Blew

"Blew" is the title of a song and EP released by American rock band Nirvana.

Songs

"Blew" was written in 1988 by Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain. The song was recorded in December 1988 and initially appeared as the first track on Nirvana's 1989 debut album Bleach. Blew remained one of the only songs from the Bleach era that remained on Nirvana's live setlist throughout their entire performance history, all the way up until the band's final show on March 1st, 1994 in Munich, Germany, where it was performed during the encore, giving it the distinction of being the second to last song ever performed by the band. In addition to the song "Blew", the release also includes "Love Buzz". This mix of "Love Buzz" is the Bleach version, as opposed to the 7" Sub Pop Singles version mix. The version of "Been a Son" that was recorded for the EP is hailed as the "definitive take" of that song as it encompasses Nirvana's thrashing signature sound as well as Krist Novoselic's bass guitar solo being much more pronounced in the mix. "Stain" features both dual vocal and dual guitar tracks.

Nirvana

Nirvāṇa (/nɪərˈvɑːnə, -ˈvænə, nər-/;Sanskrit: निर्वाण nirvāṇa  [nirʋaːɳə]; Pali: निब्बान nibbāna ; Prakrit: णिव्वाण ṇivvāṇa ) literally means "blown out", as in a candle. It is most commonly associated with Buddhism.

In the Buddhist context, nirvana refers to the imperturbable stillness of mind after the fires of desire, aversion, and delusion have been finally extinguished. In Hindu philosophy, it is the union with Brahman, the divine ground of existence, and the experience of blissful egolessness.

In Indian religions, the attainment of nirvana is moksha, liberation from samsara, the repeating cycle of birth, life and death.

Etymology

The word nirvāṇa is from the verbal root √vā “blow” in the form of past participle vāna “blown”, prefixed with the preverb nis meaning “out”. Hence the original meaning of the word is “blown out, extinguished”. Sandhi changes the spelling: the v of vāna causes nis to become nir, and then the r of nir causes retroflexion of the following n: nis+vāna > nirvāṇa. The term is used in the sense of “dead” in the Mahābhārata (i.e. “life extinguished”). [Monier-Williams Sanskrit English Dictionary sv nirvāṇa]