Understanding Heart-Shaped Box
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- When it came time to write the follow-up album to Nevermind, Nirvana decided they were done playing games. In Utero is a hard-hitting, vulnerable, angry, noisy, personal album, one that couldn't care less about marketability, and one of its most intimate songs is also one of its most well-known: Heart-Shaped Box. It tells a pretty bleak story, but it's an incredibly powerful song, using every single tool in its compositional toolbox to make that story stick.
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Also, thanks to Jareth Arnold for proofreading the script to make sure this all makes sense hopefully!
The first thing you hear when you enter hell is the midi version of a 90s rock song
*E1M1 intensifies*
@Wind 2000 nope, but it roots itself into rock as a song in a subgenre of rock. Can't have metal without rock, can't rip and tear without metal.
*MIDI with stock samples. Depending what that MIDI is being routed to can change everything. 😬
@@Len_M.
We all know exactly what he meant. Don't be an asshole.
I think many people who make these songs are not giving this much thought. Many can't even read music. They just know what sounds good. That's all you need to know to play rock music.
"A prison that looks like love."
That hits pretty close to home.
it's not a relationship with a wife or a girlfriend he is speaking about, it about his mother, his desire to free himself from her, his hate for her. The clue is in "Throw down your umbilical cord so I can climb right back". It's a clear-cut statement of "I want to be unborn". It can't possibly be interpreted as any boyfriend-girlfriend relationship. "I wish I could eat your cancer when you turn black" is an expression of visceral hate for her. Kurt was a happy child in a happy family until his parents divorced. He was drawn into her "magnet tar pit trap" which is the promise of love and happiness, which all crashed with the divorce. He was never the same again and never forgave his mother for it. Thus all the complaints. "Forever in debt for your priceless advice" is just mocking her parenting.
@@Andrey.Balandin oh shit,that makes a lot more sense now
@@Taushathetech what do you expect from courtney love
@@Andrey.Balandin Courtney Love is of the opinion that the song is about her.
The Bubonic J. Sweet home Stockholm syndrome
Kurt: Hey Dave, does this sound cool?(plays riff)
Dave: Yeah, we should use that.
If you were a real Nirvana fan like me, you would have memorized the hour-long discussion they had about this song from the deleted scenes from Montage of Heck. Dave and Krist both thought Kurt was crazy for dropping the I chord for the post-chorus, but Kurt held an incredible dissertation in which he managed to fuse Coltrane's work on the circle of fifths with chord progressions common to folk music to prove that the I chord was an unnecessary construct made by elitist music schools to stifle creativity. The band was blown away by this act of defiance against the musical establishment, and they immediately jumped into the studio and recorded the song in one take.
@@FreaknFreddy lmao imagine gatekeeping cuz someone didn't memorize an hour long discussion
@@childofgod759 imagine replying to a joke comment as if it were real
@@FreaknFreddy oh
Im an idiot :")
FreaknFreddy it’s a joke bro...
I can imagine Kurt watching this and thinking to himself, "really it's that deep??"
lmao. really, it’s this real.
He would be saying and laughing "what is all this bullshit?"
@@snappy-T exactly
Though he probably wouldn't have admitted it, I think he would have gotten a kick out of his music being analyzed like this. :)
Kurts lyrics were never that deep *MOST* of the time
Everyone commenting about how he's overanalyzing kinda miss the point. It's acknowledged in the video that Kurt didn't purposefully use theory to write, but instead used a learned vernacular of what pop music sounded like in order to subvert our expectations with the misuse of common musical tropes (such as the doo-wop progression). By taking something most people have heard, slowing it down and perverting it, he crafted something to break expectations of that musical vernacular to express himself.
This 👆🏾
Yessss I very much agree
Thank you. Simply derailing someones work by ignorance doesn't help. He is analyzing it, whether or not Cobain intended this or that doesnt matter. Intuitive things don't present themselves, even if it circles back to the original listener.
So basically, he reverse engineered pop music in order to make a bizarro version of it, or something to that effect
@@joshc5613 that's a great way to describe it, yes. Reverse engineering music is a great way to describe most self-taught musicians.
