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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   Mar 9th 2012 !⃝

   I actually believe it's about his mother.
2. anonymous

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   Mar 8th 2012 !⃝

   So sad and true that the best most beautiful song are all about Heroin. The heart shaped box is rumored to be where Kurt kept his stash of Heroin. It a magnet tar pit of heroin, that's a cancer he can't control. He cuts himself on angel hairs which addicts refer to the fine point of a new needle as. The refernce to a broken hymn is his reference to the needle breaking his skin and causing blood, which then turns black/blue. And lastly his refernce to the umbilical noose is the tourniquet he uses when he shoots up.
3. anonymous

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   Mar 4th 2012 !⃝

   heart shaped box. i think instead of a heart he is saying a heart shaped box. so the woman he is talking about doesnt have a real heart to love him with. i think several lines suggest that he is trapped by his marriage and his child with courtney.
4. anonymous

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   Feb 7th 2012 !⃝

   The statements and the whole video are larded with a symbolism which admits several interpretations.Letters are just charged as figures with quite a certain energy. Thus the word Cancer stands for an animal as well as for an illness. It concerns an analogy.Kurt Cobain an aversion had against apples because the acid attacked his stomach. I had 1st of August, 2002 a car accident which became by a hot apple turnover veruracht. I carried on this day also a white Cobain for shirt on which as a result of a cut injury my blood dripped.I found correspondence to the video to Heart Shaped box. I also found correspondence to You know you're right. Steaming soup against here mouth: with it the steaming apple turnover is meant which caused my accident, because in the video to You know you're right apples are also to be seen in a short sequence.Also I suffered in 2001 from an evil ovarian tumour: I wish i could eat your cancer. As a result of that I was struck by paranoid depressions: when you turn black. The orchid is an analogy to the fertility organs, so to the ovary.I was born exactly like Cobain also in the sign of the fish with a virgin Aszendenten. This sign is predestined for insanity.The fish are connected by a string and swim in contradicting directions. I have the same Anamnes like Cobain. I am manic-depressively, if a Skolliose and a sensitive stomach has.Is this not reason enough to be persuaded of the fact that he means me?
5. anonymous

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   Oct 15th 2011 !⃝

   Heart-shaped box makes me think maybe the girl he loved didn't actually love him. It's just a heart-shaped box, not her real heart and love, that she is just faking.
6. anonymous

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   Sep 9th 2011 !⃝

   Kurt Cobain was a Pisces Courtney Love is a Cancer. Astrologically they are compatible.
7. anonymous

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   Aug 25th 2011 !⃝

   I WROTE A THESIS ON THIS SONG IN 11TH GRADE (31 NOW) AND I THE VERSE "CUT MY SELF ON ANGEL HAIR, AND BABES BREATH" seems to me as HIS REGRET OF GETTING MARRIED. ANGELS HAIR IS COMMONLY KNOWN AS A THREAD USED IN WEDDING VALES. ALSO THE FLOWER (BABIES BREATH) ARE ALSO PRESENT AT WEDDINGS. WHEN MR. COBAIN USES THE WORD WORD "CUT", AS IN MANY OF HIS SONGS, HE ALSO INTER CHANGES IT WITH THE WORD "HURT". "F'ed, by getting married" seems to make the most sense to me. let me know what you think?
8. anonymous

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   Aug 25th 2011 !⃝

   I wrote a thesis on this song in 11th grade (31 now) and I the verse "cut my self on angel hair, and babes breath" seems to me as his regret of getting married. angels hair is commonly known as a thread used in wedding vales. also the flower (babies breath) are also present at weddings. when mr. Cobain uses the word word "cut", as in many of his songs, he also inter changes it with the word "hurt". "fucked, by getting married" seems to make the most sense to me. Let me know what you think?
9. anonymous

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   Aug 24th 2011 !⃝

   The whole song is about how Courtney has trapped him!
   Verse one about how she trapped him on herion, and verse two how she trapped him into having a baby (both against his wishes)
   
   Courtney is a Pisces and astrologically is a dominant sign (She eyes me like a Pisces when I am weak), She gave him a heart shaped box as a present when they first met, and he kept his drugs in it (I've been locked in your heart shaped box for weeks). Magnet tar pit is the actual drug, and "eat your cancer when you trun black", is about how she has made him feel as rotten as she was, ie, the drug addiction.
   
   Verse two "meat eating orchids" is her labia, "cut myself on angel hair and baby's breath" - he was delighted to be a father even though he didn't want to be, "broken hymen of your highness" is a reference to the sexual power women hold over men, "throw down your umbilical noose so I can climb right back" - he is so fucked and trapped that he assumes the feotal position.
   
