Expert: Jennifer Hollman - 10/3/2005

Question
What is the meaning of "you know your right"?

its seems very powerful, almost like Kurt wants to break from heroin i mean come on "I would never bother you
I would never promise to
I will never follow you
I will never bother you
Never say a word again
I will crawl away for good"  

Answer
Hello Ted,

Since NIRVANA hasnt actually spoken publically about the song, and It was only recorded as being played once prior to the death of Kurt, not counting courtneys version. We may never know for sure, there will always be speculations becuase Kurt never said "Hey its about this" but i offer you this bit of information, and hope it helps.

Nirvana recorded this a few months before Kurt Cobain killed himself in 1994. It was the last song the band recorded.
The group recorded this when they had some spare time one weekend. It was not intended for any specific album, so when Cobain died, it went unreleased.
Kurt wrote this song as a sarcastic reference to his wife Courtney Love, at a very turbulent time in their relationship (shortly before his suicide), the title and predominant lyric: "you know your right" and also "nothing really bothers her, she just wants to love herself", both refer to Kurt's frustration with Courtney. (thanks, Matt - Lincoln, NE)
When Cobain died, the 2 remaining members (Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic) formed a partnership with his widow, Courtney Love, that controlled the rights to Nirvana's songs. Grohl and Novoselic wanted to release this sooner, but Love refused, and it was not until 2002 that they reached an agreement where she allowed a Nirvana Greatest Hits CD with this on it. As part of the agreement, the Universal Music Group, which released the CD, let Love out of her contract with the label.
Grohl went years without listening to this. Until it was mixed for the Greatest Hits album, he didn't even have a copy of it.
Nirvana performed this only once, and it was not filmed.
Before Nirvana released this, Courtney Love played a live acoustic version of it called "You've Got No Right" for an MTV Unplugged special with her band Hole. She sang "Hey" instead of "Pain." Here's how she introduced the song: "This is a song that Kurt wrote. We worked on it a little bit, we can't do it that well but it's Valentine's Day, and maybe he can hear it, and he'll go, 'You know, you really f---ed up my song, Courtney. Don't even try it.' But if it works, it's dedicated to my mother-in-law.

Sincerely,
Jennifer Hollman