Origin and recording
Kurt Cobain wrote "Heart-Shaped Box" in early 1992. Cobain forgot about the song for a while, but began working on it again when he and his wife Courtney Love moved to a house in the Hollywood Hills. In a 1994 Rolling Stone interview, Love said she overheard him working on the song's riff in a closet. She said she asked him if she could use the riff for one of her songs, to which he replied, "Fuck off!" and closed the closet door. "He was trying to be so sneaky", said Love. "I could hear that one from downstairs." The couple shared a journal in which they would write lyrics; Cobain biographer noted that Love's songwriting sensibility informed Cobain's on the song. The song's name came from a heart-shaped box Love had given Cobain. However, Cobain had originally titled the song "Heart-Shaped Coffin".
Nirvana had difficulty completing the song. Cobain attempted to have the rest of the band complete the song during jam sessions. He said, "During those practices, I was trying to wait for Chris and Dave to come up with something but it just turned into noise all the time." One day Cobain made one last attempt at completing the song. Cobain was able to come up with a vocal melody and the band finally finished writing the song. Cobain said that when they completed "Heart-Shaped Box", "We finally realized that it was a good song."
In January 1993, the band recorded a demo of "Heart-Shaped Box" during sessions with Craig Montgomery in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; it was the first song recorded. The In Utero version was recorded in February 1993 by Steve Albini in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. It was remixed, along with "All Apologies" and later "Pennyroyal Tea," by Scott Litt prior to the album's release. Cobain was unapologetic about the band's decision, and maintained that the vocals and bass were not prominent enough in the original mixes. Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic was also unhappy with the original mix of "Heart-Shaped Box." In a 1993 Chicago Sun-Times interview, he said the original effect used on the song's guitar solo sounded "like a fucking abortion hitting the floor." When the song was remixed by Scott Litt, Cobain took the opportunity to add acoustic guitar and backing harmonies.
Composition and lyrics
Journalist Gillian Gaar described "Heart-Shaped Box" as "the Nirvana formula personified, with a restrained, descending riff played through the verse, building in intensity to the cascading passion of the chorus".[1]
Cobain said the song was inspired by documentaries about children with cancer. He told biographer Michael Azerrad, "Anytime I think about it, it makes me sadder than anything I can think of." Azerrad asserted in his biography of Nirvana, Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana, that despite Cobain's explanation, the song actually appeared to be about Courtney Love. Charles Cross wrote in his biography of Cobain Heavier Than Heaven that with the lyric "I wish I could eat your cancer when you turn black", Cobain "sang in what has to be the most convoluted route any songwriter undertook in pop history to say 'I love you'". Cobain said that the song's chorus of "Hey/Wait/I've got a new complaint" was him giving an example of how he was perceived by the media.
Release
In the United States, DGC issued "Heart-Shaped Box" to college, modern rock, and album-oriented rock radio stations in early September 1993. There were no plans to release a single for the song domestically. At the time, Geffen Records' head of marketing told Billboard that the label was not actively courting Top 40 radio, explaining "Nirvana didn't sell nearly 5 million [records] because of a hit single. They sold that many albums because of who they are." The song entered the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart at number seven, and eventually peaked at number one on the chart. The song also reached number four on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. A single of the song was released in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number on five on the UK Singles Chart.
Heart-Shaped Box
Nirvana Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I've been locked inside your heart-shaped box for weeks
I've been drawn into your magnet tar pit trap
I wish I could eat your cancer when you turn black
Hey
Wait
I got a new complaint
Hey
Wait
I got a new complaint
Forever in debt to your priceless advice
Hey
Wait
I got a new complaint
Forever in debt to your priceless advice
Your advice
Meat-eating orchids forgive no one just yet
Cut myself on angel hair and baby's breath
Broken hymen of Your Highness, I'm left black
Throw down your umbilical noose so I can climb right back
Hey
Wait
I got a new complaint
Forever in debt to your priceless advice
Hey
Wait
I got a new complaint
Forever in debt to your priceless advice
Hey
Wait
I got a new complaint
Forever in debt to your priceless advice
Your advice
She eyes me like a Pisces when I am weak
I've been locked inside your heart-shaped box for weeks
I've been drawn into your magnet tar pit trap
I wish I could eat your cancer when you turn black
Hey
Wait
I got a new complaint
Forever in debt to your priceless advice
Hey
Wait
I got a new complaint
Forever in debt to your priceless advice
Hey
Wait
I got a new complaint
Forever in debt to your priceless advice
Your advice
Your advice
Your advice
The first two lines of "Heart-Shaped Box" are a puzzle: "She eyes me like a Pisces when I am weak. I've been locked inside your heart-shaped box for weeks." Kurt Cobain appears to be struggling under the gaze of someone who understands him better than he does himself. The idea of a "heart-shaped box," suggesting a gift or a place to hold cherished items, is tainted by the fact that Cobain is trapped inside one. The lyrics express a sense of loss, longing and loneliness. The next line, "I've been drawn into your magnet tar pit trap," continues the imagery of being trapped, with an added sense of inevitability.
Line by Line Meaning
She eyes me like a Pisces when I am weak
When I'm vulnerable, she scrutinizes me like a Pisces star sign.
I've been locked inside your heart-shaped box for weeks
I've been trapped in your love and can't break free for several weeks now.
I've been drawn into your magnet tar pit trap
I'm helplessly attracted to you, just like how objects are pulled by a magnetic force into a tar pit trap.
I wish I could eat your cancer when you turn black
I want to be there to help and comfort you when you're going through a difficult time with the illness. It's a twisted metaphor that implies the desire to take the pain away from a person one loves.
Hey
Wait
I got a new complaint
Forever in debt to your priceless advice
I have a new problem to share with you and constantly need your valuable advice, which I'm endlessly grateful for.
Meat-eating orchids forgive no one just yet
Cut myself on angel hair and baby's breath
Broken hymen of Your Highness, I'm left black
Throw down your umbilical noose so I can climb right back
This set of lyrics is more opaque than the rest. Its interpretation isn't clear, but it could describe a tangle of sexual and sacrificial imagery illustrating a person's yearning to reignite the passion they shared with their partner.
Your advice
The singer is acknowledging, with great gratitude, the influence and guidance their lover had on them. They end the song with three repetitions of their wish to avail themselves of their partner's priceless advice and that it remains a vital resource, perhaps long after the relationship may be over or the partner's is no longer alive.
Lyrics Β© BMG Rights Management
Written by: Kurt Cobain
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@7cloudsRock
What was the last song you sang along to?
@jimenez7315
Drark side
@Thefmjimmclean
id do anything for love {but i wouldnt do that}
@hannakosmowska3019
πππ’ππππ
@AHMEDAli-fm9th
please mr.7clouds rock i love your channel
lalisa ( money )
lady gaga ( poker face )
major lazer & dj sanke ( lean on )
wiz khalifa ft . charlie rutll ( see you again )
Slander - love is gone π’π’π’π’β€β€β€ please i,m bigfans for you and love you
& that my order aloneβ€β€β€β€
@portereagle15
Styx season
@NinesRK9
"You and everybody else will DIE without me, or have you forgotten that?'
'We haven't forgetten, and we will never forget'
'But I-'
DELSIN ROWE - 2014
@HeatNights
Nice guitar <3
@gusionsomething
Nice, My favourite song!!
@sweetieandbella35
Me and my mom loves Nirvana