Hear Kurt Cobain’s Chilling, Unreleased Beatles Cover

Director Brett Morgen sorted through hundreds of hours of unheard Kurt Cobain audiotapes for his upcoming documentary Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck. One gem the filmmaker unearthed was a snippet of the Nirvana frontman recording a chilling cover of the Beatles’ “And I Love Her.” While the track will be included in the film’s score ”” along with other never-before-heard tracks from Cobain’s archive ”” a full version has leaked online.

In typical fashion, Cobain dampers the somber pep of the Paul McCartney-penned track, delivering the lead guitar riff as something far more droning and aching. Of course ”” as he was also prone to doing ”” Cobain can’t help but revel in the song’s pop sheen, allowing just a bit of earnest hope to fill his soft croaking voice as he sings the chorus.

Cobain’s “And I Love Her” could surprise many fans ”” “I like the Beatles, but I hate Paul McCartney,” he once said ”” as much as it did Morgen when he discovered it. “Nobody in Kurt’s life ”” not his management, wife, bandmates ”” had ever heard his Beatles thing,” Morgen told ROLLING STONE. “I found it on a random tape. It’s a Paul song. How’s that for shattering the myth?”

Morgen and his team were given complete access to Cobain’s personal and family archives. Along with its score of unreleased music, Montage of Heck will feature rare footage from numerous Nirvana performance plus Cobain’s home movies, artwork, photography, journals, demos and songbooks.

Montage of Heck premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, where it garnered rave reviews. The film arrives in theaters on April 24th and will debut on HBO on May 4th.