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This song was on an album called “No Alternative” (came out in 93 I think) as a hidden track and that’s how I first heard it and loved it. It’s one of my favorite songs by them

My all time favorite Nirvana song. It's such an elusive melody that simultaneously sounds triumphant and forlorn.

who else loves the guitar solo in it?

The song is a metaphor if you look for it to be one. Kurt said himself that he’d hit down a few great lines and just make up the rest. That’s the poetry of it all. Read into it any way you like and take from it what you need. I always thought it was about his turtle though. And how maybe he feels bad for the life he gave it.

I always thought this song was about being in abusive marriage. Kurt may have written the song about his mom’s marriage to Kurt’s unfaithful stepfather. That’s maybe why the song was so important to him.

The version they recorded with Steve Albini was the best version and should have made it to the album. Great quality, great dynamic, and great solo.

I'm a Nirvana fan since I was 15 and I think I've heard every piece of song, either released or unreleased, that is available on the internet. For some reason Sappy always stood out to me, and it is in fact my favorite song. There's a certain feeling that this song causes me that I can't feel in any other song, by any artist. It hits different, always brings a chill down my spine and I feel my heart beat changing whenever I hear the first riff. When I listen to Sappy, I feel calm. Like I'm submersed in the deep ocean, but without any animals around, just me... In the whole ocean, alone, with all the water pressure upon me. I feel the pressure on my body, but it isn't uncomforting, it's actually the most comfortable feeling ever. I love this song and I'm happy that I got to meet this gem. Thank you Kurt.

Both songs Sappy AND Verse Chorus Verse, are my 2 favorite Nirvana songs. The first time i heard them i was in a state of shock almost, the simplicity they both have meant so much.

The song always made me think of insect in a jar (hence the grass thrown in, the breathing holes, kept in a laundry room). I don't know if the "save yourself" is a religious thing, or if it's just the insect being "saved". But yeah, always seemed like a metaphor for someone being "kept" like that.

So they didn’t record with Albini until they tracked songs for In Utero. I think maybe you meant the drum sound recorded by Jack Endino. But otherwise stellar video!!

Nirvana has been my favorite band since I was a kid, and Kurt inspired me to pick up a guitar and sing. Literally by watching his hands and listening. For years people ask what is your favorite song? I have to say it may be this finally. The simplicity, the melody, the tone, the solo and ever moving basslines underneath are just all encompassing. The fact that Kurt was never really satisfied with it as a songwriter I can completely identify with. I love every version of it ever. I highly recommend the live version in Milan, 1994. Obviously the timing is haunting. When he sits down for the solo it seems as if he has resigned from the whole thing. That being said, dead men don't pull triggers #Justiceforkurt

I first heard this song off of the No Alternative album when it first came out. it was uncredited and therefore a hidden track. The lyrics resonated with me instantly as it reminded me of my parents marriage. As time went on, i saw many friends of mine suffer the same fate in their relationships and eventual marriages. This song always comes to mind during those times.

Sappy's lyrics haunt the consciousness at the existential level. One visualizes a jar with a butterfly in it or maybe even more sadly... a caterpillar. This was a common situation for kids growing up in the 50s through 80s. Placing a caterpillar in a jar. Cutting holes in the top so it has air. Placing grass and plants inside for it to eat and sleep on. The song then resonates a human relationship as allegory for the caterpillar in a jar. The woman believing it is good to be possessed and wanted and saved but ultimately trapped in a jar. Likely to never become a butterfly. The Laundry Room gives us the vision of someone cleaning their clothes. Removing the stains and the bad smells. Hopefully she is realizing how bad the situation really is and escapes the metaphorical jar she has been trapped in. Though, even further, we all feel this same sentiment because being on Earth itself is like being put in a jar, being covered with grass and having nose holes to breathe. Kurt mentions in another song (Downer) "Thank you dear God for putting me on this Earth I feel very privileged in debt for my thirst!". This same dynamic is played out in relation to being given life and being asked to feel thankful for something that involves just as much suffering, if not more, than joy or solace and relief. His ability to illuminate that which even the most gifted poets found unbidden was truly unique and singularly his own authentic kind of expression.

