"Cut Me Some Slack" is a rock song by

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

and former members of

Nirvana Nirvana, in the Indian religions (Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism), is the concept of an individual's passions being extinguished as the ultimate state of salvation, release, or liberation from suffering ('' duḥkha'') and from the ...

Dave Grohl David Eric Grohl (; born January 14, 1969) is an American musician. He founded the rock band Foo Fighters, of which he is the lead singer, guitarist, principal songwriter, and only consistent member. From 1990 to 1994, he was the drummer of th ...

Krist Novoselic Krist Anthony Novoselic (; ; born May 16, 1965) is an American musician, politician and activist. Novoselic co-founded and played bass on every album for the rock music, rock band Nirvana (band), Nirvana. Novoselic and Kurt Cobain formed the ban ...

, and

Pat Smear Georg Albert Ruthenberg (born August 5, 1959), better known by his stage name Pat Smear, is an American musician. He was the lead guitarist and co-founder of Los Angeles–based punk band The Germs and a rhythm guitarist for grunge band Nirvana ...

. Released in 2012 on YouTube and the following year on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

to Dave Grohl's documentary film '' Sound City,'' the song won the Grammy award for Best Rock Song in 2014. Grohl, who was making a documentary about the history of recording studio

Sound City Studios Sound City Studios is a recording studio in Los Angeles, California, United States, known as one of the most successful in popular music. The complex opened in 1969 in the Van Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles. The facility had previously been a p ...

Van Nuys Van Nuys ( ) is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Home to Van Nuys Airport and the Valley Municipal Building, it is the most populous neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. History In 1 ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, assembled musicians to write and record songs for the film. Among them were McCartney, the former

Beatle The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the most influential band in Western popular ...

; plus two musicians who had played with Grohl in Nirvana: Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear. "Cut Me Some Slack" began as a

jam Fruit preserves are preparations of fruits whose main preserving agent is sugar and sometimes acid, often stored in glass jars and used as a condiment or spread. There are many varieties of fruit preserves globally, distinguished by the meth ...

between these four; McCartney later described it as a "Nirvana reunion". In addition, Krist Novoselic referred to the partnership as "''Sirvana''", a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

word of ''Sir Paul McCartney'' and ''Nirvana''. The song was first performed at the 12-12-12 benefit concert by the four, and was released on December 14, 2012, through YouTube. The four performed the song on Saturday Night Live in 2012, and again on June 19, 2013, along with a number of Beatles songs at a McCartney concert in Nirvana's home town of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

. The song was received well by critics. Allmusic called it a "tune with an immediate hook ndmelody".

Personnel

– lead vocals,

cigar box guitar The cigar box guitar is a simple chordophone that uses an empty cigar box as a resonator. The earliest had one or two strings; modern models typically have three or more. Generally, the strings are connected to the end of a broomstick or a 1×2 ...

– electric guitar *

– bass guitar *

– drums, backing vocals

Charts

References

{{authority control 2013 songs Paul McCartney songs Songs written by Paul McCartney Songs written by Dave Grohl American rock songs British rock songs Songs written by Krist Novoselic Songs written by Pat Smear Grammy Award for Best Rock Song Nirvana (band)