Pennyroyal Tea
"Pennyroyal Tea" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist Kurt Cobain. It is the ninth track on the band's third and final studio album, In Utero, released in 1993.
The song was due to be released as the third single from In Utero in April 1994, but the single was recalled following Cobain's death the same month. The single was re-released, on limited edition 7 inch vinyl, for Record Store Day in April 2014, and charted at number 1 on the Billboard Hot Singles Sales chart.
Origin and recording
According to Michael Azerrad's 1993 Nirvana biography, , "Pennyroyal Tea" was written by Cobain in 1990 in an Olympia, Washington apartment he shared with Nirvana drummer, Dave Grohl. "Dave and I were screwing around on a 4-track," Cobain explained, "and I wrote that song in about thirty seconds. And I sat down for like half-an-hour and wrote the lyrics and then we recorded it." It was first performed live on April 17, 1991 at the OK Hotel in Seattle, Washington, the show at which Nirvana also debuted their breakthrough single, "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Two unfinished takes, both lacking vocals, were recorded by Jack Endino on October 26, 1992, at Word of Mouth in Seattle, Washington.The final version was recorded by Steve Albini at Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls, Minnesota in February, 1993, and officially released on In Utero in September, 1993. Cobain was dissatisfied with the recording, telling David Fricke in a 1993 Rolling Stone interview that the song "was not recorded right. There is something wrong with that. That should have been recorded like Nevermind, because I know that's a strong song, a hit single. We're toying with the idea of re-recording it or remixing it." The song was remixed by Scott Litt, who had remixed the In Utero songs "Heart-Shaped Box" and "All Apologies" prior to the album's release, on November 22, 1993 at Bad Animals in Seattle, Washington. This version appears on the censored Wal-Mart and Kmart versions of In Utero, released in March 1994, and is the mix that was released as a single. It also appears on the band's two greatest hits albums, Nirvana and Icon.
On November 18, 1993, Cobain performed a solo, acoustic version of the song during Nirvana's MTV Unplugged appearance at Sony Music Studios in New York City. A full band version, featuring second guitarist Pat Smear, was recorded on February 4, 1994 for the television show Nulle Part Ailleurs in Paris, France
"Pennyroyal Tea" was performed for the last time live at Nirvana's final concert, on March 1, 1994, at Terminal Eins in Munich, Germany. The band had planned to perform the song on the UK TV show Top of the Pops later in the year, with a Digital Audio Tape containing three instrumental mixes of the song being discovered. The show allowed musicians to mime live vocals over pre-recorded instruments, and first featured Nirvana in November 1991, when Cobain mocked the show's format by singing "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in a lower key.
Composition and lyrics
The song's title refers to the tea made from boiling the leaves of the plant Mentha pulegium, or pennyroyal, which is used as an abortifacient, among other things, in traditional medicine. In Cobain's unused liner notes for In Utero, published posthumously in Journals in 2002, the entry for "Pennyroyal Tea" simply reads: "herbal abortive... it doesn't work, you hippie."In an interview in the October 1993 issue of Impact, Cobain gave greater insight into the song, saying that it was about a person suffering from severe depression:
In a 1995 interview, Cohen told Addicted to Noise correspondent Peter Howell, "I'm sorry I couldn't have spoken to the young man. I see a lot of people at the Zen Centre, who have gone through drugs and found a way out that is not just Sunday school. There are always alternatives, and I might have been able to lay something on him. Or maybe not."
Release and reception
The "Pennyroyal Tea" single was recalled shortly after Cobain's death in April 1994. The single's cancellation may have in part be due to the title of one of the b-sides, "I Hate Myself and Want to Die," although it may have been cancelled regardless of this, so as not to capitalize on Cobain's death.At the time, only retail versions of the CD single made in Germany had been manufactured and distributed. The singles were recalled and destroyed by the record label or retailers, but some copies were put aside, which is apparently the source of surviving copies. Some copies may have been sold by retailers, despite the recall.
Sleeves for the single's United Kingdom release, on 7 inch vinyl and cassette, were manufactured, but the single itself was not pressed in the UK prior to the recall. As with all Nirvana artwork, it had been produced in the United States, although there were no plans to release the single in the US.
A promotional CD single for the song was manufactured in the UK and exists in even smaller numbers than the German retail CD. It features only the title track, misspelled as "Penny Royal Tea."
In a March 2020 Goldmine article, journalist Gillian G. Garr reported a range of $346 to $1,100 as recent prices of the single, and "upwards of $1,000" for the promotional single, with one recently on sale for $2,597.
