 This is the page where you'll find quotes from Hole when talking about some of their songs. Some things are not to be taken seriously. We all know Courtney's sense of humor. The song meanings are presented in album/track order. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - PRETTY ON THE INSIDE (live, GM Place in Vancouver, Canada, 03/02/99) Courtney: "I love Vancouver. This city was so nice to me back when I was a slut. I was working at the Number Five Orange. Do you guys know where that is? Fuck you, you don't know where that is. Well, it's on Powell Street or something. Anyway, I wrote this song about myself in the basement of the Number Five Orange, and it's dedicated to you all in Vancouver, for being so nice to me when I was a slut." - - - (At the Big Day Out Festival, Sydney, Australia, 01/23/99) Courtney: "This is a song about beauty." - - - (At the Brixton Academy, London, UK, 06/24/99) Courtney: "This is a song about... football." - - - (At The Pond, Anaheim, CA, 03/12/99) Courtney: "I wrote this song about... you know... Jewel." - - - - - - - - - - - - - VIOLET (At Jools Holland Show 1995) Courtney: "This song is about a jerk. I hexed him, and now he's losing his hair." (referring to Billy Corgan, for those of you who didn't know/guess) - - - Courtney: "This is a song about getting the fucking shit beat out of you and loving it." - - - - - - - - - - - - - MISS WORLD (from a 98-99 concert) Courtney: "I didn't write this song, Elvis Presley did!" - - - - - - - - - - - - - ASKING FOR IT (from a 94/95 interview) Courtney: "We had just gotten off tour with Mudhoney, and I decided to stage-dive. I was wearing a dress and I didn't realize what I was engendering in the audience. It was a huge audience and they were kind of going ape-shit. So I just dove off the stage, and suddenly, it was like my dress was being torn off of me, my underwear was being torn off of me, people were putting their fingers inside of me and grabbing my breasts really hard, screaming things in my ears like "pussy-whore-cunt". When I got back onstage I was naked. I felt like Karen Finley. But the worst thing of all was that I saw a photograph of it later. Someone took a picture of me right when this was happening, and I had this big smile on my face like I was pretending it wasn't happening. So later I wrote a song called "Asking For It" based on the whole experience. I can't compare it to rape because it's not the same. But in a way it was. I was raped by an audience, figuratively, literally, and yet, was I asking for it?" - - - Courtney: "We wrote this about Scarlett O'Hara." - - - - - - - - - - - - - JENNIFER'S BODY Courtney: "This song is about getting tied up and liking it, but it's not about me." - - - Courtney: "I told my friend Jennifer I'd write a song about her. This song isn't about her, but she thinks it is." - - - (At Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY, 02/16/95) Courtney: "This song is about being castrated and liking it." - - - - - - - - - - - - - DOLL PARTS (from the Australian TV show 'Rage'.) Courtney: "I wrote this in Boston. I wrote this song in Joyce Linehan's apartment. I was really impressed. She was a lower level music executive and she had lots of matching bodyshop shampoo and I'd never seen that before. And I thought one day I'll have enough money and all my cosmetics are gonna match. I also thought that the guy I was going out with - who I later married... and that wasn't the transvestite in Las Vegas the other time... I thought that he didn't like me and that he liked this total poser idiot girl, so I wrote this song about him and it's called Doll Parts." - - - (At The Pond, Anaheim, CA, 03/12/99) Courtney: "I wrote this song about bleeding." (I think she said this after falling down during an earlier song ('Dying', I think) and cutting herself or something.) - - - Courtney: "Know who wrote this next one? Marilyn Manson. Swear to God." - - - Courtney: "This is what Steve Albini would call a faggot song... or a pussy song." - - - - - - - - - - - - - SOFTER, SOFTEST (At The Academy Of Music, New York, NY, 02/14/95) Courtney: "This song is about the girl that always smelled like pee in your class. She was me, not Tabitha. Tell you that, right now." - - - - - - - - - - - - - SHE WALKS ON ME (At The Pond, Anaheim, CA, 03/12/99) Courtney: "You know how when you're in high school and there's that one girl and she tries to copy you and you're already a big freak anyway and nobody likes you, but then she tries to copy you and get popular (over it (???)), that's what this song is about." - - - - - - - - - - - - - DROWN SODA (At Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY, 02/15/95) Courtney: "This is an old song but we decided it was cool. It's a geographical hate song." - - - - - - - - - - - - - RETARD GIRL (from Flipside, 1990) Courtney: Okay, like "Retard Girl", that's our single. It's about getting picked on in school, anyone who's ever been picked on in a big way, or a small way. I just got this vibe one day about how when I was in school I was really shy and sort of picked on, and I swore that I would never pick on people who were picked on. I pick on people that nobody else picks on. People think that song is making fun of some retarded girl but it's about me! About