Sometimes it seems that when you hear a certain song, it perfectly describes how you feel at the moment. For me, this song is “Dumb” by Nirvana. Although Kurt explains that the song is about people who are happy being “dumb,” smoking weed all day and not doing anything with their life and being satisfied with it, I take the song with another meaning as most people do with songs. With all of its undertone meaning, this song speaks to me in more literal terms. Every sentence describes how I feel most of the time. Here are the lyrics so you may understand more:

I’m not like them
But I can pretend
The sun is gone
But I have a light
The day is done
But I’m having fun
I think I’m dumb
or maybe just happy
Think I’m just happy

My heart is broke
But I have some glue
help me inhale
And mend it with you
We’ll float around
And hang out on clouds
Then we’ll come down
And have a hangover

Skin the sun
Fall asleep
Wish away
The soul is cheap
Lesson learned
Wish me luck
Soothe the burn
Wake me up

I’m not like them
But I can pretend
The sun is gone
But I have a light
The day is done
But I’m having fun
I think I’m dumb
or maybe just happy
Think I’m just happy

I think I’m dumb

In the beginning of the first verse, Cobain states that he’s not like them, but he can pretend. One thing about me is that I can easily adapt to a situation no matter how foreign it is. It’s not conforming, but moreso going along for the sake of enjoying a new experience. Sometimes you never know what you may learn from being in new situations.

Cobain then says “the sun is gone but I have light” and “the day is done but he’s having fun.” For me, no matter how bad or dark a situation may seem, I still look at the bright side of the situation and still try to “have fun” even though it might not be a fun situation. I feel as though people sometimes get so caught up in the bad to the point that they forget that those times can be only temporary and by dwelling on it they make it worst. If they try and see the sun in the midst of the dark, then hope will guide them through.

The chorus comes in and says “I think I’m dumb or maybe just happy.” Sometimes I think I’m dumb for feeling these kinds of things but then again maybe I could just be the happy one to see things in this point of view. Sometimes they just both give off the same feeling.

The second verse comes in with Cobain professing that his heart is broke and that he wants to mend it with someone else. He also wants to float on clouds with someone and float around, come down and have a hangover. It never fails for my heart to become broken at times (such is the curse of a Pisces) and just want it to become mended again. In a romantic sense, it would be nice to mend it with someone else, someone who will fly away with me and float on clouds and just escape from the world. Then we would come down and recover from the high that we were just on.

The bridge would explain how I just want to sleep peacefully under the sun and let the rays beam against my skin. After dreaming away in my sleep, someone could soothe the light burns that came from the sun and wake me up again.

Nirvana is one of my favorite bands for a number of reasons and this song is one of them. Cobain has a habit of expressing in words how I feel even though he might have just randomly written the song (plus he was a Pisces too). In life I have my highs, but it never fails for me to feel somewhat low either from rejection, broken heart, lack of understanding or simply no one to bear these things with me. My very first song was called “Wasted” that expresses these same details of feeling plain wasted and out of touch from the world. In the chorus, I simply say I know it sounds crazy but it’s how I feel, admitting that for some one on the outside it may sound unreasonable, but then again, it’s just how I feel.

Later Days…