Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
How the fuck can you tell when you're punk?
Is it when you drop all the hip hop and the funk?
Or do you have to dye your bleach blonde hair
To a color that you can't find anywhere?
Or do you wear all plaid and band shirts?
Or get so many piercings that it hurts?
Do you have to go out and buy some chucks?
Or buy some shirts that says "Punk music sucks"?
How the hell can you be a bad ass punker
But claim that labels are for bullshit posers?
I hate when I go out to places and I spike up my hair
And everybody all around me has to stop and point and stare
Why can't I just be someone, who breaks stuff and thinks it's fun?
What the fuck with all this pressure?
I don't like to think that all I do is try to be
Someone who hates conformity
Why do punks have a standard
When that's all punk used to stand for?
I thought that punk meant you didn't have to
Dress how anyone thought you should do
If that's all punk's about
Then why you have to go a certain route?
If being a punk means that you don't have any rules
Then why the fuck are there so many?
Is it when you drop all the hip hop and the funk?
Or do you have to dye your bleach blonde hair
To a color that you can't find anywhere?
Or do you wear all plaid and band shirts?
Or get so many piercings that it hurts?
Do you have to go out and buy some chucks?
Or buy some shirts that says "Punk music sucks"?
How the hell can you be a bad ass punker
But claim that labels are for bullshit posers?
I hate when I go out to places and I spike up my hair
And everybody all around me has to stop and point and stare
Why can't I just be someone, who breaks stuff and thinks it's fun?
What the fuck with all this pressure?
I don't like to think that all I do is try to be
Someone who hates conformity
Why do punks have a standard
When that's all punk used to stand for?
I thought that punk meant you didn't have to
Dress how anyone thought you should do
If that's all punk's about
Then why you have to go a certain route?
If being a punk means that you don't have any rules
Then why the fuck are there so many?
Lyrics submitted by Insane_J
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