About a Girl (Nirvana song)

"About a Girl"
Song by Nirvana
from the album Bleach
ReleasedJune 15, 1989
RecordedDecember 1988
Genre
Length2:48
LabelSub Pop
Songwriter(s)Kurt Cobain
Producer(s)Jack Endino
Bleach track listing
11 tracks
  1. "Blew"
  2. "Floyd the Barber"
  3. "About a Girl"
  4. "School"
  5. "Love Buzz"
  6. "Paper Cuts"
  7. "Negative Creep"
  8. "Scoff"
  9. "Swap Meet"
  10. "Mr. Moustache"
  11. "Sifting"
"About a Girl"
Single by Nirvana
from the album MTV Unplugged in New York
B-side"Something in the Way" (live)
ReleasedOctober 24, 1994 (1994-10-24)
RecordedNovember 18, 1993 (1993-11-18)
Genre
Length3:37
LabelDGC
Songwriter(s)Kurt Cobain
Producer(s)Nirvana · Scott Litt
Nirvana singles chronology
"Pennyroyal Tea"
(1994)
"About a Girl"
(1994)
"Polly"
(1994)
MTV Unplugged in New York track listing
Music video
"About a Girl" on YouTube

"About a Girl" is a song by American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist Kurt Cobain. It is the third song on their debut album, Bleach, released in June 1989.

Frequently described as one of Cobain's strongest and most melodic early compositions, "About a Girl" was written about his then-girlfriend Tracy Marander. In the 1998 documentary Kurt and Courtney, Marander revealed that Cobain had never told her the song was about her, and that she found out only after reading the 1993 Nirvana biography Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana by Michael Azerrad.

A live, acoustic version, recorded during Nirvana's MTV Unplugged appearance in November 1993, was released as a single in October 1994, to promote the album MTV Unplugged in New York. It was the first single released since Cobain's death in April 1994, reaching number one on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart and number 22 on Billboard's Hot 100 Airplay chart.