>>121916114The melody from Drain You seems to me inspired by that breezy vocal phrasing from Husker Du's Flexible Flyer.
Same delayed tempo of vocal phrasing: starting a lyric and then letting the note run for some time continuously. And then rhythmically moving on to a new lyric.
But Cobain did it in a more anthemic way. He had an uncanny ear for coming up with anthemic vocals. And they worked with even basic classic power chords. He was able to get a song with basic power chords to sound like something totally new with just incredible vocal phrasing that sounded like nothing before, even though it was inspired by stuff done before.
Drain You also has this strange pattern: the vocals "descend" while the chords keep this criss-crossing tonal pattern. It creates this feeling that every second chord from the verse always launches into a "high" but then brings you back to a low. While again, the vocals just keep dancing around this low-high-low sonic staircase. With that very rhythmic mechanic.