Yes, I resisted the urge to do an April Fools or Easter themed song, but I couldn't help myself this time (which is sadly typical when the topic is marijuana). Beyond that tenuous 420 connection, "My Arena" and "Moist Vagina" were the b-sides to the lead singles of Washing Machine and A Thousand Leaves, "The Diamond Sea" and "Sunday" respectively.

"My Arena" was the lone known outtake from Washing Machine. It served as the b-side for both The Diamond Sea and Little Trouble Girl, but has otherwise not been collected elsewhere (fingers crossed for that 2025 Washing Machine Deluxe!). It's actually the last original b-side to be released - Sunday featured a cover and all future singles were one-track promos. "Terry's Carrot", on some versions of the Little Trouble Girl single, is a lengthy in-studio improvisation, not an original composition.

"My Arena" is a dopey little tune, one I've loved since it kicked off the mix tape I discussed in the "Stalker" piece. If I were given no context for it, I'm not sure I'd have pegged it as Washing Machine era. You can just see it peeking out of the working track list on the back of the album, in a separate column headered "also" along with not-yet-Little "Trouble Girl". It would have been out of place on the album, but it's perfect b-side material - weird skronky riff, quirky call-and-response vocal, surprise melodic bridge w/ awful solo, all hinging on a weirdly specific theme of getting fucked up.

I'm pretty sure the song was recorded at the band's rehearsal space in NYC, rather than the Memphis sessions that produced most of the record. They used "Panty Lies" and bits of "No Queen Blues" from their own 8-track demos for the finished album, and to me "My Arena" has the same unpolished vibe. I could be mistaken - it doesn't receive the separate asterisked "Produced by Sonic Youth" credit that "Terry's Carrot" does. There's precedent for that, though - "Nic Fit" and "Creme Brulee" were both recorded at the band's Hoboken rehearsal space but not credited as such on Dirty. There was no production distinction made for "Panty Lies" on the album, either. So I'd lean towards it being a band demo rather than a Memphis outtake, but I'd love to know for sure if anyone has details!

There aren't very many overt drug references in the band's catalog, so "My Arena" certainly raises an eyebrow. Its lyrics were printed in Thurston's 2000 book Alabama Wildman, joined only by "Teenage Buddhist Daydream" "Superchrist" "Psychic Hearts" "Hits of Sunshine" "The Ineffable Me" and "In the Mind of the Bourgeois Reader" (the latter being part of a much longer, more curious work of fiction). The very lengthy, very jokey Acknowledgments page mentions that the text of "My Arena" was used for the manga More Fear of Wetness, and you bet I spent ten minutes workin' that search engine before confirming it was indeed a joke that went over my head. Later, in her Preface at the end of the book (?), Lisa Carver quotes some of the song's lyric, asking a question I've also pondered:

LISA: "pass me a quaalude/let's do it in the nude/i think i like you/(i think i'll drink you)/pass me the vacuum." Is he going to clean the house to prove his love? Masturbate with the Hoover? Something else entirely? Did he just think it would be funny to say the word "vacuum," and give in easily to the desire rather than censor it because it was nonsensical?

I'll be honest - I thought this would be a really easy song to knock out. Simple riffs, some just a few notes, nowhere to go, nothing to do. I like to start with getting the tunings accurate, and unfortunately with no live or alternate version, I'm bound by the clues offered in the song's 2 minutes and 18 seconds. Well, I suppose I have one other clue - the sonic tech document I received 20 years ago does note "My Arena" in the AF#EF#EB column for Lee. There are very few errors in those files, so I lean towards accepting it, but I also have nothing else to go on.

I figured I would start with Kim's part, which sounded easy enough. She plays down the middle, accompanying her own vocal during the back-and-forth with Thurston during the verses. She then switches to providing the main melodic bed for the bridge, which she also sings, and this is where I found myself confused. All of Kim's guitar parts on Washing Machine (and the previous Jet Set era) were in BEGDBB. There is no way to make the bridge of "My Arena" work in that tuning (I mean, the notes are there, but they don't sound right). So, after a bit of consideration, I developed a weird theory. I can hear open D/A strings in her part, so I started to wonder if she was using the Eterna in that DADABB tuning that Thurston came up with for "Junkie's Promise", which presumably would have been in the same batch of tunes as "My Arena". I always found it weird how that one guitar/tuning was an outlier for that record - especially odd for Thurston - but perhaps Kim had dug it out (it was her Dirty guitar before being replaced by a Les Paul) to try something new, and she created the DADABB tuning which Thurston happened to be inspired to write "Junkie's Promise" in. Whether any of those wild leaps have any basis in reality, I do genuinely think she could be using DADABB on this song...

