Heart-shaped box

Kurt Cobain wrote The Heart-Shaped Box in early 1992. ^[1] Cobain forgot about the song for a while, but started working on it again when he and his wife Courtney Love moved into a house in the Hollywood Hills. ^[2] In a 1994 interview with Rolling Stone magazine , Love said she heard him work on a song riff in a closet. When she asked him if she could use the riff for one of her songs, he replied: “Fuck off!” And closed the closet door. Love: “He tried to be so despicable. I heard this riff on the ground floor ” ^[3] . The couple shared a diary in which they wrote their texts. Cobain’s biographer Charles Cross noted that Love’s lyrics greatly inspired Cobain’s song ^[4] . The name of the song comes from a heart-shaped box that Love gave Cobain. However, Cobain originally called the song "Heart-Shaped Coffin" ( Russian. Coffin in the shape of a heart ) ^[4] .

Nirvana had difficulty with the song. During the jam session, Cobain tried to attract the rest of the band to complete the song. He said: “During those rehearsals, I hoped that Krist and Dave would come up with some ideas for the song, but all the time, there was only noise.” One day, Cobain made a final attempt to finish the song. He came up with a vocal melody, and the group finally finished writing the song. Cobain said that when they finished the “Heart-Shaped Box,” “We realized this was a good song.” ^[5]

In January 1993, during sessions with Craig Montgomery in Rio de Janeiro , Brazil , the group recorded a demo version of “Heart-Shaped Box” ^[6] . The In Utero version was recorded in February of that year by Steve Albini in Cannon Falls , Minnesota . Prior to the release of the album, the track was re-mixed by Scott Litt . Cobain claimed that the vocals and bass did not sound loud enough. Nirvana bass player Krist Novoselic was also unhappy with the original Heart-Shaped Box mix. In a 1993 interview with Chicago Sun-Times , he said the initial effect on a guitar solo sounded "like a miscarriage hitting the floor." During a remix of the song by Litt, Cobain added acoustic guitar and backing vocals ^[7] .

Cobain claimed that he was inspired by the TV show about children with cancer to write “Heart-Shaped Box”: “ Thoughts about this [about sick children] spoil my mood much more than anything else ” ^[8] . However, biographers have repeatedly noted that the song, “ contrary to Cobain’s explanation, seemed to be dedicated to Courtney Love ” ^[5] . This is evidenced by the name of the song ( Russian. Heart-shaped box ): shortly after Courtney met Kurt, she gave him such a box from her collection. “ It was a heart-shaped box in which there was a tiny porcelain doll, three dried roses, a miniature tea cup and shellac-coated shells ... Kurt was impressed by the doll; by 1990, dolls were one of many means that he used for his art projects ” ^[9] . The line “ I’ve been locked in your heart-shaped box for many weeks ” probably hints at their family relationships. Love herself stated that “Heart-Shaped Box” is a song about her vagina ^[10] .

The video “Heart-Shaped Box” appeared on television in September 1993. It is full of disturbing and controversial images; in it, Kurt realized some of the ideas that were supposed to be included in the clip “ In Bloom ” (in his diaries there was a video plan where a girl appears in the executioner's outfit, with which the cap, poppy fields, etc. are blown away by the wind. However, in the end for In Bloom there was filmed a clip-parody of music programs of the 60s.). The video begins with a scene in the hospital room, where Nirvana members are sitting near the bed of an old man lying under a dropper ( William Burroughs was invited to this role, with whom Cobain recorded the song “The Priest They Called Him”, but the writer refused); then this same old man appears in a poppy field in the hat of Santa Claus and ascends to the cross. Endless poppy fields remind of the film “ The Wizard of Oz ” in 1939. Appearing in the clip, the little girl in the executioner's outfit is Brian O'Conner, Cobain's half-sister. Initially, the video was supposed to be shot by Kevin Kerslake , who worked on the videos “ Come as You Are ”, “ Lithium ”, “ In Bloom ” and “ Sliver ”, but Nirvana chose to work with Anton Corbijn . Kerslake sued the group for using his ideas in the clip, but the process was stopped due to the death of Cobain. In August 1994 , MTV video won the Best Alternative Video nomination for the third time in a row.

The songwriter is Kurt Cobain , except as noted.

1. Heart-Shaped Box - 4:39
2. Milk It - 3:52
3. Marigold ( Dave Grohl ) - 2:33

• Azerrad, Michael. Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana . Doubleday, New York: 1994. ISBN 0-86369-746-1
• Cross, Charles. Heavier Than Heaven: A Biography of Kurt Cobain . Hyperion, New York: 2001. ISBN 0-7868-6505-9
• Gaar, Gillian. In Utero . The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc, New York: 2006. ISBN 0-8264-1776-0
•   Video