Plateau Lyrics

[Verse 1]
Many a hand has scaled the grand old face of the plateau
Some belong to strangers, and some to folks you know

Holy ghosts and talk show hosts are planted in the sand
To beautify the foothills, and shake the many hands

[Chorus]
Nothing on the top but a bucket and a mop
And an illustrated book about birds

You see a lot up there but don't be scared
Who needs action when you got words

[Verse 2]
When you've finished with the mop, then you can stop
And look at what you've done
The plateau's clean, no dirt to be seen
And the work, it was fun

[Chorus]
Nothing on the top but a bucket and a mop
And an illustrated book about birds

You see a lot up there but don't be scared
Who needs action when you got words

[Verse 3]
Many hands began to scan around for the next plateau
Some say it was Greenland, and some say Mexico
Others decided it was nowhere except for where they stood
But those were all just guesses, wouldn't help you if they could
[Instrumental outro]

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About

Genius Annotation

Originally a song by the Meat Puppets found on their sophomore album Meat Puppets II, Nirvana performed it on November 18th, 1993 on their album MTV Unplugged in New York. The Meat Puppets appeared with them to supply the backing instrumentation for Nirvana’s acoustic version, having reportedly become close friends while on tour with one another.

The song appears as the first of three Meat Puppets songs included in the setlist, its siblings being covers of “Oh Me” ( original here ) and “Lake of Fire” ( original here ). It is one of six total covers on the album – nearly half their total performance time, as this Billboard review remarks – in a move rather strange for a taped music recording for any band that might not have the anti-establishment leanings of Nirvana.

The playing of these songs was not just a simple rage against the machine, however – it seemed that the three members of Nirvana had a strong affinity for the Meat Puppets' music. In the words of former Meat Puppets frontman Curt Kirkwood:

Later I had a band with (bassist) Krist (Novoselic) in the early 2000s called Eyes Adrift and I spent a lot of time up at his place out in Washington… He would tell me that was just one of their favorite albums when they were younger before they were getting the band started… Those are pretty much the songs off of the record Meat Puppets II.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

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