“It was something completely different”. Draws Monty Python foot. Magnificent. Cheapau.
purplezebrahoover
I seem to have missed it. When is it?
@@rasmusthunberg8967 like 0:10
Rip Terry Jones
@@Actiomedey F
I really want to see one on Where is My Mind By The Pixies
Favourite band
Hell yeah
Ohh that's sick
yesss
That has to happen
“It’s trying to lead us out, but it’s pointing the wrong way.”
I know you’re talking about a small piece of the song here, but can’t help but feel like that description applies to the whole song.
well yes actually; "heart shaped box" is also a euphemism for Vaginas
The way you wrote that made me think of his death and the gun
@@mongmanmarkyt2897 that’s what Courtney said. But it most likely isnt
@@bonjourphoenix7487 gotta agree with ya, unless Novoselik, Cobain, or Grohl said it, I ain't gonna believe it
The ending of this video blindsided me emotionally. Funny how you don't really acknowledge how worthless you've been feeling until you hear a complete stranger say "the world is a better place with you in it."
Thank you so much.
I feel that Heart Shaped Box is a superior song to Smells Like Teen Spirit
Is this copypasta? The success of teen spirit and the way every greedy fuck on the planet wanted them to play it for them kinda ruined it
@@broexist7134 yes, overplayed, every artist always has a song that they hate (imo), and ofcourse that is their overplayed songs
MultiTexMex Kurt himself said that he’s written songs that are far superior in comparison. I think he mentioned Drain You or On A Plain being one but I forget
xYottaByte Gaming just because something is popular doesn’t mean that it’s bad
@@mlalbaitero it's not bad, yes it is badass, but kinda sucked for me now that I take long break from thay song then kick ass again listening again
This is absolutely one of my favourite Nirvana songs. It sounds phenomenal and it's such a blast to play on drums. Thanks for covering it!
Edit: I really appreciated your message at the end of the video. As someone who works with people in crisis, it is really huge to break the stigma, raise awareness and realise that talking to someone is good for you. Your problem is not trivial. You have value and deserve to be heard. Thank you 12Tone.
Same
+
I was actually introduced to Nirvana by my drum teacher who taught me this song!
@@stuartthehuman5280 That's awesome! I thank my drum teacher for introducing me to a huge amount of great music. Great influence.
I think Kurt never really even considered these thoughts when making his music. It just came to him naturally or at least unknowingly.
That’s almost certainly a fact, but that doesn’t mean you can’t analyze it
As a punk guitarist, yeah absolutely I have no clue what I'm playing, but it sounds good
We all write what we know. If anything it was subconscious at best. And despite him saying he gives no deeper thought to lyrics it's still coming from the heart
@@abridge2 I had that same thought, but couldn't put it into words. Well said
Honestly that what made him so great. He was an amazing melody writer. He instinctually knew what sounded good and how little tweaks could take even common cord progressions and make them much more interesting.
"Forever in debt to your priceless advice" is clearly resentment/tongue-in-cheek, surely ... the tone/phrasing of that line in particular are dripping with sarcasm ... It's a looping resentment that one can't 'let go of' ...
considering the timing of this song i take it as someone that's depressed and the other person "stop being depressed," such 'priceless' advice
I have always thought was written about Courtney, heroin (the heart shaped box) and about how he wanted so badly to leave (she eyes me like a pisces when I am weak), but then she got pregnant (cut myself on angel's hair and baby's breath) and (throw down your umbilical noose, so I can climb right back) are lyrical examples that illustrate this possibility. Cobain, terrified of creating a broken family like his own while growing up, he stayed with Courtney. We know how it all ended. 🤷♂️
not only that but Heart Shaped Box is also a Euphemism for Vaginas; so it's bit of a double entendre with the literal box she gave him for the heroin, and her sexual gratification.
🙌this👏🤝
He wanted nothing but best for family felt like he failed... He didnt, they are two amazing women and wud be So Very Proud of Francis Bean...shes a beautiful blend of them Both🙌💥🥰
@@shellissanctuary7522 I used to be a huge fan of Courtney until I learned she's super racist :(
How about….
“Marriage counseling “
What an insane idea!
