Heart-Shaped Box

Heart-Shaped Box was originally written by Nirvana, from their In Utero album. It’s one of my all-time favorite songs.

Kurt Cobain was enigmatic. Behind every musical great is a strong original identity — sometimes deliberately conceived, other times completely innate. Cobain’s was clearly the latter: genius, simple guitar riffs married to a Beatles-like sense of vocal melody. Bleak lyrics. Defiant distortion. Every song felt like a hit.

I’ve been spending time with composer Ramin Djawadi’s piano arrangements from HBO’s Westworld lately. I’d never considered Heart-Shaped Box as a fingerstyle piece — until his version broke it open and…