Asking for It Lyrics
Every time that I sell myself to you
I feel a little bit cheaper than I need to
I will tear the petals off of you
Rose red, I will make you tell the truth
[Chorus]
Was she asking for it?
Was she asking nice?
If she was asking for it
Did she ask you twice?
[Verse 2]
Every time that I stare into the sun
Angel dust, and my dress just comes undone
And every time that I stare into the sun
Be a model or just look like one
Wild eye rot gut do me in
Do you think you can make me do it again?
[Chorus]
Was she asking for it?
Was she asking nice?
Yeah, she was asking for it
Did she ask you twice?
If you live through this with me
I swear that I will die for you
And if you live through this with me
I swear that I will die for you
[Chorus]
Was she asking for it?
Was she asking nice?
Yeah, she was asking for it
Did she ask you twice?
Was she asking for it?
Was she asking nice?
If she was asking for it
Did she ask you twice?
[Outro]
Ah, ah, ah, ah
About
Courtney Love said about “Asking For It” in 1995:
We had just gotten off tour with Mudhoney, and I decided to stage-dive. I was wearing a dress and I didn’t realize what I was engendering in the audience. It was a huge audience and they were kind of going ape-shit. So I just dove off the stage, and suddenly, it was like my dress was being torn off of me, my underwear was being torn off of me, people were putting their fingers inside of me and grabbing my breasts really hard, screaming things in my ears like “pussy-whore-cunt”. When I got back onstage I was naked. I felt like Karen Finley. But the worst thing of all was that I saw a photograph of it later. Someone took a picture of me right when this was happening, and I had this big smile on my face like I was pretending it wasn’t happening. So later I wrote a song called “Asking For It” based on the whole experience. I can’t compare it to rape because it’s not the same. But in a way it was. I was raped by an audience, figuratively, literally, and yet, was I asking for it?
Although not released as a single, the song reached number 36 on Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks in February of 1995, for four weeks.
An alternative take was recorded with Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. It was planned on being released as a single, but was dropped after Cobain’s abrupt suicide.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
- 1.Violet
- 2.Miss World
- 3.Plump
- 4.Asking for It
- 6.Doll Parts
- 11.Gutless
- 12.Rock Star