“On a Plain” by Nirvana
As the story goes, “On a Plain” is a song that Kurt Cobain was forced to write on-the-fly. So basically, according to his own explanation, what he did was combine different “pieces of poetry”, which presumably he had already written beforehand, into one.
That said, there are some notable lyrics contained within this piece, such as Cobain reportedly alluding to some type of domestic violence his mother suffered in the past. But as generally understood, “On a Plain” is a track that is actually “about writing a song”. This is an idea which most pointedly comes through in the third verse.
That conclusion is basically another way of putting forth that too much effort should not be dedicated to trying to decipher this piece, including the title. But that said, one possibility is that the term “on a plain”, in context, is another way of the vocalist/songwriting putting forth that he is in a zone, one that enabled him to actually write this song on a moment’s notice.
Facts about “On a Plain”
This track is from Nirvana’s sophomore album, “Nevermind”. On a Plain was not released as a conventional single from the project. Rather, DGC Records issued it as a promotional single on 24 September 1991.
Nirvana recorded this song earlier in 1991 in their base city of Seattle, Washington. That particular session marked their first with Dave Grohl who, as far as the music industry goes, proved to be the most notable member of the group after Kurt Cobain (1967-1994) himself.
It is Cobain who wrote “On a Plain”. He is on record as expressing a lack of fondness for the recorded version of the song. And on that note, the producer of said track is Butch Vig.
The first time Nirvana played this song live was in late May 1991, at a Los Angeles’ rock venue known as Jabberjaw.
“On a Plain” made it onto the top 30 of Billboard’s Alternative Airplay chart. This classic is also known to be pretty popular amongst Nirvana songs in the UK.
There are other versions of this tune in circulation, such as those found on the 20th and 30th anniversary editions of “Nevermind”.
NOTE
In all, there “Nevermind” yielded a total of four proper singles. They are:
