Drain You

"Drain You"
"Drain You" cover
Song by Nirvana from the album From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah
Released	1996
Recorded	Del Mar Fairgrounds, CA, December 28, 1991.
Genre	Grunge, punk rock
Length	3:43
Label	DGC Records
Writer	Kurt Cobain
Producer	Shauna O' Brien, Diane Stata
From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah track listing
"School" (2) "Drain You" (3) "Aneurysm" (4)
Nevermind track listing "Territorial Pissings" (7) "Drain You" (8) "Lounge Act" (9)

"Drain You" is a 1991 song by American grunge band Nirvana and the eighth track from their breakthrough album Nevermind. It is most famous as a B-side on (most editions of) the band's most successful single "Smells Like Teen Spirit". However, a live version recorded in 1991 appeared on the live album From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah in 1996. The live version was released as a promotional single for promotion of the live album.

Recording

According to Nevermind producer Butch Vig on the Classic Albums: Nevermind DVD, "Drain You" had more guitar overdubs than any other song on the album: one clean track and five distorted tracks. Cobain tended to dislike heavily overdubbed songs, and so Vig had to tell Cobain lies, such as that tracks did not record right or were out of tune, in order to get him to do so many takes. Some of the strange noises during the middle section of the song are caused by children's toys Cobain brought into the studio. In his biography of Kurt Cobain Heavier Than Heaven, biographer Charles Cross wrote, "When Kurt was questioned about the song ["Drain You"] he said he had made a lot of it up on the spot but that the first line... was particularly important to the interpretation of the song..."^[1]

On the Nevermind version, Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic tuned their instruments a whole step down. In concert, however, "Drain You" was generally played in whatever tuning the band was using throughout the rest of the concert — generally standard tuning in earlier concerts (prior to the 1992 Pacific Rim tour in support of Nevermind) and half-step-down in later concerts. The song's verse is based around a conventional chord progression of four power chords: B, D#, G#, C#, the riff (F#)- E -C# for the choruses, and a chorus ending of B, A, G#.

This song is also in the music video games Rock Band 2 and Rock Band Unplugged.

Other versions

Apart from the studio version of "Drain You" that on the Nevermind album several other versions of the song have been officially released:

• A live version from October 1991 appears as a b-side on the "Come as You Are" single from 1992.
• A live performance from November 1991 at the Paradiso Club, Amsterdam, Holland appeared on the 1994 VHS home video Live! Tonight! Sold Out!!
• A live version from December 1991 appeared on the 1996 live album From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah, of which promo singles were released for radio play in the US.
• A demo version of the song appears on Nirvana's 2004 box set With the Lights Out with Dale Crover on drums and Dave Grohl on bass
• A live version from the Reading Festival 1992 was released on the album and DVD Live at Reading in 2009..
• A studio version was recorded on September 3, 1991 at Maida Vale Studios for BBC's John Peel session was released in 2011 on the "Deluxe" and "Super Deluxe" re-issues of the Nevermind album for the album's 20th anniversary in 2011.
• A live performance from the Paramount Theatre, Seattle was included on the live DVD and Blu-ray release Live at the Paramount as part of the 20th anniversary of the Nevermind album in 2011.

References

1. ^ Cross, Charles R. Heavier than Heaven. Pg 233.