Awful by Hole Lyrics Meaning – Unearthing the Raw Emotion Behind Courtney Love’s Anthemic Cry
Lyrics
Make it awful
It’s your life it’s your party it’s so awful
Let’s start a fire
Let’s have a riot! Yeah it’s awful
It was punk
Yeah it was perfect now it’s awful
They know how to break all the girls
like you
And they rob the souls of the girls like you
And they break the hearts of the girls
Swing low cherry cherry
Yeah it’s awful
He’s drunk he tastes
Like candy he’s so beautiful
He’s so deep like dirty water
God, he’s awful
You’re lost, oh, where’s your daddy it’s so
awful
And they royalty rate all the girls like you
And they sell it out to the girls like you
To incorporate little girls
Hey, run away with the light
Run away it’s divine
Let’s run away, yeah, tonight and
We’ll steal the light of the world
Swing low, sweet cherry, yeah, it’s awful
You’re ripe for the picking, it’s so awful
You’ve got your youth
Don’t waste your money
Yeah it’s awful
I was punk!
Now I’m just stupid!
I’m so awful
Oh, just shut up you’re only 16
If the world is so wrong
Yeah you can break them all
With one song
If the world is so wrong yeah you can take it
all
With one song
Swing low sweet cherry
Make it awful
They bought it all, just build a new one,
Make it beautiful yeah
Amidst the gritty backdrop of 90’s alt-rock, Hole’s ‘Awful’ stands out as a semiotic enigma, draped in the raucous energy of punk’s heyday and the raw, emotional depth of personal narrative. This track, a blend of abrasive chords and haunting lyrics, beckons a closer look—a dissection not just of its sound, but the profound substance woven within its framework.
To merely skate over the surface of ‘Awful’ would be an oversight far too complacent for any genuine music enthusiast. Instead, by burrowing into the marrow of Love’s lyricism, fans are offered a glimpse into a tumultuous worldview—one marked by dichotomies of power and powerlessness, beauty and corruption, and a longing for both rebellion and connection within the tight grip of an industry that commodifies dissent.
Punk Roots and the Illusion of Perfection in ‘Awful’
Slicing through the facade of an antiquated punk scene, ‘Awful’ is a testament to the ethos of disillusionment that often comes with the passage of time. When Courtney Love reminisces, ‘It was punk, yeah, it was perfect now it’s awful,’ she’s not just mourning a genre—she’s lamenting the commercialization and subsequent draining of substance from a movement once emblematic of raw, unfiltered truths. This line embodies the artist’s grappling with an identity that’s been co-opted by market forces she can no longer recognize nor respect.
The repeated refrain, ‘Make it awful,’ could be heard as a battle cry, a dare to the listener to face the uncomfortable, to recognize the disparity between the sanitized version of rebellion peddled by the industry and the messy reality of genuine artistic defiance. By declaring her past self ‘punk’ and her present self ‘just stupid,’ Love offers a magnifying glass to the reduced personal agency experienced as a result of commercial success—all while acknowledging her ongoing struggle within this dissonance.
The Erosion of Innocence and Exploitation of Youth
Often, the industry preys on youthful naivety—the ‘ripe for picking’ innocence referenced in the haunting line ‘Swing low sweet cherry, it’s awful.’ The song paints a grim portrait of a machine all too eager to rob the ‘souls of the girls like you,’ suggesting a nefarious routine of exploitation, a royalty rate where authenticity is lost to the highest bidder. It’s a relentless cycle that commodifies the very essence of youth, transforming it into something sellable, something less than what it was meant to be.
Moreover, the use of ‘sweet cherry’ takes on a harrowing double entendre, hinting at the premature sexualization of female stars within the industry. There’s an anguish that resounds throughout Love’s delivery, a tacit acknowledgment of the price of fame, and the seemingly inevitable loss of self that accompanies it. She beckons young girls to run away with the light, to claim autonomy over their own destinies rather than letting the world steal the light of the world.
The Song’s Hidden Meaning: A Reflection of Personal Demons
On a more personal note, ‘Awful’ can be interpreted as a dive into Love’s own psyche, a mirror reflecting inner chaos and the struggle for self-definition amidst external pressures. When she sings of someone ‘deep like dirty water,’ there’s a suggestion of attraction mixed with danger—the kind that is beautiful and horrific in tandem, hinting at her own tumultuous relationships and public image.
The lyric ‘God, he’s awful’ brings forth the divine and the damnable, conjuring both a sense of reverence and revulsion. There’s an underlying call for autonomy and liberation from the constraints she’s experiencing, not just from the industry, but potentially within her personal life. The ‘he’ featured in the song could point to specific figures but, more broadly, represents the archetypical male exerting influence over a woman’s fate—both in Love’s world and society at large.
A Rebellion Against Market Forces with a Single Anthem
Courtney Love’s lyrics are not just draped in metaphors, they are loaded with the ethos of insurrection. The uplifting and rallying message of ‘If the world is so wrong, yeah you can break them all with one song’ is a bold manifesto, asserting the inherent power of music to challenge and disrupt societal and industry standards. ‘Awful’ underscores the potential each artist holds—to wield their craft as a means of resistance and change.
It’s not so much an urge to create something aesthetically ‘awful,’ but rather to produce art that is honest and evocative, capable of shaking the foundations of the ‘beautiful’ but hollow constructs built by those in control. Love is advocating for the return to a more authentic, perhaps even raw, essence of what music—and punk, specifically—should stand for, which is the antithesis of a sellout culture.
Memorable Lines that Cut Deep
The simplicity in the line ‘Oh, just shut up you’re only 16’ carries an avalanche of implications—conflating the wisdom that comes with age and the dismissiveness youth often face, especially in the entertainment industry. It’s a poignant dismissal, illustrating the paradox where society simultaneously idolizes and devalues youth.
And the climax of ‘Run away, yeah, tonight and we’ll steal the light of the world’ is not just poetic, but empowering. It signifies a heist of agency, a reclamation of what has been usurped by the darkness of exploitation. In a few select words, Love encapsulates an entire narrative of resistance, a struggle that resonates as much today as it did in the era of Hole’s ascent.
