Dumb (Nirvana song)

In a 1993 Melody Maker interview, Cobain explained that the song was about people who lacked the intelligence to be unhappy, which he admitted he was "at times" envious of.

[2] The In Utero version features a cello part, written and performed by Chicago musician Kera Schaley, a friend of the album's producer, Steve Albini.

Despite never being released as a single, "Dumb" reached number 37 on the US Alternative National Airplay chart, which was published by the Billboard sister publication, Radio & Records.

[4] In October 2023, an animated music video for the song by RuffMercy was released on Nirvana's official YouTube channel, to promote the 30th anniversary of In Utero.

"Dumb" was written by Cobain in the summer of 1990, as the band began to move away from the heavier grunge sound of their debut album, Bleach, towards more openly melodic, pop-influenced material.

[7] "Dumb" was debuted live on September 25, 1990, when Cobain performed a solo acoustic version on the Boy Meets Girl show, hosted by Calvin Johnson of the American rock band Beat Happening, on KAOS (FM) in Olympia, Washington.

[9] On September 3, 1991, the band recorded a version of the song, already featuring finished lyrics, during their second John Peel session for the BBC at Maida Vale Studios in London.

[10] The full session, which also featured versions of "Drain You" and "Endless Nameless" from their then-latest release, Nevermind, was produced by Dale Griffin, and first broadcast on November 3, 1991.

"[14] The In Utero recording of "Dumb" features cello by Kera Schaley, a friend of Albini's who also played on the album's second single and closing track, "All Apologies," as well as an unreleased take of the eventual b-side, "Marigold."

"[20] Describing the In Utero version, John Mulvey of the NME wrote that the song "broods and circles, with the aid of a cello, like a baroque parody of 'Lithium'.

Instead, a cello runs counterpoint to the steady rhythm section of Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl and to the protagonist’s insistence that maybe he’s happy after all.

[9] In Cobain's unused liner notes for the song, he blamed "all that supposedly unaddictive, harmless" marijuana for harming his nerves and damaging his memory, saying it "wasn't ever strong enough" which led him to "climb the ladder" to heroin.

"[1] Reviewing the album for Kerrang!, Phil Alexander wrote that "Kurt kickstarts Rape Me with a familiar and doubtlessly intended ...Teen Spirit shuffle, while Dumb has an infectious Come As You Are feel.

"[40] Reviewing the band's first greatest hits album, Nirvana, in 2002, Will Bryant of Pitchfork wrote that "Dumb" was "one of Cobain's most underrated efforts, a populist revision of "Lithium" that replaces Nevermind's misanthropy with earnest self-deprecation."

In 2017, to mark what would have been Cobain's 50th birthday, the Phonographic Performance Limited released a list of the top 20 most played Nirvana songs on the TV and radio in the United Kingdom, in which "Dumb" was ranked at number 19.