I have always thought about this song as being about an abusive relationship, primarily using that idea that the box is a trap that "looks like love." It's nice to hear that I'm not the only person to think that. I always thought it was just projection from my history with abusive relationships.
It honestly makes more sense than any other explanation I've read.
Courtney Love tells us that this song is about her and strangely that it is her favourite Nirvana song. Apparently the " Heart Shaped Box " is a reference to a particular part of her anatomy, I won't spell it out as I'm sure you can draw your own conclusions.
hikerpunk basically your saying guys will stay in abusive relationships because of sex...
Logan Strong - His _wife_ Courtney Love, claims it's about her vajayjay. However, the truth is much darker & sadder. You're 100% correct. You hit the nail on the head with, "looks like love". She was known to be _extremely_ abusive towards him. When he was finally strong enough to divorce her. She had him killed, because he was worth more dead to her than alive. Music rights, life insurance & such. If you haven't watch the documentary/movie yet, I strongly recommend you do. After you finish bingeing _this_ channel of course.
It's called 'Soaked in Bleach' (Bleach was their 1st studio album. You also soak things in bleach to destroy evidence of a murder. Bang on title, eh?!) Have a great day y'all!! 🤗🥂
Here's the full movie in English, for free: th-cam.com/video/NHnRxrOZLQ0/w-d-xo.html
Digitalhunny it’s also a line in Come As You Are, which is where they took the title from
The song is called “heart-shaped box” NOT “ A box with a heart sticker on it.”
I didn't even notice that the drawing on the thumbnail was wrong until you pointed it out lol
It was the first thing I noticed lol. Just didn’t make sense.
Maybe the southpaw musical genius has never seen, or know what a heart-shaped box is.....
Came to the comments to point this out
I've been trapped inside your "box with a heart sticker on it" for weeks. I don't know. It's kinda growing on me.
I have a feeling Kurt would just say, it sounds cool, that's why I wrote it the way I did. LOL
That's the beauty of music theory, you know it, even if you don't.
Exactly. It's why I love theory. Someone can play something and say "that sounds awesome" and I can explain why and how to get a similar sound
@@briangrant210 music theory knowledge doesn't replace songwriting, but it sure as hell helps a ton to somewhat know what you're doing instead of fishing in the dark for the next chord to fit.
I don't think Kurt gave a shit about being "cool."
"That vocabulary told him these were the chords to use, and it has an effect on you because you know that vocabulary too."
This touches on a thing I wish you spoke more of: idiomatic use of chords. Sometimes a progression is there because it evokes a genre or a musical convention, not because of harmony per se. E.g. a I-VIm is the "love song" change which sets up The Police's "Every Breath You Take" in a sinister way, and Roger Waters' "Watching TV" in a sarcastic way, and were chosen as a musical reference to be subverted more than a harmonic mode. Would love to hear you discuss the role of music idioms more in analyzing songwriters' choices.
Armakk I love that Roger waters song actually I love the whole album
The intro to heart shaped box is still unbelievable.. what a tone and feeling. Just immediately puts you in a very specific emotional state
I know how difficult this has been for you recently and I wanted to thank you so much for making this video anyway. I love the song, I love the analysis, and I really love that you put that message in the end.
you're doing great. thank you.
My friend who was a “huge fan” of Nirvana hated In Utero and I always thought he was crazy. Such a great album.
Just wanted to thank you for that message at the end, mainly because that sort of thing could really make a difference to someone who needs to hear it, but also because even as someone who is fortunate enough to be in a pretty good place at the moment, it's still nice to be told that you matter.
Same
Idk what the hell he's saying I just like nirvana so i subscribed
Try out the Building Blocks series he did - I found it super useful and you'll see a lot of the concepts explained in that repeated through the Understanding series :)
12 tone is like the Bob Ross of music theory. I don't really know what is going on, but I am oddly drawn to it.
Lol, yeah, he has me along for the journey, I just don’t know where we are going or how we got there.
Spencer Young SAME LMFAOOO
I’m a simple man. I see nirvana. I click.
I just want to restate what 12tone said at the end.
The world is a better place with you in it. You are worthy of love. Take care of yourself. That includes reaching out to others. You've got this.