I assumed that like most songs where Kim is mixed in the center, Thurston is panned right and Lee is panned left. Of course, this was reversed for Jet Set, which made me pause...in my head, Lee was always playing the riff in the verse and the not-so-focused solo, while Thurston spent most of his part striking muted strings. I was having a hard time reconciling any of Thurston's known Washing Machine tunings with the few clues present in the right-channel guitar part on "My Arena", and I considered that it may actually be Lee in the right instead, but I've gone back to a simpler theory after discovering some third fret harmonics that work "good enough". I really thought this fucking song would be easy!

When I heard that Sonic Youth were covering "Moist Vagina", I was intrigued. It was a slightly controversial Nirvana song, a b-side itself, backing the "All Apologies"/"Rape Me" double A-side. It was initially cut as a demo in Brazil in January 1993, before being recorded a month later for In Utero at Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, MN (Lee spent some time there a year earlier working on Fontanelle with Babes In Toyland, by the way...Seek out that Babes bio where Lee is portrayed as a high-maintenance big-shot producer, it's good for a laugh!). I'm not 100% clear on Kurt's intention with the not-entirely-decipherable lyric, but the title itself gave the song a mythical status amongst my fellow 12-year-old Nirvana fans when the single came out - how to convince one of our parents to let us buy this overpriced import disc with artwork showing a (male!) seahorse giving birth and songs casually titled "Rape" this or "Vagina" that. I remember one time stumbling across the censored version that identified the track as "mv" and feeling like this was my chance, but not being able to afford it...(I'm aware that I have way too many vivid memories about collecting singles as a young teenager, by the way.) In the end, I think one of my friends just bought the damn thing herself, snuck it home, made tapes for us all, and we could finally hear that last evasive Nirvana song...and was it worth the wait?

HELL YEAH IT WAS! Sure, it was no "Sappy" or even "I Hate Myself And Want To Die", both In Utero outtakes that ended up as killer compilation highlights. But it was weird, primal, gritty, weird, nasty, weird...one basic riff, indistinct lyrics that were distinctly perverse, a chorus consisting of "MARIJUANA!!" wailed with throat-peeling potential, a buzzing anti-solo all capped by the overpowering drone of Kurt's layered throat chanting. Definitely not what any of us were expecting, but definitely worth the anticipation.

Evidently Thurston had a similar reaction when he first heard the song, as he explains in his liner notes for With The Lights Out, the rarities box set released in 2004. While playing Seattle with Sonic Youth in March 1993, he visited Krist Novoselic's house and Dave Grohl stopped by with Albini's mix of In Utero.

THURSTON: They played some of the tunes. The first one I heard was "Moist Vagina" where Kurt intones over and over in artful and damaged REPETITION, "marijuana! marijuana! marijuana!". I thought it was the greatest thing they ever did, a crazed meeting of atonal psychosis and crunge rock pummel. It ruled. "It's gotta be the first song on the record!", I declared. It'd be completely awesome, the first tune where Kurt lays out his passion, where it all comes down to...marijuana. How banal yet utterly iconic and beautiful. It's almost as if hippie and punk became, for a cosmic moment, unified. Krist and Dave weren't too sold on my sputter.

I'm not sure what possessed Sonic Youth to take a rough stab at the song during sessions for A Thousand Leaves, perhaps Thurston's fire for the piece still burned. It manifested as the b-side for first and only single "Sunday", along with "Silver Panties", a preview of the forthcoming Silver Sessions disc on Sonic Knuth Records. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Sonic Youth's version of "Moist Vagina" was a first take, but I would be surprised to hear it was anything more than a second! Thurston plays the bass line on guitar, Lee approximates Kurt's ringing guitar riff, and Kim sings - sometimes they even play the same things at the same time! A mighty task, given there's only two parts to the song. Perhaps the highlight is Kim's gloriously ugly solo, which may have been assisted by her Dyna Soar distortion pedal - not for the nasty fuzz, but as a slide! She also attempts to rival Kurt's throat chanting but even with the layered overdubs I think he remains champion.

As far as tunings go, I'm again limited to this single recording, which offers few clues. "Moist Vagina" is basically two riffs: E to F#, and A to C. However, Nirvana tuned down a half step, so the chords sound as D# to F, and G# to B. Sonic Youth recreated the same pitch as Nirvana, playing D# to F, so I'm pretty sure Thurston is using CGDGBB as his other tuning from this era, EGDGED, would not allow the low D# note. Likewise, I hear tell-tale signs of GGDAGA, which was Lee's preferred tuning at this time. I could be very wrong, though. Kim - I would assume she used either CGGDDD or DADGGB, and I would lean towards DADGGB cuz it has a more trebly sound like her Yamaha Pacifica. That's just a guess, though! And does it really matter? (To anyone but me.)

