Live at Rolling Stone: The Swell Season Play "Strict Joy" Tunes

The Swell Season, the Oscar-winning duo from 2007's Once, recently stopped by the Rolling Stone studios to perform a pair of tracks from their new album Strict Joy ("In These Arms" and "Low Rising") along with their signature hit "Falling Slowly." Check out Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova's blend of Irish soul and dreamy pop right here. "Low Rising" and "Falling Slowly" are after the jump!

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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