Name: Polly：Nirvana 最黑暗的一首歌！ (Polly: Nirvana's Darkest Song)
Uploaded: 2026-02-07T17:12:10.000Z
Duration: 7 min 34 s

Of all the dark songs by the band Nirvana, and

there are a lot to choose from, the most disturbing to me is Poly, the sixth track off their album Nevermind.

An acoustic song, a quiet song about the rape and torture of a teenage girl, told from the perspective of the rapist.

一首不插電的歌，一首安靜的歌

It's a hard song to talk about, harder because it's based on a real incident in 1987, Gerald Friend, after being paroled early from a similar conviction in 1960, abducted a 14 year old girl after leaving a concert, brought her back to his mobile home, and

repeatedly raped her and tortured her with a blowtorch while she was suspended from a pulley.

It's also right in the center of one of the best selling albums of the 1990s, an album that enjoyed mainstream success.

Cruelties like those detailed in Pali are so heartrending that the instinct is to turn away the truth of violence like that is easily repressed, forgotten, avoided.

In addition to exploring his own fears and anxieties in Nirvana's music, he was also a vocal feminist who repeatedly spoke out against sexism and violence against women, especially sexual violence.

除了在 Nirvana 的音樂中探索他自己的恐懼與焦慮，他也是一位公開的女性主義者，不斷地反對性別歧視和對女性的暴力，尤其是性暴力。

It doesn't seem like much, but, you know, we raised like $50,000 for the Bosnian rape victims, you know, and

聽起來好像不多，但你知道，我們為波士尼亞強暴受害者募到了大約五萬塊美金，你知道，

that's a lot more than we could have griping about it and talking about it in interviews and like maybe putting out a fanzine, you know, there's nothing wrong with doing stuff like that, but, you know, we're using or we're using the tools that we have.

這比我們光是抱怨、在訪談中談論，或是出個 fanzine 來得有意義多了，你知道，做這些事本身沒什麼不好，但你知道，我們正在使用我們擁有的工具。

Nirvana played that benefit concert for Bosnian rape victims.

Nirvana 為波士尼亞強暴受害者辦了一場慈善演唱會。

And in the liner notes to Incesticide, Cobain instructed sexists not to buy Nirvana albums or come to the shows.

在 Incesticide 的歌詞說明裡，Cobain 告誡性別歧視者不要買 Nirvana 的專輯或來看演唱會。

But though Cobain's views were inherently political, his genius was artistic.

雖然 Cobain 的觀點本質上是政治性的，但他的才華是藝術性的。

And what an artist can do is different than what an activist or a politician can do.

而藝術家能做的事，跟社會運動者或政治人物能做的事是不同的。

Art, especially music, impacts us emotionally.

藝術，尤其是音樂，能觸動我們的情感。

It strikes at the core and as a result has a unique power to expand our empathy, which is why the perspective of Polly is so shocking.

它直擊核心，是以擁有一種獨特的力量來擴展我們的同理心，這也是為什麼 Poly 的觀點如此令人震驚。

But before I get to that, let me talk a little bit about the structure of the song.

但在我講到那之前，先來聊聊這首歌的結構。

I had just turned three when Nevermind was released, but

I didn't really start listening to their music until a couple years ago.

但直到幾年前我才真的開始聽他們的音樂。

And the two things that surprised me most were one, the poetic brilliance of Cobain, and

而最讓我驚訝的兩件事是，第一，Cobain 詩意的才華，

two, the catchiness and simplicity of the songs.

And you don't get much simpler than Pauli composed in E minor.

你不太可能比 Pauli 用 E小調創作的更簡單了。

E minor, G, D, C for the verses, over and over again.

主歌就是 E小調、G、D、C，不斷重複。

Then G5, B flat 5, D5, E5 for the choruses.

接著副歌是 G5、B flat 5、D5、E5。

In the chorus, an unobtrusive bass enters on the low end.

副歌時，低音部會加入一個低調的貝斯。

In Cobain adds of vocal harmony on the high end.

There are no drums in the song besides one cymbal crash at the start of each chorus.

歌曲裡沒有鼓，只有在每段副歌開始時會敲一下銅鈸。

there's a bass break after the second chorus that lasts all of nine seconds before the repetitive sequence starts up again.

第二段副歌後有個貝斯獨奏，大概九秒後又回到重複的段落。

So Poly is basically Cobain and his guitar.

所以 Poly 基本上就是 Cobain 和他的吉他。

the effect of this restraint is a feeling of closeness, of intimacy and authenticity.

這種剋制的處理方式，營造出一種親近感、親密感和真實感。

A feeling is heightened even further by the equipment on Poly.

Poly 的設備更進一步地加強了這種感覺。

Cobain played a Stella guitar bought for $30 at a pawn shop.

Cobain 彈的是一把 Stella 吉他，他在當鋪花了 30 美元買的。

It barely stays in tune, he told guitar world in 92.

