Come As You Are

A dear friend of mine committed suicide 7 months ago. During a particular period of his struggle he passed through Aberdeen, Washington. He passed the "Come As You Are" sign and because of that the song "Come As You Are" by Nirvana will always have significance to me.


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From Wikipedia:
Cobain described the lyrics of "Come as You Are" as contradictory, and said the song was about "people and what they're expected to act like". Pointing to the line "Take your time, hurry up, choice is yours, don't be late", essayist Catherine J.Creswell writes that in Cobain's lyrics, "phrases clump into strings of empty clichés whose own ostensible meaning is forced into contradictions or simple rhyme sound". In light of Cobain's 1994 suicide by self-inflicted gunshot-wound, Allmusic's Mark Deming suggests that "hearing Kurt Cobain sing 'And I swear that I don't have a gun' gives 'Come as You Are' a sting it was never meant to have when [Nevermind] was first released in 1991." Deming reasons that the "don't have a gun" lyric is "[Cobain's] attempt to reassure listeners that . . . his target is the world at large rather than the individuals in it, and that there was still room in this damaged world for everyone".

In 2005, a sign was put up in Aberdeen, Washington, Cobain's hometown, that reads "Welcome to Aberdeen: Come As You Are" as a tribute to Cobain. The sign was paid for and created by the Kurt Cobain Memorial Committee, a non-profit organization created in May 2004 to honor Cobain. Founded by author Jeff Burlingame and Aberdeen City Councilman Paul Fritts, the Committee also plans to create a Kurt Cobain Memorial Park and a youth center in Aberdeen.


Come As You Are - Nirvana (Unplugged in New York 1993)

Come as you are, as you were
As I want you to be
As a friend, as a friend
As an old enemy

Take your time, hurry up
The choice is yours, don't be late
Take a rest as a friend
As an old

Memoria, memoria
Memoria, memoria

Come doused in mud, soaked in bleach
As I want you to be
As a trend, as a friend
As an old

Memoria, memoria
Memoria, memoria

And I swear that I don't have a gun
No I don't have a gun
No I don't have a gun

Memoria, memoria
Memoria, memoria
(No I don't have a gun)

And I swear that I don't have a gun
No I don't have a gun
No I don't have a gun
No I don't have a gun
No I don't have a gun

Memoria, memoria