreted in another way. To me this song is about being yourself. There is no reason to anything other than yourself, every human on this Earth is unique in their own way. Why lie to yourself and the people around you in order to fit in? Don’t change in order to fit in with society. Be your own person, do what is in accordance with your own character rather than let it be influenced by others.
