Most of the lyrics are based on childhood experiences of Roberts. For example, he was in a few serious car crashes as a child, which inspired the first verse; he has a birthmark at the base of his spine which made him a bullying target as a child, inspiring the second verse; and he knew a girl who went to a Pentecostal church, where members were known to speak in tongues, inspiring the third. He got the idea of a boy's hair turning from black into bright white from stories he had heard about this phenomenon - Canities subita - happening to survivors of perilous experiences, including a man who almost went over the Niagara Falls, and his great uncle who fought in Pacific Theater of World War II and heard Japanese soldiers yelling threats in broken English.[4]
https://youtu.be/dU95v23MQ4c?si=mGoXhB291sOlwj_X
Man, how the fuck was this ever a popular song?Labels grasped at anything grungy or melancholy after Nevermind blew up.