Come As You Are

"Come As You Are" is a song by the grunge band, Nirvana. It is the third song on, and second single from, their 1991 album, Nevermind. It was the album's second most successful single, overshadowed only by "Smells Like Teen Spirit." Both songs are often credited with breaking Nirvana and grunge into the mainstream.

Meaning

"Come As You Are" is remembered as being one of Nirvana's more optimistic songs. While many other songs by the band would feature dark, bleak lyrics, "Come As You Are" welcomes the listener "as a friend". The song has an overall theme of acceptance, inviting the listener to do just what the title states. However, in the aftermath of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain's death by gunshot in 1994, much attention was paid to the line, "And I swear that I don't have a gun," which Cobain repeats many times during the bridge. Similar claims were made of many of the other songs on Nevermind which also mention guns. However, since the album was written and recorded three years before Cobain's death, there is little reason to suspect anything more than a coincidence.

Related Topics:
Lyrics - Kurt Cobain - 1994 - Gun

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The lyric "come... soaked in bleach" may refer to the small fanbase of Nirvana's debut album Bleach.

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