“Babydoll” is the second track on Hole’s 1991 debut album Pretty on the Inside. Like much of the album, it’s a raw track with a gritty, punk-influenced sound.
Theme-wise, one interpretation is that the lyrics are personal to Courtney Love, dealing with the topic of her previous life as a prostitute...
[Verse 1]
Here you come, sucking my energy, and you
Suck it up right off the street, in a
[Refrain]
Babydoll
[Verse 2]
Here you are, sucking my energy right up
Drill it in my good hole so that I can see, you are
You are so much bigger than me, you are
You are so much bigger than me, in a
[Refrain]
Babydoll
[Chorus]
My raw hand, my fever blister
Watch me, watch me, watch me disappear
Here she comes, her pants undone
All waste and void, all waste and void
And void, and void
Wow!
[Verse 3]
There you go in your Nazi car
Oh babydoll, what a whore you are, and you'll
Sit around with your old rag, how can I
How can I talk when you, you've got the gag?
[Verse 4]
Here you come, sucking my energy, and you
Suck it up, baby, right off the street, in a
[Refrain]
Babydoll
[Verse 5]
In the dark I, I destroy what
What I became, what I destroy, yeah
She's hanging in the blossom tree, oh
Babydoll just bleeds for me, wow!
[Refrain]
Babydoll
[Chorus]
Babydoll, she's on the field, her
Chemical wedding, her chemical peel
I knife me, and I slash mine, and
I knife me, and I slash mine
[Verse 6]
Sick and sorry me, well
Here you are, as ugly as me, oh
Drill it in my good hole so that I can see, yeah
Drill it in my good hole so that I can see, yeah
[Verse 7]
Here you come, sucking my energy, and you
Suck it up, baby, right off the street, in my
[Refrain]
Babydoll
[Verse 8]
She stares too long into the sun
Now I, I want a cancer that the crooked eye spun, well, you
You don't mind my energy, 'cause baby
You are so much bigger than me, wow!
[Refrain]
Babydoll
[Chorus]
Little girl, she's on the floor
She gets it all 'cause she's the whore
Little girl, she's on the ground
She gets it all for falling, falling down
Falling down
Wow!
[Outro]
"I am, I am," she says
"I am not free," she says
"Help me, I am withering
Withering, withering, withering"
Hang on, you'll get your soul
It's a soul
Hey, it's a soul, it comes down
See, see it's a soul
Babydoll was written by Courtney Love & Eric Erlandson & Caroline Rue & Jill Emery.
Babydoll was produced by Don Fleming & Kim Gordon.