that feeling of alienation. I was so quiet. I was the quietest person and I got picked on but I CHANGED MY WAYS! Eric: We're all little misfits... - - - - - - - - - - - - - DICKNAIL (from Flipside, 1990) Courtney: We just wrote this song called "Dicknail." It's about different kinds of, it's an anti-misogynism anthem. It has a verse about rape, it has a verse about incest, it has a verse about... Okay it's a male-bashing song! No, it's not... Caroline: It sounds like a rationale for a gang bang sometimes, the excuses... Courtney: The words to the song are very simple, they're like, you know in rape cases how people say "she liked it" or "she was asking for it" or "look at how she was dressed." Alot of times in rape cases people don't even go to jail because the woman was wearing a fucking miniskirt! Caroline: They're exactly like the witch trials, you have to prove that you are completely, immaculately, virginly pure or else you are asking for it. - - - - - - - - - - - - - BEAUTIFUL SON (At the Brixton Academy, London, UK, 24/6/99) Courtney: This song is about boys that have problems with their mothers and are not really good... but have feminine aspects on... It's about androgynous men, which you have a whole goddamn nation of." - - - (Melody Maker, 1997) Interviewer: Was "Beautiful Son" your first attempt to write a pop song? Courtney: It was my first attempt to be a little dumber. I was always trying to write a very complex song without ever having learned to write an easy Beatles song. It just had a riff. It wasn't super smart but it sounded good and that's when I started learning things don't have to have lots and lots of notes. That the best songs are carried by simple lines and simple melodies. - - - - - - - - - - - - - MISS WORLD DEMO (Melody Maker, 1997) Interviewer: Where in Brazil did you record this demo for "Miss World"? Is that the first version of it? Courtney: I don't know. Me and Patty went down there with Nirvana. It was me and Patty and Kurt on that song, just playing at four in the morning or something. - - - - - - - - - - - - - OLD AGE ('LIVE THROUGH THIS' OUTTAKE) (Melody Maker, 1997) Interviewer: Is the outtake version of "Old Age" on the album the first goth song you've ever written? Courtney: No, "Old Age" is partly someone else's composition. It's something somebody had a little bit of and I said 'let me have the rest of it' and I wrote this thing in it and tried to make it goth. I found it, wrote it, and recorded it the same night. - - - - - - - - - - - - - CELEBRITY SKIN (from the USA Today article in the Articles section.) (the title refers to a particularly craven Hollywood glam-pop band from the early 90's) Eric: "The song sums up that whole scene so well." Courtney: "It was getting dark outside in Hollywood, and we were in the rehearsal room. We had successfully polished off a song and these guys were like, 'What do you want to write about now?' And I said, 'I want to write about L.A.' and Eric said, 'You always want to write about L.A.'. So the song came like that [snaps her fingers]. 'Cause those lyrics are just funny and easy. I really like the 'hooker/waitress,' 'model/actress' lines. But then there's a second part that goes 'No second billing/ 'Cause you're a star now,' which was really stupid for me to have written. But it just came out. What was I gonna do?" - - - (Live in Sacramento, CA, 3/11/99) Courtney: "I wrote this song about losing my virginity." - - - (At The Pond, Anaheim, CA, 03/12/99) Courtney: "The story of my life." - - - (At Thunderbird Stadium, Vancouver, Canada, 07/14/99) Courtney: "It's a Bryan Adams song." - - - - - - - - - - - - - AWFUL (sent to The Violet Hole by Violet, who quoted someone who had seen then Beautiful Monsters tour in Anaheim, CA. Thanks. :) ) "they went into the second song of the set which happened to be "Awful". Once finished she said something to the affect of: "Do you guys know what that song's about? It's about my affair with Gavin Rossdale while he was dating Gwen Stefani. But everyone knew that... everyone's talked about it... or well, I guess you didn't. Well now you do know! So that song's sort of about Bush.. or well Gavin" - - - (At The Pond, Anaheim, CA, 03/12/99) Courtney: "You know what that song is about? It's about my dumb affair with Gavin Rossdale." - - - - - - - - - - - - - HIT SO HARD (from an article about Hole's performance at the Viper Room) "After singing "Hit So Hard," which has been interpreted any number of ways, including literally, she remarked, "that song is about a really great orgasm. There's no rock critics here so I can tell you the truth." At last!" - - - - - - - - - - - - - MALIBU (from the interview CD "Up Close") Courtney: "Malibu, however, is a song about desire and love and a tragic boy who needs saving, maybe it’s a tragic girl who needs saving. And once again there’s a... There’s like a a spectre figure, like a figure saying "Here, I’m gonna save you. I’m gonna protect you. I’ll be your angel, I’m gonna protect you.' " - - - (from the USA Today article in the Articles section.) Eric: "That's our Topanga Canyon summer song." Courtney: "There's a lot of geography on this record. I've had this whole relationship with Malibu, it's one of my towns, it's one of my love affairs. It's such