Yeah its easy to say.
Agreed. You believe the thoughts when you have them, right?
I've lived this shit. I've survived it.
There is nothing so different about me that meant I lived and others didn't. The good news and the bad news is that it's not magic.
@@williamstamper442 ...and that's why they said it, it was easy for @themennissvids to say. Sometimes it's not easy to see or say, but it needs to be heard. 🙂
This has been my favorite Nirvana song lyrically and melodically. I love how it floats between minor and major and then in the chorus it goes fully to major and fully to minor "in a beat". And then there is the beat! And the video. I love everything about it
thumb nail: Nirvanas darkest hour
polly: *Am i a Joke to you?*
Beans: *Am I a joke to you*
People are sleeping on Floyd the Barber in this sense.
Thanks for the ending man, hopefully it'll help some people
I always love their bass lines, they sound like "do you expect something predictable? I don't give a *fridge*"
Best nirvana bassline is lounge act
Your analysis is absolutely amazing!
You are one of a kind, keep up your amazing work!!!
Im only 01:21 into the video and i can say im subscribing right now. This is something totally different in a great way. Stoked to finish this video, great job so far
"a free, raw Nirvana" how zen
I think you went in to more depth analyzing it then he did writing it.
That’s what I thought when he busted out the doo-wop chord progression or the other one.
I’m sure most rock writers just go through chords and say “hey that sounded cool”
Bishop M not going to lie it’s what I do mostly... honestly I only subscribe to this channel to make it seem like I understand theory rather then just feeling out lol...
nucleartestrabbit in high school I took AP music theory and excelled pretty well in it. Only to never take another theory class again. What I remember is that there’s a bunch of rules to follow and these videos are just highlights of how every band breaks those rules.
So you’re not alone lol
Bishop M I have the problem of being self taught so I know a lot but learned it all in the wrong order while also having huge holes in my understanding. Like beginner lessons bore me while advanced shit blows my mind. But honestly I don’t find a strong basis in theory to be necessary... don’t get me wrong it’s incredibly helpful but at the same time without having the ear or the techniques all the theory in the world doesn’t matter. I see it more as a means to an end rather then holy scripture.
Sure, Kurt might not know the theory or terminologies involved. Did he know it sounded good though? Heck yeah!
I started crying at the end, when you said that stuff about me (and all the other people watcing) mattering. Thank you, I needed that now.
Thank you! I love the way you do these!
There’s something about the opening riff of this song that scares me. I can’t explain it. Just an absolute masterpiece.
For the record, while a lot of musicians (myself included) don't actually possess the ability to explain why they chose the melodies they did - there _is_ a science to music. People like Cobain may not have known that he was singing a 5th or whatever but something learned in him knew that these notes would sound good with these chords. So, all videos like this do is explain why the notes sound the way they do and why they work. If they didn't, we would know and more importantly, he would know. Everyone knows what off key singing sounds like. You just...know something isn't right.
It's also worth noting it's precisely the lack of any musical theory or knowledge that gives Nirvana's music the character it does because Cobain doesn't know _why_ the notes work, he just knows they do. He doesn't know whether they are the "correct" notes and melodies that should accompany what he's playing but clearly, they work which is why we have the beautiful melodies and arrangements Nirvana's music brings us.
As a bassist, I remember at the time that Novoselics' weird bends in this song kind of made me feel seasick, the whole song is a kind of harnessed nuclear reaction that wants to fly apart into chaos, but they understood how to restrain it and make it work.
Kurt almost always started his songs by singing the major or minor third of whatever chord he was implying by playing a power chord. Hence no need, so to speak, to play a full A flat major or A flat minor -- he's already "playing" it by singing the third. So the whole "Kurt almost always played only power chords" complaint really misses the point. I wish guitarists would take singing more seriously.
I was screaming the same point to the screen throughout the video. The tune is in minor so the chords are in minor, no mystery about it.
Yes, the same complainers rarely note that any one instrument or section of an orchestra ALSO doesn;t play the full chord. But that's the point, there is an arrangement which is orchestrated; you don't have the deeper brass playing 3rds and making it muddy when the more emotive violins and cellos have got it.
