"On a Plain" is a song by American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist, Kurt Cobain. It is the 11th track on their second album, Nevermind, released in September 1991. The song was released as a promo single in 1992, peaking at number 25 on Billboard's Alternative Songs chart. Origin and recording Early history Written in 1990, "On a Plain" was first recorded in the studio on January 1, 1991 at Music Source Studios in Seattle, Washington, by the band's audio engineer, Craig Montgomery. The private session, the band's first with drummer Dave Grohl, led to the versions of "Even in His Youth" and "Aneurysm" that were released as B-sides on the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" single in September 1991. However, the other five songs recorded during the session all featured unfinished lyrics and scratch vocals, such as "On a Plain", or were instrumental. Nevermind The song was re-recorded for the band's second album, Nevermind, by Butch Vig in May 1991 at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California. Vig later called it "a great pop song," remembering it as "a really new one" that "took a few takes" to complete. The final lyrics were written at Sound City shortly before the vocals were recorded, which led to the line, "What the hell am I trying to say?" The recording features wordless backing vocals by Grohl. Vig had wanted to end the recording with Grohl's harmonies repeated four times a capella, and originally mixed the song that way, but upon hearing the mix, Cobain decided the song should end after only one pass of the harmonies. Cobain's lead vocals were done in one take. "On a Plain" was debuted live on May 29, 1991 at Jabberjaw in Los Angeles, California, the show at which Nirvana also debuted the future Nevermind single, "Come As You Are", before "an astonished audience," according to author Charles R. Cross. The show was Nirvana's first since completing work on Nevermind. Cobain ultimately expressed dissatisfaction with the Nevermind recording, telling Flipside, "That song came out way too clean. I'm not happy with the way that came out at all. It should have been a lot rawer; we play it a lot better live I think." "On a Plain" was released as a promo single in the summer of 1992, and became a moderate hit. Post-Nevermind "On a Plain" was performed during Nirvana's MTV Unplugged