Recording
According to Nevermind producer Butch Vig on the Classic Albums: Nirvana - Nevermind DVD, "Drain You" had more guitar overdubs than any other song on the album: one clean track and five distorted tracks; two tracks of the Mesa Boogie, two tracks of the Fender Bassman, and one that they called the "Super Grunge" track., which was a pedal on the Fender Bassman. Cobain tended to dislike heavily overdubbed songs, and so Vig had to tell Cobain lies, such as that tracks did not record right or were out of tune, in order to get him to do so many takes. The strange noises during the middle section of the song are caused by a squeaking mouse toy Cobain brought into the studio that sound engineer Andy Wallace put through delays and made it sound "trippy". In his biography of Kurt Cobain Heavier Than Heaven, biographer Charles Cross wrote, "When Kurt was questioned about the song he said he had made a lot of it up on the spot but that the first line "One baby to another says I'm lucky to have met you"... was particularly important to the interpretation of the song..."
On the Nevermind version, Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic tuned their instruments a whole step down resulting in the song being recorded in F♯ minor. In concert, however, "Drain You" was generally played in whatever tuning the band was using throughout the rest of the concert — generally standard tuning in earlier concerts (prior to the 1992 Pacific Rim tour in support of Nevermind) and half-step-down in later concerts. The song's verse is based around a conventional chord progression of four power chords in standard tuning: A, C#, F#, B, the riff (E)- D -B for the choruses, and a chorus ending of A, G, F#.
This song is also in the music video games Rock Band 2 and Rock Band Unplugged.
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Famous quotes containing the word recording:
“He shall not die, by G—, cried my uncle Toby.
MThe ACCUSING SPIRIT which flew up to heaven’s chancery with the oath, blush’d as he gave it in;—and the RECORDING ANGEL as he wrote it down, dropp’d a tear upon the word, and blotted it out for ever.”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)
“I didn’t have to think up so much as a comma or a semicolon; it was all given, straight from the celestial recording room. Weary, I would beg for a break, an intermission, time enough, let’s say, to go to the toilet or take a breath of fresh air on the balcony. Nothing doing!”
—Henry Miller (1891–1980)
“Self-expression is not enough; experiment is not enough; the recording of special moments or cases is not enough. All of the arts have broken faith or lost connection with their origin and function. They have ceased to be concerned with the legitimate and permanent material of art.”
—Jane Heap (c. 1880–1964)