This is using a rock band in the same way.
"superposition theory" of music
What gets me is the analysis of music is almost always so disconnected from reality. I mean when they wrote the song they went with what the felt and heard. Not all this psycho analysis. I just gringe. It is like trying to explain what an artist was thinking when painting a masterpiece. YOU WILL NEVER FUCKING KNOW.
@@Andrey.Balandin Except he plays them all as major chords. So there's that. The vocal melody is pretty straight minor though.
Incredible. You got all of the emotions, all the reactions, pretty much dead on. You just ascribed it to the wrong relationship.
The song is about his relationship with the music industry. Kobain felt it was a toxic relationship.
He wasn't the one making the complaints, that line was from the pov of the industry, offering a new complaint every time he turned around.
He felt trapped in this box. He was the face of grunge music, and he hated it. He never wanted to be a pop icon. He just wanted to express himself.
You say at the beginning that this was Nirvana raw and uncaring about the industry... Thats because the entire album is a reaction to how people reacted to Nevermind.
Kurt was an extremely interesting individual. I bet he would hate the idea that we're still talking about him 30 years later.
Oh, also, you do this thing that you should be praised for:
You never take it for granted that we just know what you're talking about.
Seems like just about every video you explain what functional harmony means. And, where that would get really annoying in most other things, you do it in a quick and easy way that makes it clear you just want to make sure everyone is on the same page.
I really appreciate that. Thank you.
Well maybe that's what you hear, but yeah... Kurt has already said in diaries interviews and biographies that it was written about Courtney and the heart shaped box of orchids, babies breath, and black tar heroin she gave him as a gift to get his attention. And also her vagina. Yes the record labels and their heart shaped boxes and umbilical nooses lol Jesus Christ idiots believe anything
This song probably either isn’t about anything or is about random bs, Kurt cobain scribbled down lyrics minutes before they recorded and as long as it wasn’t too stupid he used it. Dave grohl said it himself. Any meaning you are attaching to it just isn’t there.
@@calebmorris5667 That's pretty arrogant. To think Cobain didn't write songs to express what he felt, or what he went through. It's almost like saying he was just a robot cobbling together songs at random which have no meaning and completely dissociated from his experiences.
Cortney gave him a literal heart shaped box
Wish the vocals were focused on more in this video. The vocal melody and notes is insanely sophisticated. His drop in pitch when he says “priceless” advice is so key to the mood of the song. Nonetheless, great video as always 12tone!
i love how Kurt, most likely didn't even know what he was doing in the sense of music theory
Love this channel. Thank you.
Wow!
I didn't like "In Utero" when it came out (I was 16 at the time, and Nirvana was a huge part of my self-identity, and this album felt so different). You've given me a totally new perspective on "Heart-shaped Box" and possibly the whole album. THANK YOU.
I also felt like this video was so "in the pocket" for what this channel is... it's going to be my new go to example when introducing people to the channel.
The bender drawing yuss 😊🙏🏼 all these drawings are amazing!
One of your best, 12 tone. I'm gaining a newfound respect for Nirvana thanks to you (I was more of a Pumpkins guy as a kid, lol).
I love how in these videos you take these confusing archaic music theory things and even when you’re not trying to you make them perfectly mirror and explain the song and its amazing. Please keep doing it
I like that you ended with a lifeline to anyone passing through here contemplating suicide, although I think in the darkest times, sometimes it's the dark songs that help one get out (not that I've ever been anywhere close to that last little glimmer of hope, so I suppose this might not apply to someone who has faced real monsters - but when I'm miserable, it's cheerful songs that sink me; I tend to tell the sad-singers to cheer up, and then end up doing so, myself).
(A mate of mine committed suicide this year, but I think it helped his wife begin to deal with it, that before he did, he first tried things like checking himself in for medical treatment - so she at least knew he wanted to try to want to live, for _her_ sake at least. And it helped for a while. Had other circumstances worked out differently, it could have saved his life. It makes it much easier on the survivors to know you tried to live for them after you'd ceased to want your life for your own self. It tells them you love them in a concrete way.
