About a Girl is a song by Nirvana, written by Kurt Cobain. It is the third song on their debut album, Bleach. It was released in October 24, 1994. Frequently described as one of Cobain‘s strongest and most melodic early compositions, About a Girl was written about his then girlfriend, Tracy Marander.
In the 1998 documentary Kurt and Courtney, Marander revealed that Cobain had never told her the song was about her, and that she found out only after reading the 1993 Nirvana biography, Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana by Michael Azerrad.
A live, acoustic version, recorded during Nirvana‘s MTV Unplugged appearance in November 18, 1993, was released as a single in October 24, 1994, to promote the album, MTV Unplugged in New York. It was the first single released since Cobain‘s death in April 1994, reaching number one on Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks chart and number 22 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 Airplay chart.
The song was written in 1988, reportedly after Cobain spent an afternoon repeatedly listening to Meet the Beatles!, the 1964 second American release by the Beatles. The earliest known recording is a solo electric home demo that was posthumously released on the band’s rarities box set, With the Lights Out, in November 2004.
Featuring alternate lyrics, it was recorded at Cobain‘s home in Olympia, Washington in 1988. The song debuted live at a dorm party at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington in February 1989.
About a Girl was first recorded in the studio in December 1988 by Jack Endino at Reciprocal Recording in Seattle, Washington. It was one of nine songs recorded during the 30 hour, six day session that ended up on the band’s July 1989 debut album, Bleach. As Endino recalled in a 2004 interview with Rob Nash of The Independent:
“They just banged it out, they had it all figured out; they were rehearsed. They would do the songs in one or two takes; (Cobain would) get the vocals as one overdub, that would be it, and then on to the next song. So it was a pretty easy record to make.”
Tracklist:
MTV Unplugged version.
Australian CD, French CD, French CD distributed in Europe
- About a Girl
- Something in the Way
Nirvana
Kurt Cobain: guitar, vocals
Krist Novoselic: bass guitar
Chad Channing: drums
Kurt Cobain (February 20, 1967 April 5, 1994).
