Amanda Palmer Releases Nirvana Cover Video

Amanda Palmer

When Amanda Palmer does a cover, and she does many, you can be sure she makes it her own, and when I first heard her cover of Nirvana’s “Polly”, I thought she brought a whole other level of eeriness to the haunting original.

Palmer, who goes by the sweet nickname of “Amanda ‘F—king’ Palmer” (uncensored of course), is probably best described by her Twitter bio, “piano-slayer, ukulele-freak, singer, blogger, lover & co-founder of the brechtian punk cabaret duo The Dresden Dolls”, but even that is too modest to sum up the force of nature that she is. She’s also half of the quirky newlywed couple (of a little over a year), which includes English author Neil Gaiman.

Palmer has covered a number of different artist’s songs, ranging from Michael Jackson, to Radiohead, and many in the middle, and it’s usually just her and her “magical” ukulele (for a buck you can download a whole album of her covering Radiohead HERE), but with “Polly” it was a little different.

When asked by SPIN magazine to do a cover of the song for their 2010 tribute issue and compilation for Nirvana’s Nevermind 20th anniversary, Palmer took to the studio, along with a couple of fellow musicians, and gave her best rendition, and Tuesday, she finally released the accompanying video.

Her intent was to make the video reflect what the song’s meaning was about, which according to Nirvana’s bass player Krist Novoselic, was about the kidnapping and rape of a 14-year-old girl who had just attended a concert in Tacoma, Washington in 1987. Kurt Cobain, who considered himself a feminist, was inspired by the story and ended up penning the song.

With just one day of shooting in November, and the help of a couple friends, Palmer produced the following video. Check it out after the cut!

Be Sociable, Share!

•