Several people have referred to me as "The Biggest Nirvana Fan of All-Time." I began learning guitar in '95 (mainly inspired by Nirvana.) Sappy was the only Nirvana song that I learnt during my six years of study. My teacher, from the word go, said to me, "You will never learn Anything trying to play like Nirvana. Kurt wasn't a musician - he was a poet." Although he was definitely a poet of the grandest form, he damn well was a killer musician too... he was sooo punk rock that he made it all fit tightly together, screwing theory (as he played it by ear, as I often do.) When the solo from Sappy started playing, my teacher declared, "He's playing it in the wrong key!" It didn't matter, it sounds Amaaazing! (Butch Vig 2013 version, on the In Utero Deluxe release.) BTW, the other "Verse Chorus Verse"? I downloaded it from Napster in '99, and it was named on the release, "In His Hands". (A live recording at a gig somewhere.) That was a pretty good song too!

Yesss!!! I’ve been waiting for this!

My favorite Nirvana song

I love Nirvana and I've always loved Sappy !! I couldn't get enough of this song when I was a teenager...Thank you for the video !!

Sappy is my favorite nirvana song and im sad its hard to get on a physical copy, i have it on the live part of the bleach deluxe tho so yay for that

Love this song. Got it years ago on "No Alternative " cd. The second best song on the disc was "Joed out" by Barbara Manning.

This song always made me think of how content we all are or try to be, knowing there’s a whole lot more out there but we’ll settle for less than ideal situations because it’s predictable and we find comfort in that. “You’re in a laundry room” like dude wake up, how can you be so happy about your situation you’re in a laundry room.

So beautiful. I feel like as a song writer he d name the song just as a generic feeling to remember it to rehearse before it was final. Sappy was it's way of being referred to by him in his line of songs. Just a word the songs feeling had or gave. This song got me into nirvana. Downloading it on Kazaa or morpheus,, lime wire early 2000s. This song changed my life. Great picture to use also. Natural beauty. My favorite rendition was the best of the box version for a while but nothing beats the first version I ever heard which was the albini sesh.

March '94, and its after school. I hear a version of this on a bootleg CD called "Rough Tapes". The CD was a rough brilliant collection of Nevermind demos and BBC radio sessions. The song was called "Another Rule" onthe CD, as it was a bootleg and it was a made-up name for the song. I found out later that it was the Smart Studio version for the Nevermind demos, that eventually arrives on the Nevermind 30th Box Set. And I will always think it should have been on Nevermind- Side 2, after Drain You. Listen to it in that order- it is PERFECT fitting. The "In Utero" version is great aswell, but "Nevermind's version is bittersweet, has a beautiful solo, and the Nevermind tone/sound just fits the lyrics, tempo, and mood more.

I love how much work and analysis was put into this and then Nirvana’s just like… “ yeah, it was literally just a song about Kurt’s turtle that was in a tank in his laundry room” 😂

This one has always struck a chord with me. I view it a little more simply. I always thought it was about someone who finds you intriguing but they treat you like a possession instead of a human, like a “lightening bug”. They love you like a thing they have to have which is not love. You think they care for you but they are smothering you.

Or, it could literally be about his turtle. 😊 Think the meaning is more in line with this video though. Love the backing tracks, this was no exception. Appreciate you going to so much effort to make them. Makes a world of difference despite their utility. I'd buy a CD of everything to date!

Sappy is one of my favorite Nirvana songs. It should get more radio play

I always thought it was a precursor to Polly .

I think it’s wicked cool how he probably had a pet frog when he was a kid and wrote the whole story around the metaphor he extracted from that

I wish they made that song for the mtv unplugged album

I’ve always believed the “him” referred in the song to be God or a divine identity, considering the early version is much clearer on pointing this out, by starting out with “If you say your prayers you will make God happy”. Maybe Kurt changed it to “him” to make it less obvious, or to make it more abstract and open to interpretation. To me this song has always sounded very familiar very close to the heart, indescribable, and something disturbingly off about it. I’ve always interpreted as of discontent on life and the subject lacking on finding a purpose and meaning for it, surrendering to the futileness of his own existence; realizing being happy is illusory. Kurt had a tendency to make this point, like for example on tracks such as Dumb. On Sappy, the individual does things to be happy, naively believing that it may come his way, blinded by the harsh truth that, pessimistically, nothing has sense in one’s life, no meaning to it other than the universe being the way it is, we are born, we live, and we die.