And to misquote that old Uriah Heep song, "So I'm gonna keep on tryin/ Till I feel like dyin/ And I lay down, pass away/But that won't happen till tomorrow/ And by then I can borrow another day". The world is full of people who borrowed that other day, and that was long enough for their physiologies to readjust enough for them to continue living a life that became "meaningful" again, and lasted. -- it is meaningful; we just sometimes lose some or all sight of that.)
like 90% of this comment is in parenthesis - idk why I find that funny, the subject matter is all but that... (however, I agree with your point completely).
@@carlrdbro1230 For some reason I tend to go barking down porcupine holes when in parenthetic mode. I agree that that makes for odd comments. Glad you agree with the point, though. (And with all those asides I suppose it gets easy to forget what it was ...
... I started off down the tunnel again, but seem to have stopped myself.)
(woof. It doesn't echo as much up here near the surface as it does down there in the dark. woof woof ... )
"sometimes it's the dark songs that help one get out"
True, least for me. When I was first hit with depression, like severe daily thoughts of THAT and lots of very negative coping habits, I would very often listen to Tell Me and Memento Mori both by Red Vox. They're both really melancholic songs dealing with death and existential crises that just spoke to me and sorta kinda acted like a sponge for my negative emotions, at least for the time I was listening to them. Though I guess I wouldn't say they "got me out" of depression, no that goes to meds and life direction changes while on those meds LOL, but music certainly gives a brief respite from the hellhole your mind creates.
On the downside when I listen to them now it can make me feel like ass since my head associates them with how I was feeling then.
@@Kottery Important point that. Certainly when it gets to clinical levels, it's important to at least cerebrally realize that the problem is physiological. "Brain tissue diabetes" might be a a good analogy.
And what matters about that understanding is that just like the only way to rebalance your insulin system enough to carry on living, is to go on insulin, if you go diabetic, so, the only way to rebalance your cerebellum etc is with medications proven to help with this.
Probably even before whatever is the tipping point, it's important to get on the right meds. (And simply for very similar reasons to why it's necessary to go on insulin if you reach that kind of tipping point).
I talk in parenthesis on here. Its because one is trying to tell 2 stories at once and the teller has linked them somehow
I love this channel, great video!
The scariest part is that this song relates so deeply to me and I'm in a pretty happy relationship, with a little bit of stress from parents and school
Love the way you break down songs. Very cool. Keep up the great work.
Can you do something from Rush to honor the recently passed Neil Peart?
Fantastic idea. How about "Understanding Freewill" or "Understanding YYZ"?
Definitely!! That would be awesome, yyz would be sweet
Yes! "Peaceable Kingdom" pls!
Ghost rider would be particularly fitting as it's a song about peart himself
Understanding Spirit of Radio would be really good
thanks 12tone for the pep talk at the end
It would be so cool to have one of those pages with your drawings on it framed somewhere, really love the fun doodles explaining the theory
Man, of all the bands you write these videos about... you really seem to love and fully-understand Nirvana... truly moreso than most bands you do videos about.
Also, the way you're able to symbolize concepts with such simple yet elegant icons is brilliant... Almost like you appreciate the beauty of simplicity... which is what Nirvana's musical arrangements are all about!
It's funny a dude who knows so much about music theory and whatnot likes nirvana. I mostly see rock elitists hate on nirvana for their simplicity, it's nice to see a dude who can appreciate the music first and foremost.
I love these, it also sometimes helps with my music theory and understanding of the song.
So glad I found you!!! Everything about this video is absolutely amazing. This is 1 of my favorite songs ever & to have it broken down in such a way not only makes me feel like I did the 1st time that I heard the song, but will completly enhance my listen every time from here on out.
When the song is heart shaped box but everyone imagines a square shaped box with a heart on it
When in all reality it's apparently about a vagina.
I really appreciate the fact you brought up suicide hotlines in this song. Thank you. I was already subscribed and hadn't realised but I was about to because of it
The amazing thing about music theory is that some musicians don't make all this analysis, they just write melodies by ear alone thinking it sounds cool, then a music theorist can make a deep analysis of a song and understand WHY it sounds good or decode the thought process behind it. Human brains aren't random, we all learn patterns and share new ones all the time.