An odd side note - I have a section in the Gear Guide where I do summaries of SY features in guitar magazines from all around the world (there's almost 80 now, check it out!). In the August 1998 issue of German magazine Gitarre & Bass, Kim mentions three covers that the band has recently recorded: Nirvana's "Moist Vagina", Johnny Winters' "Silver Train", and Leonard Cohen's "Dress Rehearsal Rag". "Silver Train" was released as an "outtake" from Silver Sessions, a minute or so of noise that was actually credited to Jagger/Richards. However, I have never heard any other mention of this Leonard Cohen cover - something to dig out for the A Thousand Leaves deluxe...? I won't hold my breath.

One last note in the "Moist Vagina" story - on April 10th, 2014, Nirvana were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. Krist, Dave, and Pat Smear played four songs with a rotation of singers: Joan Jett, Lorde, St. Vincent, and Kim Gordon. It was a pretty clever way to handle the event, and Kim contributed to 2 songs: bass on a sing-along "All Apologies", and lead vocals on a version of "Aneurysm" that surely had some scratching their heads and scrambling for the exits. Later that night, at Saint Vitus bar, the Nirvana trio played a full-length show with guest appearances by Kim, Joan, and Annie Clark, as well as J Mascis and John McCauley. In addition to bass duties on "All Apologies", Kim sang three songs to close the evening: "Aneurysm" "Negative Creep" and "Moist Vagina". Not only was this the only time the members of Nirvana ever performed "Moist Vagina" live, but Pat Smear had never played "Aneurysm" or "Negative Creep" during his time in the band. Unfortunately, very few recordings from this event have surfaced...

I've had a tab for "My Arena" by gavin for the past 20 years, it's a combination of everyone's parts in GGDDGG and was certainly good enough. Likewise, I updated the "Moist Vagina" tab a couple of years ago and don't have much room for improvement. I realize I'm gravitating towards songs that don't necessarily make for exciting transcriptions, but hopefully my rambling backstories provide slightly interesting context. We'll get to some heavier lifting soon...

A SECTION			00:00-01:04

Thurston's verse riff:

B---------
E---------  Thurston starts by playing the third fret during "pass me a joint"
F#--------   but quickly reduces his part to just strumming muted strings
F#--------    for the duration of section A
F#---3-3--
F#---3-3--	as the verses go on he starts playing sharp muted harmonics

Lee's verse riff:

B----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
F#--7-7---8----7-7---8----7-7---8----7-7---8----9-9---10----6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6--  play 3 times
E-------5----------5----------5----------5----------7------------------------------
F#----------------------------------------------------------6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6--
A----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

B------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
F#------------------------------------------------------------------------6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6--
E------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
F#----------4-4-4-----------4-4-4----------4-4-4---------4-4-4------6-----6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6-6--
A---4-4-0-5---------4-4-0-5---------4-0-5---------4-0-5-----------7---8--------------------------

Kim's verse riff:

B-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  x 4
D-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A---------------------------------------------------10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10--
D----------8-8-8------8-8-8-----8-8-8-----8-8-8-----10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10-10--


B SECTION			01:04-01:55

Kim plays something like this, not as much emphasis on the lower notes:

B-------------------------
B-------------------------
A----7-7-7-0---5-5-5-0----
D----7-7-7-0---5-5-5-0----
A----7-7-7-0---5-5-5-0----
D-------------------------

Thurston comes in playing these notes. It sounds like he's kind of sliding into
the higher notes and muting them right away, staccato like...

B-----------------------
E-----------------------
F#----------------------
F#----------------------
F#----10---3----8---3---
F#----10---3----8---3---
	
Lee plays something like this for his solo:

B---------------------------------------------------------------------------
E------------------------------------------------------22-------------------
F#---22~~---22-22-22-22~----------------------------22--------22----22------
E------------------------22-22~~---22-22-20~~-20-20--------22----22----22---
F#--------------------------------------------------------------------------
A---------------------------------------------------------------------------

  1:21
B----19-19-------19--19-----------------------------------------------------
E----------22-----------22--22-22-22--20^22-22br---18~----------------------
F#-----------------------------------------------------18-------------------
E---------------------------------------------------------17--17~17~17~-----
F#--------------------------------------------------------------------------
A---------------------------------------------------------------------------

  1:29
B---------------------------------------------------------------------------
E---------------------------------------------------------------------------
F#-13-------------------13----------------------13\15---18~----18-20br--\22-
E----------------------------------------------------------17---------------
F#-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13-13\15-----------------------
A---------------------------------------------------------------------------
  
  1:38
B-------------------------------------------19-19~--------------19-20-19---------------
E--------------------------22~~--22-22-22---------22~~22-22-22-----------22~-22-22-22--
F#--22------------22br--22-------------------------------------------------------------
E------21br-21br-----------------------------------------------------------------------
F#-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  1:46
B----------------------------------------------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------------------------------------------
F#------20-22-20------20-------------------------------------18---18-18-18~~-
E---20~~-----------20----17--17-17-17---15~-17-15-17---17-15-----------------
F#---------------------------------------------------------------------------
A----------------------------------------------------------------------------

That's approximate at best - it sounds like an improvised solo to begin with and not
one I'm particularly concerned with replicating that accurately.

