"Softer, Softest" is a song by American

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band

Hole A hole is an opening in or through a particular medium, usually a solid body. Holes occur through natural and artificial processes, and may be useful for various purposes, or may represent a problem needing to be addressed in many fields of en ...

, written by frontwoman

Courtney Love Courtney Michelle Love ( née Harrison; born July 9, 1964) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and actress. A figure in the alternative and grunge scenes of the 1990s, her career has spanned four decades. She rose to prominence a ...

and lead guitarist

Eric Erlandson Eric Theodore Erlandson (born January 9, 1963) is an American musician, guitarist, and writer, primarily known as founding member, songwriter and lead guitarist of alternative rock band Hole from 1989 to 2002. He has also had several musical s ...

. The song was released as the band's eighth song and fourth and final single from their second studio album, ''

Live Through This ''Live Through This'' is the second studio album by the American alternative rock band Hole, released on April 12, 1994, by DGC Records. Recorded in late 1993, it departed from the band's unpolished hardcore aesthetics to more refined melodie ...

'', in December 1995. The single was released just as the band finished their extensive touring in 1995.

Origin and recording

Erlandson and Love are known to have written "Softer, Softest" as early as December 1991 at which time it was performed live during the band's tour of the United Kingdom in winter 1991. Originally known as "Pee Girl", the song developed into its final form in early 1993 when the name "Softer, Softest" was being used. The first known studio version of "Softer, Softest" was recorded on 21 January 1993 at BMG Ariola Ltda in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of the same name, Brazil's List of Brazilian states by population, third-most populous state, and the List of largest citi ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. Featuring Love on lead guitar and vocals, recently recruited drummer

Patty Schemel Patricia Theresa Schemel (born April 24, 1967) is an American drummer and musician who rose to prominence as the drummer of alternative rock band Hole from 1992 until 1998. Born in Los Angeles, Schemel was raised in rural Marysville, Washington, ...

and Love's husband Kurt Cobain of

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lamp Richard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo. ...

on bass, the trio recorded the song, alongside "I Think That I Would Die" (then known as "Baby") "She Walks on Me", "

Miss World Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Miss I ...

" and " Closing Time", during breaks in Nirvana's session. Sound engineer Craig Montgomery stated that the songs were "half-baked ideas." Two more structured versions were recorded on 27 March 1993 with

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

Mark Goodier Mark Goodier (born 9 June 1961) is a British radio disc jockey best known for his time on BBC Radio 1 between 1987 and 2002. He had two spells presenting the station's Top 40 singles chart, from 1990 to 1992 and from 1995 until 2002. He also h ...

. In October 1993, the band recorded the album version of the song as part of the ''Live Through This'' sessions at Triclops Studios in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

, where Cobain contributed background vocals towards the end of the song (2:41 onwards). Speaking of Cobain's involvement, Love has said "there are harmonies all over ''Live Through This'' that are Kurt's... you can hear him on 'Pee Girl.'" Despite his involvement, Cobain was not noted as a performer neither on the album nor the single.

Composition and lyrics

During Hole's performance on ''

MTV Unplugged ''MTV Unplugged'' is an American television series on MTV showcasing musical artists usually playing acoustic instruments. The show aired regularly from 1989 to 1999 and less frequently from 2000 to 2009, when it was usually billed as ''MTV Un ...

'' on

Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, throu ...

1995, Love introduced the song as " eingabout the girl that always smelled like pee in your class" and also claimed it was autobiographical and not about former MTV producer, Tabatha Soren. Despite being credited on record as a collective authorship by all members of Hole, according to

Broadcast Music Incorporated Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) is a performance rights organization in the United States. It collects blanket license fees from businesses that use music, entitling those businesses to play or sync any songs from BMI's repertoire of over 20.6 mil ...

's website, the authors of the song are only Eric Erlandson and Courtney Love.

Music video

A promotional music video was never recorded for "Softer, Softest", however, the version of the song performed at ''

'' in 1995 was used as a music video though it did not receive a lot of airplay. Recorded by John Harris and directed by Milton Lage, the performance also featured guest musicians Ralph Carney on cello, Zeena Parkins on harp and Erik Friedlander on clarinet.

Track listing

All songs written by

and

, except where noted. Australian CD single (GED 22095) #"Softer, Softest"3:27 #" He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)" (

Carole King Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who has been active since 1958, initially as one of the staff songwriters at 1650 Broadway and later as a solo artist. Regarded as one o ...

Gerry Goffin Gerald Goffin (February 11, 1939 – June 19, 2014) was an American lyricist. Collaborating initially with his first wife, Carole King, he co-wrote many international pop hits of the early and mid-1960s, including the US No.1 hits " Will You L ...

)4:23 #"Miss World" 3:06 #" Teenage Whore" 2:45 #"

Hungry Like the Wolf "Hungry Like the Wolf" is a song by English New wave music, new wave band Duran Duran. Written by the band members, the song was produced by Colin Thurston for the group's second studio album ''Rio (Duran Duran album), Rio'' (1982). The song was ...

(

Simon Le Bon Simon John Charles Le Bon (born 27 October 1958) is a British singer. He is best known as the lead vocalist and lyricist of the new wave band Duran Duran and its offshoot Arcadia. Le Bon has received three Ivor Novello Awards from the British ...

Nick Rhodes Nick Rhodes (born Nicholas James Bates, 8 June 1962) is an English keyboardist and producer, best known as a founding member, keyboardist, and only continuous member of the band Duran Duran. He is also informally monikered as "The Controller ...

John Taylor John Taylor, Johnny Taylor or similar may refer to: Academics *John Taylor (Oxford), Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, 1486–1487 *John Taylor (classical scholar) (1704–1766), English classical scholar *John Taylor (English publisher) (178 ...

)1:55 Dutch CD single (GED 22089) #"Softer, Softest"3:27 #"He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)" (King, Goffin)3:45 US promo CD (PRO-CD-4764) #"Softer, Softest"3:27 #"Softer, Softest" 3:45

Credits and personnel

Hole *

lead vocals, guitar *

guitar * Kristen Pfaffbass, piano, backing vocals *

drums, percussion Guest musicians *Dana Kletteradditional vocals * Kurt Cobainadditional vocals Technical * Paul Q. Kolderie producer,

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

Sean Slade Sean Slade (born 14 November 1957) is an American record producer, engineer, and mixer. On many of his productions he worked in partnership with Paul Q. Kolderie. Career Slade was born in Lansing, Michigan, United States. He graduated from Ya ...

producer, engineer *

Scott Litt Scott Warren Litt (born March 10, 1954) is an American record producer who mostly works with artists in the alternative rock genre and is best known for producing six R.E.M. albums in the late 1980s and early to mid-1990s during the band's most su ...

mixing

Charts

Notes

References

{{Hole, state=collapsed Hole (band) songs 1995 singles Songs written by Eric Erlandson Songs written by Courtney Love