Hell I’m obsessed with that song and even learned to play it on guitar. It’s a great song.

someone has never caught a butterfly

This song makes me happy still, many years later.

I was just thinking.. maybe it’s about a fluid blend between himself and his mom and the abusive relationships she reportedly had that he observed … even fishing guns out of the local river that his mom had thrown in of an ex lover who had cheated on her to pawn for his first guitar.. and how he felt trapped and helpless in many of his relationships to others, being that their mercy and them always wanting to exert some undo authority or control as do some people when helping others out in a tough spot..like he could be singing about the mindset and perspective of both him and his mom, hence “SAPPY”..and their relationships from watching his mother be subservient to abusive men in relationships .. and singing about pondering of the realization of one’s stuckness and toxicity .. no matter how normalized the toxic situation…

Back in the mid 90s my cousin and I used to drive from Baltimore to NYC to visit this underground music store in the Village. I believe it was called Generations. It was the coolest music store I've ever seen. Bootlegs upon bootlegs. This was before Napster and the Internet 1.0 so the only way to get ahold of these records and unreleased songs were these types of record stores, or get lucky with a street vendor. I had so many Nirvana bootlegs, I was proud of myself. My favorite bootleg album was called "Outcesticide" and it had all the unreleased tracks like "In His Hands", "Sappy", "Spank Thru", "Born in a Junkyard", "Opinion", and their brilliant cover of "Here She Comes Now". "In His Hands" was definitely my favorite one of them all. It's a shame I haven't' found a cleaner and full version of the song.

Such a great song with really deep meanings. Shame it never made it onto a studio album

this song is one of my favorites, I haven't heard this song for a while

steve albini didn't record nirvana until in utero three years later

I am in possess of a bootleg live in Mezzago, Italy from the "In the Bloom" Tour from '89 where Nirvana performs this song and Kurt announces it saying just "This is another new one" and in the track list the song it's mentioned as "Another Rule". Anyway thanks for the video and the cool story behind this song. To me, more than a song this track is a mood that reflects well the way Kurt feel himself in the period when he was young. I have this image in my mind where he is composing this song in his room and even when I listen to the mixed version I can not deny to hear the way he sings and plays it, with inner struggle that becomes wrath.

So one goof I noticed from this video is that the Smart Studios version from 1990 WAS released. It is on the 2011 Deluxe 20th anniversary of Nevermind. The SOUND City version with Dave Grohl from 1991 is the unreleased version- that one was leaked on reddit a few years ago, but has yet to be released. Both versions were recorded with Butch Vig though which may explain the mix up.

I discovered Sappy when I bought a used cassette of Incesticide from the local record store back in the late 90's. I guess someone recorded it onto the tape after Aneurysm. For years, I thought Sappy was actually on Incesticide.

Been my favorite nirvana song and guitar solo since the day i got the silver box set and heard it for the first time

for me it reminds me of the relationships i've been having with the tutors i've been living with, first my grandparents, then my mother and lastly my aunt and uncle...it seems like i'm there stuck to what they say or else i'll be kicked out..that's why i found comfort in sappy..

I Never understood why it didnt make an album. Nevermind- side 2, after Drain You. It is PERFECT fitting. As much as I love Lounge Act, I lve always thought Sappy was an even better fit there. Or, of not that, the song should have been on Incesticide either. Or, even if he couldnt decide on an album , I think it would have sounded wonderful on "Unplugged".

I think my favorite version of this is when they played live at Bogarts in 1990. I love the intro.

And all this time I thought it was about Kurt capturing a grasshopper and putting it in a jar....then placing the jar in the laundry room.

Being 2007 i was obsessed with nirvana and sappy was I felt moreso Than even all apologies a portrait at his inner hell. It hits so hard

I always loved this sad song. One of my favorite.