A SECTION			01:55-02:18

For the last verse, Lee and Kim play the same riffs they started with, but Thurston
switches to harmonics instead of mutes:

B----------------------------------------
E----------------------------------------
F#---------------------------------------
F#---------------------------------------
F#-----10--------------------------------
F#-----10-----*3*-*3*-*3*---*3*-*3*-*3*-- etc w/ 3rd fret harmonics

These are the same harmonics you can get at the 7th fret of the middle F# strings, but 
I think they sound heavier and chunkier so he's probably playing them on the low strings.

"pass me a vacuum":

B------7----- 
E------7-----
F#-----6-----
F#-----6-----
F#-----------
F#-----------
	

text + tab by Chris Lawrence

special thanks to gavin

A SECTION			00:00-00:20

Thurston's main riff:

B--------
B--------	x 8
G--------
D--------
G--------
C--3--5--	roll yr treble down + use yr thumb

Lee plays these notes when the drums come in, letting them ring and feedback:

A--10~~-------
G-----10~~~~--
A-------------
D-------------
G-------------
G-------------

Kim doesn't play during this part.

B SECTION			00:20-00:24

Thurston plays:

B---------------------------------------------
B---------------------------------------------
G---------------------------------------------
D---------------------------------------------
G--8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8--\11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11--
C--8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8--\11-11-11-11-11-11-11-11--
	
Lee lets feedback ring during this part.

Kim doesn't play during this part.

A SECTION			00:24-00:33

Thurston plays his verse riff 8 times.

Lee plays these notes:

A--10~~-------
G-----10~~~~--
A-------------
D-------------
G-------------
G-------------

B SECTION			00:33-00:38

A SECTION			00:38-00:47

Thurston plays his verse riff 4 times.

Lee plays these notes:

A----10~~-----------10~~-------
G-------10~~-----------10~~~~--
A----------10~~~---------------
D------------------------------
G------------------------------
G------------------------------

B SECTION			00:47-00:51

Thurston plays the same chords but this time Lee joins in:

A-------------------------------------
G-------------------------------------
A-------------------------------------
D--1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4--
G--1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4--
G--1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4--

A SECTION			00:51-01:00

Thurston plays his verse riff 4 times.

Lee is playing chords now:

A----------
G--8--10---
A--8--10--- x 4
D--8--10---
G--8--10---
G--8--10---

B SECTION			01:00-01:04

Both play chords.

A SECTION			01:04-01:30

Thurston plays his verse riff 12 times.

Lee plays a verse and a chorus (someone didn't wink).

A---------10~---------------10~~10~~~-------------------------------------------------------
G--8--10-----10~----------------10~--------------------------------------------\10---8--10--
A--8--10--------10~~~~~~-------------------------------------------------------\10---8--10--
D--8--10---------------------------------1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-----\10---8--10--
G--8--10---------------------------------1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-----\10---8--10--
G--8--10---------------------------------1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-----\10---8--10--

B SECTION			01:31-01:35

Thurston plays his chords, Lee starts to and then is quickly muted or mixed out.

A SECTION			01:35-01:44

Thurston plays his verse riff 4 times.

Lee plays:

A---------10~~----------------------10~~------
G--8--10-----10~~-----------8--10------10~~---
A--8--10--------10~~~~~~----8--10-------------
D--8--10--------------------8--10-------------
G--8--10--------------------8--10-------------
G--8--10--------------------8--10-------------

B SECTION			01:44-01:48

Both play chords.

A SECTION			01:48-02:45

Thurston plays his verse riff 26 times.

Lee mostly plays this chord progression but starts shaking it up w/ super skronk towards 2:24

A----------
G--8--10---
A--8--10---
D--8--10---
G--8--10---
G--8--10---

Kim takes the song to another level with her guitar solo beginning at 2:00 - it sounds like she's
attacking the strings with something, possibly her Dyna Soar fuzz pedal that she was using as a slide
on "Anagrama" and "Wildflower" at this time. She's probably got that Hendrix Octave Fuzz dialed in too.
Because of the more biting, trebly tone I'm leaning towards this being her Yamaha Pacifica in DADGGB
but it may have been her Les Paul in CGGDDD (which she used for most of the Thousand Leaves material).
Or a random guitar she plucked from the rack. It's not particularly critical!

The last 20 seconds is Kim mimicking the throat droning Kurt does at the end of the original track.


text + tab by Chris Lawrence