Released October 8, 1996 Genre Grunge Label DGC | Format Promo CD single Length 4:35 | |
Recorded December 28, 1991 in Del Mar, CA | ||
"Aneurysm" is a song by the American grunge band Nirvana. Two studio versions have been released, and a live version from the album From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah was released as a promotional single in 1996.
Contents
Song meaning
According to the 2001 Kurt Cobain biography Heavier Than Heaven by Charles R. Cross, Cobain wrote the lyrics to "Aneurysm" about his ex-girlfriend, musician Tobi Vail. Cobain's lyrics for the song make fun of pop conventions and drug-use rituals ("shoot the shit"), ("beat me out of me"). Cobain's lyrics for the song allude to the first time he spent time with Tobi, when he got so nervous he had to throw up: "Love you so much, makes me sick!" He also wrote it as a dark love song to try to get her back and to describe how the break-up devastated him: "Come on over...do the twist, Overdo it...and have a fit!"
Recording and release history
The first studio version of "Aneurysm" was recorded on January 1, 1991 by producer Craig Montgomery and appeared as a B-side to Nirvana's 1991 single "Smells Like Teen Spirit". This version has been released on several subsequent Nirvana releases. The second studio version of "Aneurysm" was recorded at Maida Vale Studios on November 9, 1991 for Mark Goodier's BBC session, and was first aired on November 18, 1991. This version was released on the Incesticide compilation album in December 1992. In a review for AllMusic, music critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine said of the song "Aneurysm" on Incesticide, that it was "perhaps the greatest single song the group ever recorded". A live performance of "Aneurysm" by Nirvana at Del Mar Fairgrounds, California, in 1991 was later released on the live album From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah in 1996, from which it was a promotional single. The single reached number 11 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and number 13 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.
Music video
The footage from the Live! Tonight! Sold Out!! video was used as a promotional video on MTV for the From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah album in 1996.
Chart positions
(From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah version)
Covers
Nashville songwriter/producer, Shane Tutmarc released an all electronic version of the song as a single, and music video, in 2013.