他在 92 年接受 Guitar World 雜誌採訪時說，這把吉他根本不準。

In fact, I have to use duct tape to hold the tuning keys in place.

事實上，我還得用膠帶把調音旋鈕固定住。

The flat, plucky sound removes any polish that could mediate between and ultimately divide musician and listener.

那種平淡、撥弦的聲音，消除了任何可能在樂手和聽眾之間進行調解、最終將他們隔開的潤飾。

Poly is a song designed, in other words, to give Cobain access to your head.

換句話說，Poly 這首歌的設計就是為了讓 Cobain 進入你的腦袋。

The question is, once he's in there, what does he do?

問題是，一旦他進去了，他會做什麼？

The surprising and profound choice Cobain makes in Pauli is to make the protagonist of the song the intimate singer, the rapist.

Cobain 在 Pauli 中令人驚訝且深刻的選擇是，讓歌曲的主角成為親密的歌手、強暴者。

This becomes very clear after just the first two lines.

這在聽完前兩句後就非常清楚了。

We are inside the mind of this vile man, carried along in the stream of his consciousness.

我們進入了這個齷齪男人的腦海，隨著他的意識流動。

In each verse, he reports what's happening, happening with an amused detachment that is somehow more scary for its lack of emotion.

在每一段歌詞裡，他以一種帶點玩味的疏離感，報告著正在發生的事，這種缺乏情感的疏離感反而更令人害怕。

Cobain's vocal is aloof, yet mesmerizing.

Cobain 的歌聲雖然疏離，卻又令人著迷。

Cobain routinely downplayed the importance of his lyrics, but don't buy it.

Cobain 總是輕描淡寫地說歌詞不重要，但別信他這套。

While it may be wrong to look for hidden meanings and things like that, his journals reveal a fascination with language and wordplay.

雖然尋找隱藏的意義之類的可能不太對，但他的日記顯示他對語言和文字遊戲很著迷。

The chorus of Pali is made up of fragments of images and sentiments that simulate perfectly the chaotic flux of thinking.

Pali 的副歌由片段的意象和情感組成，完美模擬了思緒的混亂流動。

You can see desires, regrets, cries for help, cruelty, self deception, righteousness, all momentarily bobbing to the surface.

你可以看到慾望、後悔、求救的吶喊、殘酷、自我欺騙、正直，所有這些都瞬間浮現。

And then the animalistic final thought dictating this man's actions.

然後是驅動這個男人行為的野蠻最終想法。

If you're being carried along by the rapist stream of consciousness in the verses in the chorus, you're drowning in it.

如果你被歌詞和副歌中強暴者的意識流帶著走，你就會溺斃其中。

Cobain forces an emotional identification with evil to stop us from suppressing this brutality, to stop us from evading it.

Cobain 強迫我們與邪惡產生情感上的認同，來阻止我們壓抑這種殘酷，阻止我們逃避它。

這是一種非常令人不安的體驗。

但同時也是一種激勵人心的體驗。

The problem with groups who deal with rape is that they try to educate women about how to defend themselves, cobain told NME in 91.

Cobain 在 91 年告訴 NME，處理強暴問題的團體，他們試圖教導女性如何保護自己，這才是問題所在。

What really needs to be done is teaching men not to rape.

真正需要做的是教導男性不要強暴。

Go to the source and start there with a catchy tune and a $30 guitar.

從源頭開始，用一首朗朗上口的曲子和一把 30 美元的吉他。

Hey everybody, thank you so much for watching.

大家好，非常感謝大家的收看。

And thank you to Squarespace for sponsoring this episode.

另外，感謝 Squarespace 贊助本集內容。

You can use Squarespace, if you don't already know, to make sharp, beautiful websites for anything you might need a personal site, a wedding website, a site for your business or your photography portfolio, whatever.

如果你還不知道的話，你可以用 Squarespace 來製作任何你需要的精美網站，像是個人網站、婚禮網站、公司網站或是你的攝影作品集，什麼都可以。

Their design team has crafted templates that work on computer, browsers and on mobile, and

他們的設計團隊精心打造了適用於電腦、瀏覽器和手機的範本，

they switch perfectly between the two, which is really important.

而且它們能在兩者之間完美切換，這點真的很重要。

You can integrate your own photos and videos with just a few clicks.

你只需要點幾下就能整合你自己的照片和影片。

You can even link your social account so that you can auto post to Twitter and Facebook, all from within Squarespace.

你甚至可以連結你的社群帳號，這樣你就可以直接在 Squarespace 裡自動發布到 Twitter 和 Facebook。

Head over to squarespace.com for a free trial and when you're ready to Launch, go to squarespace.com nerdwriter to support this show.

前往 squarespace.com 申請免費試用，當你準備好上線時，請前往 squarespace.com nerdwriter 來支持這個節目。

你的首次購買可以享有九折優惠。