Tanora, a Cork version of Monopoly and Michael Collins – these are just a few of the things that the People’s Republic of Cork has given us over the last few years and now the county can add something else to that list: Kurt Cobain.
After doing a bit of digging, the Rare Irish Stuff Facebook page has found a random bit of information about the iconic lead singer of 90s grunge band Nirvana.
Was Kurt really from Cork?
The Facebook page has published a quote from an interview that Kurt did with Guitar World magazine back in July 1993. In it, Kurt explains that a little research into his family name led him to county Cork. Check it out:
“COBAIN: I never really knew about my ancestors until this year,when I learned that the name Cobain was Irish. My parents had never bothered to find that stuff out. I found out by looking through phone books throughout America for names that were similar to mine. I couldn’t find any Cobains at all, so I started calling Coburns. I found this one lady in San Francisco who had been researching our family history for years.
GW: So it was Coburn?
COBAIN: Actually it was Cobain, but the Coburns screwed it up when they came over. They came from County Cork, which is a really weird coincidence, because when we toured Ireland, we played in Cork and the entire day I walked around in a daze. I’d never felt more spiritual in my life. It was the weirdest feeling and I have a friend who was with me who could testify to this I was almost in tears the whole day. Since that tour, which was about two years ago, I’ve had a sense that I was from Ireland.”
Amazing or what? You can read Kurt’s full interview by clicking here.