I love how you broke down the song like that, you made me love Heart Shaped Box even more. I always felt the despair in the sound from day one
more nirvana is always good!
You videos are some of the few I don't watch at 2x speed. Love them.
I often think, if he were still with us, he would have an ever growing collection of epic music that he would have written. Him and Buddy Holly, both churned out a lot of great music in a short amount of time, and were taken too soon.
truly a huge loss for the music world
Same with Rhodes in my opinion.
i wasn't expecting to cry at the end of a music theory video but here we are
Great work as always, thank you so much!
Loved the analysis and really really loved the ending. Thanks for sharing 💙✨
I did not know left handed people could be artists. Typing is a lifesaver for me since all I ever did was smudge the word I just wrote down.
I think I have read somewhere that there actually a lot of artists are left-handed, far more than one would expect going by the statistical average.
@@silkwesir1444 I think so. I took lots of art classes in HS and there was a higher percentage of lefties there than anywhere else. Also the thing about drawing for lefties is they don't have to worry any more about smudging the work with their hands than righties cause you don't have to go left to right, where you do have to in writing.
I’m left handed but never saw the problem with smudging with writing even when using a fountain pen at school (MANY years ago) I simply keep the forearm at 90 degrees to the line of writing, adjusting the angle of the wrist so the tip of the pen being at the top of the stack so to speak and voila ! no smudging and a legible style of handwriting. To any lefties, I say, try it !
This is one of your best yet! Really added depth to what's already my favorite Nirvana song 🎶
Yo, great video! I'm a huge Nirvana fan but I'd never considered the harmonic ideas present in their songs. It's neat to see something so familiar laid out in from of me framed in a brand new way, so thanks for that. If you ever decide to cover Nirvana again, can you maybe look into "Lithium"? The chord progression is super unique and I think you'd have fun analyzing it.
These are some of the most satisfying videos to watch on youtube. Listening to someone analyzing great songs while watching them fill up papers with seemingly random sketches is just so satisfying for some reason. Also, if you can do it, I think that A Passage to Bangkok by Rush would make a good “Understanding” video.
Cobain after watching this video-
“yes”
"i mean i guess so, don't know if i thought about it that far but im pretty glad if i did so subconsciously"
what hed probably say
@@remisan7214 that is scarily accurate
i genuinely shed a tear from your last words, because no one is with me in my life's turmoil and struggle. i thank you from the bottom of my heart for reminding me that the world is a better place with me.
I always forget that Kurt is dead😔 I just figure him to be a being outside of ***time and space***
So much of him exists forever on the internet, so he can never be truly gone. But I seriously understand this from a hero/icon perspective :/
Well done, sir ! Thanks for posting ~~~~~
I've enjoyed several of your productions before, but here I feel like you've surpassed my expectations.
You wonder why he writes from right to left until you see he’s left handed
One of my best musical analysis video. The first one i've seen of ya and it's goddamn good boii.
"...died by suicide."
You could've drawn Courtney Love at that point. You know, just to stir the pot.
Ok, that would have started the third world war
thirtytwobars she did do it.
She’s a fake. She abused him. She is evil!
@Antônio M?
I'm crying now heh. I needed to hear that this week, so thanks. Love your channel
I love the fact that both he and Kurt Cobain are/were left handed. (I'm a lefty as well)
I always thought that he was left-handed too, but the fact is he was right-handed but played a left handed guitar.
Yall have it so much harder than us right handed folk. I wish that one day we can live in a more left handed friendly world.
The best Music Theory class I never wanted.
0:16 I understood that reference
Monty Python?
@@joyhally7754 Yes
The video was great but the ending was phenomenal !! Thanks for thinking of other people.
Im a simple man.. i see nirvana on title.. i click
I resisted watching this one because of my love of this song.
Now that I have, this video cements my love and respect for what you do here. I'll never miss another video. Thanks.
"..Up from Bb to Cb."
Oh my... You know you're talking music theory when you're talking about Cb and/or Fb. The rest of us just call them B and E. :) I know enough about music theory to understand the purpose I just have never heard someone use it so conversationally.
It just depends on what key you're in
@@video_gabes Um. yeah.
