Nirvana: Heart Shaped Box Meaning

Song Released: 1998

Heart Shaped Box Lyrics

She eyes me like a pisces when I am weak
I've been locked inside your Heart Shaped box for a weeks
I've been drawn into your magnet tar pit trap
I wish I could eat your cancer when you turn black

Hey!
Wait!
I've got a new...

1. anonymous

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   Jul 19th 2008 !⃝

   The second verse definitely seems to be about the vagina. I'm wondering if he kept his narcotics in a heart shaped box, and that he was drawn to that (hence, magnet tar pit trap) which would make the first verse make sense. Not sure about the chorus, that could mean many things.
2. grudge_is_dead

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   Jul 15th 2008 !⃝

   Ohh.. yeah! DUH. She gave Kurt a heart shaped box and that's what he carried his drugs around in- but still. I think he hated the fact of being with her, when she found out she was going to have a baby she wanted to abort it, which the song what he's talking about what really bothers him.- talks about cancer the KKK and of course cancer. It's about what pisses him off as a person and he's complaining about it. Again she wanted to Abort his child think about it.
3. grudge_is_dead

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   Jul 15th 2008 !⃝

   It's about people with cancer. I'm sorry to say this but it sounds like he seems like he's trapped he's for ever in debt towards his girlfriend.)
   he tells the world he's going to die soon.
   
   It's also what bothers Kurt himself. Abortion cancer.
4. anonymous

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   Mar 24th 2008 !⃝

   Heart Shaped Box is Courtney Love's vagina and the cancer is her love. It's like she trapped him with sex and infected with 'her' mental illness, not that he didn't have his own now, he did, but hers was the kind of love that started like a obsession and turned into a cancer that he could not free himself of, he knew it would in time, kill him and it did.
5. anonymous

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   Feb 6th 2008 !⃝

   This songs about the uncontrollable attraction to a girl and the vice it causes. "I've been locked inside your heart shaped box" implies he's trapped in a relationship. The chorus tells how he wants out and bitches about it.
6. anonymous

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   Feb 6th 2008 !⃝

   The song is inspired by the guilt Cobain felt after viewing documentaries about kids with cancer. The guilt stemmed from the fact that even though Cobain was a rich rock star with seemingly everything he could want, he was still unhappy and felt sorry for himself, while these kids with cancer who were almost certainly going to die managed to maintain a positive outlook on life.
   
   The reference to broken hymen may have referred to the fact that many young girls are made sterile by their Cancer treatments.
7. anonymous

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   Jan 28th 2008 !⃝

   I know it isn't really that true, but in some parts it sounds like it's about a baby not wanting to get born
   
   but I'm pretty sure that's not it...
8. anonymous

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   Jan 25th 2008 !⃝

   Alright guys here is my interpretation. It might have some repetitive ideas that were used earlier but I do believe that the song in general does contain a lot of lyrical interpretations. First of all I believe Kurt said in an interview that it was about children with cancer, does that mean it was about that? not at all. Infact I believe it was completely written completely about Courtney love.
   
   "She eyes me like a pisces when I am weak" is a reference to his sign and and about courtneys way of talking to him. If not then who is "she"?
   
   The heart shaped box is about Courtney love's vagina and them making love for weeks etc.
   
   When Kurt says that he's drawn into your magnet tar pit trap he's referring to someone and that person is Courtney again using "your" because he was offered heroin by Courtney as well.
   
   "I wish I could eat your cancer when you turn black" is kind of an artsy type way of saying ill do anything for you and was kind of referencing her smoking habit to make it sound interesting. Not a very important line in the song.
   
   The chorus is basically about all the complaints he has about Courtney and the last line "Forever in debt to your priceless advice" is about a friend of his warning about dating Courtney.
   
   Meat eating orchids are referencing pretty flowers/woman that will eat a meat/man mentally which is what Courtney resembles
   
   "cut myself an angels hair and babys breath" is Kurt wanting pureness and innocence which both of these things resemble.
   
   "Broken hymen of your highness, I'm left black,
   Throw down your umbilical noose so I can climb right back..." is saying how broken Courtney was on the inside and almost sarcastically talking reffering to her as a "highness" when he doesn't think much of her at that point feeling low. At the end all Kurt wishes is that he could go back and change everything at the beginning.
   
   
   granted the lyrics are exaggerated for the song but in general this is the theme I got from it.
   
   email: rnc2win@yahoo.com
9. anonymous

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   Jan 7th 2008 !⃝

   "THINK OF HOW A COFFIN IS SHAPED?? JUST LIKE A HEART."
   
   A coffin is shaped just like a heart?
   
   Yeah, if you happen to be both blind and retarded.
   
   I'm more inclined to agree that it is about Courtney, in a negative way. Hence the lyrics sounding so negative.
10. anonymous

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    Dec 10th 2007 !⃝

    This song is about the media man, the heart shaped box is the medias love for him and the band wich makes him feel trapped. Kurt hated being famous
11. anonymous

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    Dec 5th 2007 !⃝

    Honestly I think that you can think whatever you want about the song...i liked the description that said he is trapped in her heart shaped box, pretty much like my situation... I think that's why I liked that one (:
    
    Every Nirvana song interpretation depends on your mood and point of view, that's why I love Nirvana.
12. rockerguy20

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    Nov 14th 2007 !⃝

    Well anyone that thinks this has nothing to do with Courtney, well... There's no clearer way to say it than... YOU'RE WRONG! Int eh very first verse he makes reference to pisces and cancer which are the birth symbols of Kurt and Courtney. Restating what others have said, he received a heart shaped box from his wife. The original song title, "heart shaped coffin", was created because he knew that being with her would lead to his death.
13. anonymous

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    Oct 19th 2007 !⃝

    A heart shaped box is symbolic of a vagina. Kurt makes reference to a broken hymen and then gestures to throw down an umbilical noose from his mother's vagina so he could climb back up and kill himself. In other words, never to have been born. Kurt was too smart for his own good. He used drugs to qualm his intellectual abilities that were misunderstood. I firmly believe he was the greatest musician ever, and that my friends is god sent.
14. anonymous

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    Oct 2nd 2007 !⃝

    Well, it's true, know one has a definitive definition. but whoever said that Courtney helped him write this song is wrong, she herself said he was very secretive about it. He had bipolar, which I'm familiar with, and it means that it could be about every interpretation, but, if it was just about children with cancer I don't think he would be secretive about it, same as if it was just about her vagina. So I think it must have at least some element of their "love-hate" relationship. That's just my two-cents
15. ._nemo_.

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    Sep 10th 2007 !⃝

    The Heart-shaped Box? Courtney Love gave it to him as a gift. It had a little porcelain doll in it and she sprayed it with her perfume. It was an antique lace and wooden box, very pretty. She gave it to him because he had an obsession with dolls at the time.
    
    As for wht this song is about? Dunno, but its inspired by her and the Heartshaped box she gave him.

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