Amanda Palmer has released a music video to accompany her reimagined version of Nirvana classic Polly, written by frontman Kurt Cobain for the band’s seminal album Nevermind. Palmer recorded the cover for Spin Magazine who put together a compilation CD of covers to celebrate the album’s 20th anniversary.
According to bass player Krist Novoselic, Cobain was inspired to write ‘Polly’ after reading a newspaper article about the abduction, torture, and rape of a 14-year-old girl who had just finished attending a rock show in Tacoma, Washington.
In June 1987, Gerald Arthur Friend picked up a 14-year-old female friend after leaving a concert at the Tacoma Dome. Upon trying to exit the car the girl was handcuffed and held hostage at knife point. The girl was taken to a mobile home where she was tortured and raped with various objects for two days. She was also threatened with a blowtorch.
The music video was shot in one day last November in New Haven, Connecticut, with the help of some of Palmer’s filmmaker and actor friends from around New York and Yale. Palmer herself wrote the script for the clip which borrows heavily from the story Cobain was inspired by.
Have a listen below to Palmer’s hauntingly beautiful version of the song and accompanying music video.
