This song is about the actual kidnapping of a 14-year-old girl. In 1987, she was returning from a concert in Tacoma, Washington when she was abducted by a man named Gerald Friend. He took her back to his mobile home and raped her. The girl, whose name was not released, was tortured with a whip, a razor, and a blowtorch. She managed to escape when Friend took her for a ride and stopped for gas. He was arrested and sent to jail.
Cobain wrote about an incident, which occurred after the song's original release on Nevermind, in the liner notes to Incesticide: "Last year, a girl was raped by two wastes of ***** and eggs while they sang the lyrics to our song 'Polly.' I have a hard time carrying on knowing there is plankton like that in our...