   So - the song is about the power struggle within the relationship - she always has to be in control - Kurt is emtionally weak and fragile, she knows this and takes advantage of it, he hates himself and her for being so weak.
   
   Fucking brilliant lyrics! This should be awarded some kind of literal accolade or honour.
   
   I saw them at Reading Festival in '92. I had just turned 19 and at my first festival and was completely blown away by it. Who would have known it would be his last British gig.
   Well done you fucking mad bastard!
   
   Ally Ross
   
   I agree plus kurt and courtney both collected heart shaped boxes together soo..... yeah kurt liked heart shaped boxes
   
10. anonymous

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    Jul 30th 2011 !⃝

    I've always felt that every time Kurt says "she" in his songs he's not talking about any real woman.It feels like he symbolizes the female side of himself [anima according to Jung] or maybe a Muse,or imaginary friend,or his female side meaning his weak /emotional side. Then i read that he often talked about God as if He was a "she" which kind of made me more sure about what i thought.Kurt was a really special & spiritual being & he almost never actually talked about sex & drugs, like many think, in his songs.He was more like analyzing some inner process in most of his songs & i get the feeling he knew exactly what he was doing.What most people say about drugs etc.is just the surface of his art's iceberg,he really turned his experience of life in a deeper/higher level. Maybe he misunderstood some things but generally he was too forward for his age..:)
    
    What i'm not sure about in the video of the song is who the dying old guy is?The shadow of his hospital bed is an upside down cross so is it the anti-christ who's dying?Or Jesus?I read that from the band's point of view it's the anti-christ who's dying but i don't have enough info about it.Anyone knows? To me it seems more likely that it's the anti-christ if we consider that many problems got solved in that period of his life ,like he set himself free from his evil side/weak side/"she" [many people say he seemed very well the latest months before he died,even his stomach pain was cured ,some even say he wasn't really so much in drugs anymore (& probably somebody didn't like this at all..)] But anyway that's just my opinion.
    
    R.I.P. Kurt!!!Thank you!
11. anonymous

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    Jul 17th 2011 !⃝

    How many of you allow others behind the closed doors of your marriages & relationships? Especially if you are of the male gender? (unlike females who can tend, at times, to broadcast more personal facts than others even want to hear). Yes, Kurt was an artist and therfore more prone to showing certan aspects of love, frustration & pain than men are normally expected to display without social criticism. But, even so, for anyone to think they are blessed some magical insight to judge the lives, love and relationship of the two people and what went on behind the closed doors of their private lives are arrogant and so pretentious it's simply nauseating. Just enjoy the brilliance of his instrumental skill and stop judging Courtney for his death but rather feels some sympathy for her as a widow who lost someone so special that we all still grieve so deeply for. Look in your own mirror before you pretend to have deep wisdom in interpreting others struggles and lives- your the one who's in need of Lithium.
12. anonymous

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    Jun 6th 2011 !⃝

    Ally Ross, your writing/understanding of the lyrics are truly what's prizeworthy. Come join Stereomedia and write about songs.
    
    Stereomedia! (dot org)
    
    Stereomedia@Gmail.Com
13. anonymous

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    Jun 3rd 2011 !⃝

    The song is about cancer patients and very little Courtney. The song title is about a heart shaped box Courtney gave to Kurt.
14. anonymous

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    May 29th 2011 !⃝

    Enough with the Courtney bashing! That box made Kurt happy because he associated it with Courtney.She had a drug problem too, but she wasn't the reason he was an addict. He had mental and emotional problems since childhood and a painful stomach ailment that he self-medicated with opiates. This notion that she forced him into the spotlight is nonsense too. He wasn't totally against being famous; he had conflicting feelings about it. This was obvious because complained and criticized mainstream media but he still made videos, did interviews, and did photo shoots. I doubt she forced him to do much of anything. It really isn't easy to force a bipolar person, drug addict, or punk loyalist to do anything, and he was all three. The rehab hospital he was at before he died couldn't even force him to stay. He was great artist, but that doesn't mean he could do no wrong. I think it's pretty lame to idealize a person like Kurt who gave into his problems and committed suicide and villify Courtney, who faced her faced her problems with bravery, honesty, and determination. She isn't perfect but neither is anyone else. She is a great artist too. I find her work and life inspiring and original and I'm glad that she is famous enough to share it with so many people. I'm glad she has the guts to say she wants to be famous too!
15. anonymous

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    May 29th 2011 !⃝

    The song is about heroin. By the way, if you read up on astrology every sign has its weak points and vulnerability to addiction is one for a pisces to look out for. Also, every sign has a flower associated with it and for pisces its the poppy.

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