This week, I’ve had Nirvana’s “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” #OnRepeat. I was actually reminded of this song while watching the Marvel superhero show, The Defenders, on Netflix this past week during one of the last episodes.
The band, Nirvana, is a Grunge-Alternative Rock band from Aberdeen, Washington that was formed by guitarist, Kurt Cobain, and bassist, Krist Novoselic, in the late 1980s. Although the band had a short run (disbanding after Cobain’s death in 1994), they sold over 20 million records and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. Some of their most well-known songs are “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” “In Bloom,” and “Love Buzz.”
“Where Did You Sleep Last Night (In The Pines)” is a traditional Folk song that was made popular by the Folk and Blues musician, Leadbelly, during the 1940s. The meaning behind the lyrics has been disputed for some time (and varies depending on the version and musician performing it), but the overall themes have to do with love, death, and loneliness. Kurt Cobain earned a lot of recognition for his acoustic interpretation of this song during Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged performance in 1993. Cobain’s raspy, higher-pitched rock-style voice captures the desperation, grit, and bleak loneliness that is painted in the lyrics of the song. Nirvana’s darker take on “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” introduced the song to a new generation of fans that still listen to and discuss the musical implications of this version more than a decade later.
Take a listen below:
Below is Leadbelly’s version of “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” for reference:
What do you think of Nirvana’s version? Is it a proper continuation of this song’s legacy?