Lyrics The lyrics were written by vocalist
Layne Staley, and the music was written by bassist
Mike Inez, guitarist/vocalist
Jerry Cantrell, and drummer
Sean Kinney. Bassist
Mike Inez said of "Nutshell", when asked what song makes him think of Layne Staley the most: I think the No. 1 for me is "Nutshell." Layne was very honest with his songwriting. And in "Nutshell," he really put everything in a nutshell for everybody. That song still gets me choked up whenever I play it. I get a little teary-eyed, and sometimes when we're doing the arena runs especially, they'll have some video footage of Layne. And I look and see me and
Jerry [Cantrell, vocals and guitar] and
Sean [Kinney, drums] looking the wrong way. We're not looking at the audience, we're looking back at Layne, and it's pretty cool that there's still that song for us. Yeah, it's just a sad thing.
Music Jon Pareles of
The New York Times commented that the arrangements on "Nutshell" recalled those of Canadian musician
Neil Young. ==Legacy and reception==