A recording is known to exist, but is not circulating.
Three years prior to it's release on In Utero, Pennyroyal Tea was written and recorded in the apartment Cobain and Grohl shared on N. Pear St., Olympia, WA. Dave and I were screwing around on a 4-track and I wrote that song in about thirty seconds,
Cobain told NIRVANA biographer, Michael Azerrad. I sat down for like a half an hour and wrote the lyrics and then we recorded it.
(4)
Recounting this period for Harp in 2005, Grohl recalled witnessing the early genesis of yet another In Utero
classic, All Apologies: [That was] something that Kurt wrote on that same 4-track in our apartment in Olympia. I remember hearing it and thinking,
(76)God, this guy has such a beautiful sense of melody, I can't believe he's screaming all the time.