"Nirvana" by Skylar Grey turns on the distance between youthful desperation and adult nostalgia. The impulse to escape a small town, even to burn down the childhood house, gives way to memories of cold windshields, cornfields, and Nirvana playing in an old bedroom. What once felt like a trap now looks like the foundation of identity. The song lingers in that reversal, where the places you tried to leave become the ones you return to in your mind.
Nirvana Lyrics by Skylar Grey
I lit a match, I blew it out
I picked the pistol up, then set it down
I just couldn’t wait to leave that town
Because I didn’t see what I see now
Every time I close my eyes, suddenly I’m back in time
Going to the places that made me who I am
And I lay in my childhood bed
While Nirvana still plays in my head
Let me tell you, the ’90s were lit
Although, back then, I didn’t know it
And when I daydream about that old house
I can’t believe I ever wanted to burn it down
And I’m scraping ice off the windshield
I never thought I’d miss the way the cold feels
And I’m staring out at a cornfield
I never thought I’d understand the appeal
Every time I close my eyes, suddenly I’m back in time
Going to the places that made me who I am
And I lay in my childhood bed
While Nirvana still plays in my head
Let me tell you, the ’90s were lit
Although, back then, I didn’t know it
And when I daydream about that old house
I can’t believe I ever wanted to burn it down
And when I daydream about that old house
I can’t believe I ever wanted to burn it down