a Malibu song, a rehab-by-goes-to-the-ocean song. [sings] 'Hey baby, I'm gonna rescue you/ I'm gonna set you free, tonight.' The whole rescue-you, dig-me-out thing. I love that." - - - (At the southside Music Festival, Munich, Germany, 6/26/99) Courtney: "This is a song about water!" - - - (At the Theater At Bayou, Houston, Texas, 5/9/99) Melissa: "This is a song about Texas." Courtney: "It's not about Texas." - - - - - - - - - - - - - REASONS TO BE BEAUTIFUL (from the USA Today article in the Articles section.) Courtney: "One morning I wrote down the phrase REASONS TO BE BEAUTIFUL, and I listed them, and then I wrote down the phrase REASONS TO BE UGLY, and I listed them." Melissa: "That song has my favorite lyrics of yours on the record." Courtney: [sings] "Ten good reasons to stay alive/ Ten good reasons that I can't find." Melissa: "We were going to call the record Reasons to be Beautiful at one point." Courtney: "But I was afraid it was too beauty magazine." - - - (sent to The Violet Hole by Violet, who quoted someone who had seen then Beautiful Monsters tour in Anaheim, CA. Thanks. :) ) "before they played "Reasons To Be Beautiful" she said something about how this song was about Melissa fucking (or something like that) - then Melissa went up the mic and said "This is about the great sex I've never had in Anaheim" and Courtney runs up to the mic and says "I have!" then she starts in on her "love triangle with Gavin and Gwen" speech again" - - - - - - - - - - - - - DYING (from the Sacramento show, 3/11/99 (?)) Courtney: "Here's a sad song I wrote about little Trent Reznor." - - - - - - - - - - - - - USE ONCE & DESTROY (from KROQ Almost Acoustic Xmas, Dec. 11th, 1998) Courtney: "This is about sex on Christmas Eve." - - - (At Enmore Theater, Sydney, Australia, 01/20/99) Courtney: "Melissa basically wrote this song." - - - - - - - - - - - - - NORTHERN STAR (from the USA Today article in the Articles section.) Courtney: "I had gone to see the David Fincher movie The Game, and I really wanted to do this new movie of his, Fight Club, and I was thinking about what a dark bastard Fincher was, and I was really competitive about it. So when Eric started playing the melody, the lyrics just came from this wellspring of 'all right, you dark bastard, I'll show you wretched.'" - - - (from the Awful single) Courtney: "This is a song we wrote when we were really sad. It's a sad song." - - - (from the Sacramento show, 3/11/99) Courtney: "This is the most depressed I've ever been, when Eric and I wrote this song." - - - - - - - - - - - - - BOYS ON THE RADIO (from the interview CD "Up Close") Melissa: That’s an example of one of the songs on the record that took four years basically, from the moment I joined the band, the first time that we rehearsed together, we started to sing together, it was the first time we had sung together, and it became a... When we put it live it was this song called Sugar Coma that we did for MTV Unplugged aswell, and that was kind of a country sad lovesong... or sappy... No, sugary love beautiful, whatever, and then when we got to the studio we wanted to take it one step further and we had our friend Evan, from the Lemonheads, who’s a, you know, classic pop cute songwriter, and we wanted to make the perfect Lemonhead song, because Evan wasn’t making records at this point so it was kind of an ode to Evan... Courtney: It became about a girl, who sits alone in her room and listens to the radio, and then it’s the boy... And then the boys on the radio sing to her, and they... and they promise her that, you know, when she gets to Heaven they’ll be there. Melissa: And so you got the one, the girl alone in her room, communicating with all these boys who are... umm... Courtney: She thinks all the songs are about her. Melissa: Yeah. - - - From the USA Today article in the Articles section. Boys On The Radio/Sugar Coma Courtney: "It's from our Unplugged days. It started out all peppy and poppy, but then Jeff Buckley died, and it became a homage to Evan [Dando] and Jeff and Brian Wilson. It's all about self-destructive pop boys." - - - (At the Bronco Bowl, Dallas, TX, 5/8/99) Melissa: This is a song about summer, and Courtney's wearing her bikini." - - - - - - - - - - - - - HEAVEN TONIGHT (from the interview CD "Up Close") The Fleetwood Mac'ish-sounding Heaven Tonight: Courtney: "It's a girl, driving down the pacific coast highway. She's 16 years old, she's about to lose her virginity and she's about to get in a carcrash. It's almost a 50's song. But that's just me, I'm crazy and demented, so just ignore what I say. But it is the Mac. It’s (??????), it’s supposed to be." - - - Courtney: "Eric and I wrote this song in 45 minutes because I wanted to leave the studio with a happy song to play to my daughter." - - - - - - - - - - - - - BEST SUNDAY DRESS Courtney: "My friend Kathy Bjelland wrote half that song in 1986. But we made it more rock." - - - - - - - - - - - - - CHAD (from the November 24, 1991, Doornroosje, Nijmegen, Holland show) Courtney: "I wrote it myself for this acoustic (????). This song is called Chad, it's about Chad, it's a really sad song." - - - - - - - - - - - - - If you've heard or read any other quotes made by Hole, about their songs, please email me - - - - - - - - - - - - - |