Nirvana's "where did you sleep last night?"

Great stuff
By far the best song from the MTV unplugged.
If I can nail that B7 might just get the hang of singing along to this one(hope nobody is around when I try)

Thanks a lot for posting this.

Em Am G B7 without tuning down sounds fine to me. Better than Em Am G B does. Although tuned down the prior sounds more like the recording. Am I hearing this wrong ? :)

Thanks again.

oktay

Yes thanks alot for this post. This is truly a great song.

Its one of those songs which I sort of knew how to play but not quite. This post gave me the kick to go ahead and finally get it down.

*First post* :D

This is the first song that I learnt to play on guitar. Great lyrics, terrific performance by Kurt and the boys. You guys should check out the original by Ledbelly.

Hello, Poetlost, welcome the home for the musically insane.

I see you live in a nice part of the world - lucky person ;)

Hello, Poetlost, welcome the home for the musically insane.

I see you live in a nice part of the world - lucky person ;)

Thank you. I live in a nice part of the world eh? Trust me - thats not the case :)

you mean E FLAT(Eb) not E Minor, right?

Kurt Cobain tuned down 1/2 step to Eb for his voice, Ledbelly played the original in E on a 12 string, which is my much favored version; Note:

http://blues.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hlmusic.com%2F
>>Kurt Cobain was a devoted Lead Belly fan. Cobain pitched the song in E-flat, thereby leaving his voice enough room to sing at one octave higher near the end of the song. Click here to listen to Nirvana. The song is in 3/4 time, and usually a crowd pleaser.

This is a good song for learning some of the basics of Lead Belly's style. The key is natural E. On his guitar, Lead Belly played out of the "A" position with the A7th chord a prominent chord in the song. It also has fun little bass runs that can be played as hammer ons or individually noted, depending on the tempo and your desire. Lead Belly often used an A7th chord, sometimes seemingly instead of an A major.

Lead Belly's version: Here is a short clip of the song that Lead Belly recorded. This recording was the one used in the transcription, and appears in the sonbook. Click here to listen to RealAudio format - Lead Belly recording<<

By the way, usually I see the name written Ledbelly, derived from the proper name 'Huddy Ledbetter' probably doesn't make much difference.

It seems apparent to me that Kurt Cobain liked this song so well, in part because of an association he perceived with heroin addiction, 'I would shiver the whole night through'
relating in his perception to withdrawal from heroin.

I really don't know if the original song was intended to have such a relationship or not.

[on edit] I don't happen to have a copy of Cobain's version but if he used E minor it seems to me that the song would be even more depressing. I still like the original Ledbelly version, that one would be hard to beat since it is a great original work.

I have also wondered exactly what was meant by 'driving wheel' (leadbelly sings "driver wheel" and had assumed that this was a drive wheel in some kind of agricultural machinery but the most common definition and perhaps the one intended in the song, is the driving wheel of a steam locomotive. This might explain why "his body was never found" probably out along the rail tracks somewhere: Definition and photo of 'driving wheel' here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driving_wheel

I was looking at this again tonight. Thanks again for posting it. Plus I'd like to share that the LeadBelly version sounds a lot folkish and goes "Black girl, Black girl" instead of "My girl, My girl". :) (Did you know leadbelly has been in prison multiple times for multiple counts of murder? weird huh?)

oktay

Here is a pretty good biography on Huddy Ledbetter, aka 'Leadbelly' There is a song list further down the page. Be sure to click on the hyperlink in the SONG LIST that tells about the song, 'Where Did You Sleep Last Night' (aka 'In The Pines' or 'Black Girl')

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Huddie+%22Leadbelly%22+Ledbetter

Here is some partial information quoted from that page about the song:

Where Did You Sleep Last Night," also known as "In The Pines" and "Black Girl," is an American folk song which dates back to at least the 1870s, and is believed to be Southern Appalachian in origin. The identity of the song's author is unknown, but it has been recorded by a number of artists, including Leadbelly, Bill Monroe, Pete Seeger, Chet Atkins, Connie Francis, Nirvana, Dolly Parton, The Grateful Dead, and Mark Lanegan.

I think I may have suggested before in this topic that his version was the original, I was in error and that is not the case.

As far as 'multiple counts of murder' as far as I have seen there was only one homicide which was noted in various biographical sources, a man lost his life in a fight. Then, there was an 'attempted homicide' perhaps in another fight. I did see some loose talk (writing) on a mail list suggesting (by whoever wrote it) that Leadbelly had been tried multiple times for murder and convicted 4 times but it seemed like hearsay and exaggeration to me. I think the person wasn't mindful of facts and was just relaying what he 'had heard'.

The biography does say that he was primarily a folk singer.

ehm just a bit of correction

the song is definitely in 3/4 signature...so a good pattern could be

D du u

or

D du du

for each measure, better if accenting the first downstrum

To give the feel of the 3/4 signature count One, two three while playing. I actually played it as a 3/4 song playing it along the cd, but i was not aware of it!!!

Matteo

hey I've also tried a bit of fingerpicking lately and with this tune I set up a pattern that goes like this:

(beat 1)
bass note

beat 2 and 3
1,2,3 string, played with ring, middle, index

the resulting rhythm should be 1 &3& for each 3/4 measure

you could also substutitute beat 1 bass note with a donwstrum on all the string

Let me know your suggestions

Matteo