Polly

The idea for Polly, which originally had the working titles Hitchhiker and Cracker, dates back to at least 1987. One of the earliest known versions is a home demo with Cobain on vocals and guitar, which was later included on the compilation With the Lights Out in 2004. The band performed it live for the first time in June 1989, and recorded a studio version in August of the same year with Steve Fisk in Seattle. Although these sessions were for an EP to accompany a European tour, only Stain and Been a Son saw the light of day on the Blew EP. Subsequently, in October 1989, they recorded a session for the BBC, which aired in November. An acoustic version of Polly was recorded by Butch Vig at Smart Studios in April 1990, with Chad Channing on drums. This take is the only one from those Vig sessions that ended up on Nevermind, the album that catapulted Nirvana to worldwide fame in September 1991. Curiously, this is the only song on the record where Channing appears as the drummer, instead of Dave Grohl. For the recording of this version, Cobain used a five-string Stella guitar, bought at a pawn shop for 20 dollars, whose strings were in such poor condition that it barely stayed in tune and had to be secured with tape. Vig described the guitar's sound as "plunky," with old strings that lacked tone. The guitar and bass track was recorded live, followed by Cobain's vocals, and finally the cymbals added by Channing. A peculiarity of the recording is that Cobain accidentally sang the phrase "Polly said" two words too early, but the band decided to leave it as is, something that was already happening in earlier versions. Later, in November 1991, they recorded a faster version for the BBC, which appeared on the compilation album Incesticide in December 1992 under the title (New Wave) Polly.