Nirvana released the single “All Apologies” on December 6, 1993, in the UK, paired with “Rape Me” as a double A-side. It was the second single from In Utero, their third studio album. The recording brought Kurt Cobain’s melody together with Kera Schaley’s cello, then passed through a final round of mixing with Scott Litt.
By then, Nirvana had also taped an acoustic rendition for MTV Unplugged in November 1993. Footage from that performance became the video for “All Apologies,” giving the single a visual counterpart built around a separate recording.
The song’s recording history stretched back to January 1991, when Nirvana cut an early version at The Music Source in Seattle. They returned to it during the February 1993 sessions for In Utero with Steve Albini at Pachyderm Recording Studio in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. The album recording added another instrument to the trio’s vocals, guitar, bass and drums: Schaley’s cello.
Schaley initially worked on “Dumb.” In her 2010 interview with Swan Fungus, she recalled writing a cello part and having Cobain decide which elements to keep. He then asked her to experiment with “All Apologies.” Much of her contribution developed as she played along, although Cobain asked her to learn one particular line that he wanted the musicians to play together. “I sort of thought they were going to scrap the cello on that one, but it stayed in,” she said. Her uncertainty about whether the part would survive ended with it on the finished album.
Cobain was also particular about where his voice sat in the mix. Speaking to Jon Savage in an interview later published by Guitar World, he praised the ambience Albini had captured on the album’s slower songs, while identifying “All Apologies” and “Heart-Shaped Box” as tracks that needed further work. “My main complaint was that the vocals weren’t loud enough,” he said. Litt subsequently remixed both songs for the album. Those credits describe two stages of the process: Albini recorded the performances, while Litt prepared the mixes selected for these two tracks.
The single also offered material beyond the parent album. The UK CD included the non-album recording “Moist Vagina,” identified on its packaging as “MV,” alongside the two A-sides. For listeners who already owned In Utero, that additional track provided something they couldn’t hear on the album.
The acoustic “All Apologies” followed its own release path. A 1994 US promotional CD paired the MTV Unplugged performance with the In Utero recording. The live version also appeared on MTV Unplugged in New York that year, placed immediately before the closing “Where Did You Sleep Last Night.” Its appearance on the full live album put the performance back into the sequence Nirvana had played for the cameras.
In 2013, the expanded edition of In Utero opened up another part of that history. It included the early “All Apologies” demo, Albini’s original 1993 mix and a new 2013 mix. Listeners could compare the familiar album treatment with the mix made before Litt’s involvement.