This song make me want to play guitar 1996

This along with D-7 and Return of the rat were my favorite Nirvana songs back then. In fact we would cover Sappy sometimes. Cool video. Thanks for sharing!

Absolutly love this song! thank you for this.

I searched up what the song was about and apparently it’s about a turtle or insect that is trapped in a jar as a pet and is confused thinking it’s happy

One of the best songs from them, was my fav for a long time!

somehow nearly every song about relationships between men and women also fits for the relationship between master and slave (government and citizens) i think kurt had this also in mind . its for sure in my top 3 favourite songs ever.

i think its like a metaphor its like catching an insect in a glass jar you givew them breathing holes and watch them for a moment you might even forget about them and they die in the jar

Sometimes, songs are just lyrically abstract with no intent meaning in order for the listener to have their own unique meaning. Those are the best imo.

I remember downloading this song on napster and kazaa as a kid.

I read in “Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana,” that the inspiration for the song was the crushing relationship between Kurt and his dad. The elder Cobain had berated Kurt into trying out for sports and the original lyric was “locker room” where some jock had offered him a joint and he realized that it was his dad who was in the wrong. Later, the lyric evolved into “laundry room” perhaps to suggest that the subject is getting clean as in sober. Also in this context, “grass” can also mean cannabis and the intoxication can be a self medication for being in a controlling situation. Furthermore the content was always created to be subjective to the listener. If Kurt later had mentioned a pet turtle in an interview then it was just as valid since he had eventually reconciled the relationship with his father and “that legendary divorce is such a bore.”

This song has always been one of the great hidden gems, I’ve loved since i first heard it, and it was on of the first songs I learned how to play. It also has the distinction of being recorded for every album but never being put on one. The In Utero version was released on the No Alternative comp in 1993.

I have always loved this song even its other versions verse chorus verse sappy and sad as far as I know

Solid analysis! Much appreciated.

It reminds me of my girlfriend and what she has been through 😔

KC is genius for not overlooking the fact hope can be abused and expectations thrown away. It is sort of like depending on someone and that person forgetting you exist.

I dig both versions of "Verse Chorus Verse". The earlier version with Chad Channing, interesting Drum pattern, on Drums which is on the Deluxe Edition of "Nevermind" and of couse the version with Dave Grohl on the "No Alternative" release.

It's a song about his pet turtle that lived in a jar in his laundry room.

Pretty sure the song originally started as an Ode to his turtle..and then metaphorically became something larger. One of my favs

I first heard this on a collection called "The Needle and The Damage Done, Outcesticide."

In 1990, Nirvana had never recorded anything with Albini. What they probably wanted was to get the drum sound Albini was notorious for (Pixies and Jesus Lizard).

This song is about a turtle named Sappy that he used to have as a pet when he was a kid.. He kept her in a jar in the laundry room of his house and feed her with grass. All the meanings that you are analize are correct but the song was inspired just by his pet turtle Sappy....

This song and Even in his youth are both underrated gems that while loved by diehard fans are often overlooked or in some cases of the more casual fans that haven't looked into there unreleased songs aren't even known about, 2 gems that I'm shocked never made it to an official release on an album. I get that they wouldn't of fitted on Never-ending with its more upbeat kind of feel but would of fit perfectly on In Utero or even bleach

1994 Euro tour shows very nice versions of the song. Anyway, i m sure that a piano low tempo version would have been very nice with soft voice.

I heard it was about a turtle he had as a pet. They kept it in it's jar, which was literally in the laundry room. Then, assuming this is true, he wrote the song using it as a metaphor.

Everything that ever happened is underrated

I always thought the song was similar to Polly lyrical way

First: That's not Steve Albini, in Jack Endino. Second: Kurt said they song was simply about "Romantic Entrapment", so you've kinda got that. Third:The "laundry room" represents a woman's expected duties while in obsessive relationship. The breathing wholes are giving her just enough air to appreciate anything the antagonist is willing to give her. Third:The best version is on the "No Alternative",as an unlisted track, which just did fit within the world of In Utero, but is titled, at that point, "Verse Chorus Verse . Fourth: It's my favorite song of all time.

Reminds me of the song Paper Cuts which is more literal- child as pet or captive. “My only existence is for your amusement.”