Reviewing In Utero for Rolling Stone, Fricke wrote, "In the sepulchral folk intro of 'Penny Royal Tea,' Cobain almost sounds like Michael Stipe at the beginning of R.E.M.'s Drive'—before the heaving, fuzz-burnt chorus comes lashing down with a vengeance." In his review of the album for the NME, John Mulvey wrote that "Pennyroyal Tea" was "a terrific song – straightforward, insidious, oddly moving," but that "the guitars don’t scream enough, the chorus doesn’t tower like it should, and overall it’s the one real ‘Call Butch Vig’ moment."
In 2004, the NME ranked "Pennyroyal Tea" at number six on their list of the 20 Greatest Nirvana Songs Ever. The same year, Q erroneously included the song on their list of 12 Album Tracks That Should Have Been Singles, But Weren't, at number two. In 2015, Rolling Stone placed it at number 11 on their ranking of 102 Nirvana songs.
2014 Record Store Day re-release
On April 19, 2014, the "Pennyroyal Tea" single was re-released on 7-inch vinyl for Record Store Day 2014, limited to only 6000 copies. It was the top-selling vinyl single of Record Store Day in the US, reaching number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Sales Chart.Artwork
Unlike the artwork for the previous In Utero singles, "Heart-Shaped Box" and "All Apologies"/ "Rape Me", the artwork for the "Pennyroyal Tea" single featured no input from Cobain. "We got it done and I don't know that Kurt was around to approve it or not," recalls designer Robert Fisher. "I think it might just have been shot to management to approve or something." The single's cover features a teacup on a table next to a used ashtray, a cream pitcher and animal crackers.Music video
director Anton Corbijn was asked to direct a music video for "Pennyroyal Tea", but he refused, saying he did not believe he could make a video better than the one he had made for "Heart-Shaped Box", the first single from In Utero. American director Jeffery Plansker was enlisted as the director instead, but the planned video was abandoned after Cobain's death in April 1994.MTV Unplugged version
The MTV Unplugged version of "Pennyroyal Tea" was unique in that it featured no other musicians than Cobain himself. The band had tried different approaches to the song during the rehearsal earlier that day, performing it in a different key and with Smear on backing vocals. However, during the show Cobain decided to attempt it on his own, asking, "Am I going to do this by myself?" to which Grohl replied, "Do it by yourself," and Cobain joking that "if it sounds bad, these people are just going to have to wait." The song was performed in the same arrangement as the In Utero version but without the guitar solo, and Cobain paused before the third verse, as if briefly forgetting what lyric to sing next, then regained himself and completed the song. Cobain's biographer, Charles Cross, called this version Cobain's "single greatest moment onstage," writing that "like all the high-water marks of his career, it came at a time when he seemed destined to fail."This version was officially released on the album MTV Unplugged in New York in November, 1994. Footage of the performance, as well as from the rehearsals, were released on the MTV Unplugged in New York DVD in November, 2007.
Accolades
Track listings
All songs written and composed by Kurt Cobain unless otherwise noted.;1994 German CD single
- "Pennyroyal Tea"
- "I Hate Myself and Want to Die"
- "Where Did You Sleep Last Night "
- "Pennyroyal Tea"
- "Pennyroyal Tea"
- "I Hate Myself and Want to Die"
- "Where Did You Sleep Last Night "
- "Pennyroyal Tea"
- "Where Did You Sleep Last Night "
- "Pennyroyal Tea"
- "Where Did You Sleep Last Night "
- "Pennyroyal Tea"
- "I Hate Myself and Want to Die"
Chart positions
Personnel
All personnel credits adapted from In Uteros liner notes except design personnel adapted from "Pennyroyal Tea"'s liner notes.;Nirvana
- Kurt Cobain – vocals, guitar
- Krist Novoselic – bass
- Dave Grohl – drums
;Design personnel
- Robert Fisher – art direction, design
- Greg Stata – art direction, design
- John Skalicky – photography
Recording and release history
Demo and studio versions
Live versions
| Date recorded | Venue | Releases | Personnel |
| April 17, 1991 | OK Hotel, Seattle, Washington | With the Lights Out |
|
| November 18, 1993 | Sony Music Studios, New York City, New York | MTV Unplugged in New York | |
| November 18, 1993 | Sony Music Studios, New York City, New York | MTV Unplugged in New York | |
| December 13, 1993 | Pier 48, Seattle, Washington | Live and Loud | |
| February 4, 1994 | Nulle Part Ailleurs, Studio 3, Canal +, Paris, France | Live and Loud |