“Heaven Beside You” by Alice In Chains

"Heaven Beside You" was the second single from Alice in Chains' third album, the self-titled record from 1995, and it shows the band's softer, stranger side. Jerry Cantrell wrote the music with bassist Mike Inez and wrote the words by himself, about his relationship with his girlfriend at the time, Courtney Clarke.

Cantrell also takes the lead vocal, and Layne Staley joins him in harmony on the chorus, the two voices twisting around each other in an eerie, close-knit blend. The song rolls in on a loose, bluesy, almost country lilt before the chorus swings into heavier territory, Inez's bass and Sean Kinney's drums keeping it grounded. Toby Wright produced it with the band, recorded it with Tom Nellen and mixed it, and he keeps things dry and intimate, the sound of a band sitting in a room together rather than blasting from a stage.

It lingered on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart for 26 weeks, topping out at number 3. An acoustic version from the band's MTV Unplugged show in 1996 came out on the live album and DVD, and the song turned up again on Music Bank, Greatest Hits and The Essential Alice in Chains.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.