Composition and Lyrics
About A Girl was recorded in the key of E minor with the open chords of e minor and G being used for all verses. The power chords of C#5-G#5-F#5 are used twice for the start of the chorus followed by E5-E5-A5-C5 to finish the chorus. After the second chorus the main verse chords are played 4 times until an 8-measure repeated guitar solo is played followed by the chorus progression then the main riff is played 4 times to lead into the third verse and final chorus which the lyric "I can't see you every night" is repeated once and held till a final "for free" is sung and the lyrics "I do" are sung 4 times to end the song.
According to Chad Channing, Nirvana's drummer around the time of Bleach, Cobain didn't have a title for the song when he first brought it into the studio. When asked what it was about, Cobain replied, "It's about a girl."
The girl in question was Tracy Marander, Cobain's then-girlfriend, with whom he lived at the time. Apparently, Marander had asked Cobain why he had never written a song for her, and Cobain responded with "About a Girl". The song addresses the couple's fractured relationship, caused by Cobain's refusal to get a job, or to share cleaning duties at their apartment (which housed many of his pets). During arguments on the subject, Cobain would occasionally threaten to move into his car, at which point Marander would usually relent.
Cobain never told Marander that he had written "About a Girl" for her. In the 1998 Nick Broomfield documentary Kurt and Courtney, Marander revealed that she only found out after reading Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana.
Read more about this topic: About A Girl (Nirvana Song)
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