Nirvana did it...Leadbelly did it better. Where did you sleep last night.

Nirvana did it...Leadbelly did it better. Where did you sleep last night.

Also known as "In The Pines," this blues number is about a man who finds out his wife has been cheating on him. He goes out into the cold night and is killed, either in an accident or by murder.

The song dates back to the 1800s but was first recorded in 1926 by a banjo player named Dock Walsh. Bill Monroe recorded it in 1941, and Lead Belly in 1944.

Nirvana covered this on their 1993 Unplugged In New York album. Kurt Cobain introduced it by saying, "This song is by my favorite performer." Earlier that year, Cobain had been offered one of Leadbelly's guitars for $50,000, although Cobain exaggerated the cost when introducing the song. Neil Young was deeply affected by Cobain's singing at this performance. He said the tortured final vocals sounded "unearthly, like a werewolf, unbelievable."

MTV wanted Nirvana to do an encore after "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" was over, but Cobain refused, saying that he sucked and that the whole band sounded terrible. He'd thought the performance was a bomb because the audience was so quiet, not realizing that it was so quiet because they were blown away.

"Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" was also one of the few songs Cobain played in public with his wife, Courtney Love. They performed it on September 8, 1993 at Club Lingerie in Los Angeles. 

The first rock era cover to make an impact was by The Four Pennies under the title "Black Girl." It made the UK charts in October 1964 and rose to #20, but got nowhere in the USA.

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