Sunday Music: Love Myself Better Than You

So what happens when you have to subscribe to yet another streaming service to watch a midweek soccer game, and then partway through a Saturday morning you remember a Super Bowl commercial told you Beavis and Butthead was on said platform, but instead you discover a short list of old MTV Unplugged episodes? You (and by you, I mean me) watch.

I haven’t watched Nirvana: MTV Unplugged in New York in years. Maybe I won’t wait that long again. Maybe. For whatever reason, “On A Plain” really jumped out at me this time. Maybe it’s the contrast in the lyrics, maybe it’s the self-love as opposed to the self-hate in so many of the other songs. Either way, this acoustically-mellowed version swings like a wrecking ball with a smiley face painted on it.

There’s a quiet happiness on this metaphorical “plain” he’s on. This is what it sounds like in the cloud above the chaos. He’s telling us – maybe you can stay there, maybe you can’t, maybe it’s right, maybe it’s wrong, but what can you do? Maybe you can enjoy it for a minute, because like this song in a setlist, it’s probably fleeting.

My mother died every nightIt’s safe to say, don’t quote me on thatI love myself better than youI know it’s wrong, but what should I do?…I’m on a plainI can’t complainI’m on a plain