Chapter 3

Ok, ok, we get the image and the ethos, but what about the lyrics? 

Mostly nonsense. 

You can't just leave it at that, Bottle. 

But Skip, nonsense is the point. The meaning of it is that all of it is stupid. Top to bottom, life is dumb because life has devolved to the point where we're all just chasing money, love, fame, happiness. If you define life as chasing all those things, A) you'll never attain them, 2) everything will be a competition with no winners, and last) it's all stupid and fake. 

Nevermind isn't a story. There's no plot, every song is a series of absurd situations and descriptions of the participants. Even the kidnapper-rapist of Polly is clearly bored by the pointless mundanity of the grotesque situation; he has to feed and water and chase her when she escapes, exactly like a pet parrot. 

What are all the images that make up this universe? In no particular order: macho bravado vs. impotence, guns, sex, codependence, homelessness, depression and self loathing. All the things that make really being alive a miserable experience for someone who feels like they don't belong. Scenes from the losing side of life. The real question you might ask yourself is "what's the point?" I think we all know the answer, there is none, existence is Absurd. 

Then why is it a great album? It's an example of its own absurdity. In spite of its haphazard imagery and lack of meaning, physical reality forces structure and direction upon it. If Side A builds up cliques and communal relationships only to find them becoming pointless routine, Side B strips away those cultural definitions and the materialist greed only to find us redefining existence in the same terms again. If you search for meaning you never find it, if you tear away meaning you end up rebuilding it out of desperation. 

You're getting too abstract, Bottle. We can't follow you. 

You're right, Sandra. You can't. You have to do it for yourself. You have to hold all the songs and images in your own head, try putting them together in various ways like a jigsaw puzzle with no reference image. All i can do is try to describe how the parts i'm working on are starting to fit together. I can't tell you what it means for you.

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