Song · Nirvana
“Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” by Nirvana
Released 1994
“Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” by Nirvana appears on 19 radio countdowns from 11 stations between 1994 and 2026. It was first released in 1994. Its best result is #30 on The Colorado Sound Top 850 Cover Songs. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #242 alternative song of 1994 and #4,063 alternative song of all time.
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Nirvana played "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" at their MTV Unplugged taping in 1993, and the performance came out the following year on MTV Unplugged in New York, a platinum seller. The song is old, very old: a traditional Appalachian folk tune, better known as "In the Pines", that goes back to at least the 1870s, and Nirvana built their take on Lead Belly's version of it.
Kurt Cobain sings lead and plays guitar alongside Pat Smear, with Krist Novoselic on bass, Dave Grohl on drums and backing vocals, and Lori Goldston's cello darkening the room. Scott Litt produced it with the band and mixed it. Cobain sings it like a man who's stopped caring who hears him crack, and that's exactly why it hits so hard.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
Classic Rock
Hard Rock & Metal
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 40 | John Peel (BBC Radio 1) | John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1994 | 50 |
All-time and decade countdowns
Also listed as: Where Did You Sleep Last Night.
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