I don't really know why they analyzed it in Cb, since it's a rock song and B is a fairly common key for guitarists
@@fernandolamadrid9889 It's not in the key of Cb, it's just that one note. The bassist is playing the b3 of Ab which in this case would be Cb
@@shmunkyman33 He's representing the tonic chord as Abm, whose relative major is Cb.
I have spend twenty years listening to and discovering the gnarly underground indie rock, records like Yank Crime, Goat, Spiderland, Strangers from the universe, Hissing Prigs in Static Couture, EVOL, and In Utero still stands up in terms of rawness. What an achievement especially for a band of that size.
When musicians just play what sounds good and someone tries to explain it.
That's honestly the point. The explaining is *why* it sounds good, not saying that the person explicitly used those rules to compose the piece being discussed. No one is saying that Kurt knew all this complex music theory (he pretty explicitly didn't) but it doesn't change anything. You don't have to be able to explain gravitational forces or be thinking about gravity to fall on your ass when you trip. The explanation, in this case, is for understanding *why* people made those instinctual decisions based on what they were trying to write as far as mood and content, etc.
Well this explanation is as useless as a rocket scientist going into great detail explaining why you fall on your ass when you trIp.
+Orl Fane I disagree with you here. Being able to be explained the inner language and complex web of concepts that are behind art is awesome imo.
I'm not a native speaker of English, but I'm sure "magnet tar pit trap" is the best lyrical description of a vulva in a toxic relationship we all will ever have. I knew instantly who was meant… and it was bitter.
I think if Cobain knew any of what you just said he wouldn’t have been able to write this song.
Well the thing is the original songs name was heart shaped coffins its bout children with cancer
@@HNKYTHECLOWN That's actually easily proven wrong. From kurts own diaries, interviews, and even biographies the song is titled amd written about Courtney and the heart shaped box she gave him containing orchids, babies breath, and black tar heroin... Nothing about the song even comes close to what you're talking about and makes you sound like your brain died of cancer during your early childhood
@@anonymousguy1188 I think the other person is talking after viewing the film clip. They fail to realize kurt could of never done a film clip about the songs meaning they would never play it lol on air.
erokraider why? what are you talking about 💀
@@zeIilah he is saying people who construct music in this way are lacking an ingredient to make the music in the first place which is breaking certain rules because had he of known he may not of gone that route. I think this is what his getting at.
Great video. It was really interesting to realize the new complaint wasn’t so “new” after all, just hidden. Awesome to see someone is pointing out there is a lot more to this song than meets the eye.
For the basic chord progression, maybe Cobain was secretly listening to the end section (Wurm) of Yes' Starship Trooper! ...but I doubt it...
I always thought that myself. True or not, it always gives me the warm fuzzies to think the undisputed King of Grunge was a closeted proghead
@@gonzoengineering4894 LOL! I think I'll give a careful listen to Nirvana's entire catalog and see if I can detect any Gentle Giant influence.
Thank you. That part at the end is what I needed to hear tonight
...yeah I can consider this a super awesome birthday gift.
Happy birthday, dude!
MisterManDuck happy birthday!!
Thank you, my dudes.
As Pumat Sol once said: "It's, quite literally, the least I could do." XD
I just found this video. I like your musical theory view on the tune. But as someone who has struggled with depression for the past 22 years I loved the end of the video. Thank you for being positive to our bleakness and promoting strength and health.
I can't get passed the fact that he's writing with his left hand
Same! 😅😅😋😋
Some people are deviants and degenerates like that. My sister is one, and boy she can draw. Must be some sort of deal with the devil, like the church used to say about lefties.
By the way, I was being sarcastic. Not about my sister being a lefty. But why do people find it so very surprising all the time?
Playing this song helped me cope with a bad relationship. If only Kurt's music could heal himself like it did me
Oh god that guitar tone. Mmmmmm
"The world is a better place with you in it. "
Thanks. I needed to hear that.
reading and hearing about anything about cobains personal life and emotions is so sad. not sure whether I do or don't want to listen to his lyrics sometimes
Understanding heart shaped box would require you to imagine a box shaped like a heart. Not a shoe box with sharpie heart on it.