Loving this.. More! Solo is one of the best examples of making you feel the song on a deeply emotional level..even if don't speak English.. Do paper cuts, milk it'aero zeppelin. Blew etc

Thank you very much Philadelphia USA 🇺🇸

Dude kurt wrote this song very early. Its literally just about his pet frog he put in a jar and gave it holes to breathe and grass to try to recreate its natural habitat. He kept the frog in the laundry room. This video is so far off.

Yes, I am a big fan of Nirvana! I really love this band! ❤❤❤🤩🤩🤩

Amazing song! And an amazing interpretation of the song! Thanks.

Its the b side to smells like 7" right? Its a great song. I had this actual realization in a laundry room.

Being honest, I like the demo version of this song, it gives, for my perspective, some kind of myterious and deep vibes

The perfect version of this song was on the No Alternative Comp. And it's the best version... of the Best Nirvana song (and I will always call it Verse Chorus Verse).

The hidden track veraion on No Alternative is really good. It's funny because the lyrics mention a laundry room and Nirvana later recorded at the studio Dave Grohl helped set up called The Laundry room in Seattle. The first Foo Fighters album was also recorded there.

wrong fact about "sappy" first being called "verse chorus verse" . vcv in a total different song. the first name for this song is called "happy" . as for vcv that song is also known as "in his hands" but yeah , vcv & sappy are two different songs

The song was written about his turtle. And the "Laundry Room" is referring to the studio they recorded in.

I always felt like he was singing about a spider he trapped in a mason jar like some kids will do in their childhood

Funny enough, the 1 st time I heard this was on the Outcesticed 3 bootleg where it had another title, “Laundry Room”, which I believe was just a mislabeling by the creator of the now infamous bootleg series.

I love the smart studio version the most.

wonderful song!!

This is my favorite nirvana song EVER, and that guitar solo. omg dude I love the guitar solo

In an other song named verse chores verse a line goes "taking medications in a laundry room" so to me its kurts personal experience. Of dealing fame marriage music bosses its his haven

I always interpreted it to be a micro/macro kind of thing, about an insect in a jar having its life controlled and entrapped by a curious child, but also see it as humanity on earth being controlled and tortured by the ideology of a merciless god. In the beginning the being starts off happy and content until it self destructs because it realizes it was tricked into a false happiness.

Dave Grohl and his drum tech Barrett Jones both started a recording studio called "Laundry Room" in 1993. The studio started in Virginia (where Grohl was from originally) but ended up in Seattle. When I was 15 years old (1993), I saw an ad in The Rocket for Laundry Room Recording Studio. Knowing that Dave Grohl co-owned the studio, I called the number. Someone answered and I asked for "Dave". They put me on hold and, after a minute or so, Dave Grohl answered the phone. I talked to him for a few minutes until my mom picked up the landline and started dialing a phone number. I told her that I was talking to Dave Grohl and she said, "Yeah right!'. I had to end me conversation totally humiliated. The 90's was a good time to be alive 😂

What do you mean 'their earlier sessions' with Albini? They didn't record with him until In Utero, late '93. Also, Butch Vig recorded two versions of the song, one which Chad on drums, the other with Dave. It was then recorded a fourth time by Albini during the In Utero sessions.

Pretty sure the title Sappy is a cross between happy and sad but in all seriousness the way he wrote songs in his own words was to come up with a melody and the words would often be just good sounding bits of poetry rather than labouring over it with meaning

Is it jota john on the vocals in the lyrical analysis?

I like that you went for figuring out Sappy... Which the first time I heard it on a bootleg called Virgin Songs in 1991 it was called Another Rule becuz the bootlegger didn't realize he was saying "laundry room" not "another rule". It's been recorded in every Nirvana album session from Bleach to In Utero. I really like one of the Butch Vig versions where the guitar in the solo almost sounds like it's being played backwards. Very cool. Anyway, so my one critique is that instead of trying to figure out lyrics we've all been mystified for 30 years I'd have liked to see you look into the real reason Kurt tried to record it everytime they recorded. Also, Steve Albini didn't record them until In Utero not while Chad played drums. Good video tho.