Retard Girl
| "Retard Girl" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
First pressing cover art | ||||
| Single by Hole | ||||
| B-side |
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| Released | July 1990 | |||
| Recorded | March 17, 1990 | |||
| Studio | Rudy's Rising Star in Los Angeles, California, U.S. | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 4:47 | |||
| Label | Sympathy for the Record Industry | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Courtney Love | |||
| Producer(s) |
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| Hole singles chronology | ||||
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"Retard Girl" is the debut single by American alternative rock band Hole, written by vocalist and guitarist Courtney Love, and released in July 1990 by Sympathy for the Record Industry. Recorded in March 1990, the single was produced by Love's then-husband, James Moreland. Drawing on the influence of no wave and noise rock bands of the time, the song features distorted guitars, heavy bass, and unpolished, aggressive vocals.
The lyrics narrate a girl being bullied on a school playground, also making direct references to Horace's Odes, including the Latin verse "velut inter ignis luna minors", which is also inscribed on the back of the single's cover art. In 2010, Love said she wrote the song after a group of men tried to gang rape her while she was working as a stripper at Jumbo's Clown Room in Los Angeles.