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."
I swallow razor blades and spit up blood
Cut out my heart and gave it to my love
I hung myself with an extension cord
And dangled high above the Quija board
I heard the wind through the trees and it made me scream
I'm wonderin' if it's real life or just another dream
I need something...someone
To help me with my brain because it's falling apart
I fall apart
I'm falling to pieces and I don't know why
It's all because...
It's all because we're all afraid to die
And if you think...
And if you think about it, it'll eat you
From the inside out till you don't know what to do
You fall apart
I'm drinkin' gas, smokin' square after square
I'm lookin' for this place but I don't know where
I'm just a soul in the land of the lost
I feel the blood in my lungs when I cough
I cut my hands off in the dark and just sat there and bled
While the whole world fell apart inside of my head
I need something...someone
To help me with my brain because it's falling apart
I fall apart
I'm falling to pieces, and I don't know why
It's all because...
It's all because we're all afraid to die
And if you think...
And if you think about it, it'll eat you
From the inside out till you don't know what to do
You fall apart
I cut my rib cage open with a butcher knife
And opened up the wound to show my life
I'm not the devil, but your mama swear we're one in the same
And we didn't make it this way so we're not carrying the blame
I been down and out
I know what that's all about
I need something...someone (You fall apart!!)
Help me wit my brain
Help me wit my brain
I need something, someone (You fall apart!!)
Help me wit my brain
Help me wit my brain
I need something, someone (You fall apart!!)
Help me wit my brain
Help me wit my brain
I'm falling to pieces and I don't know why
It's all because...
It's all because we're all afraid to die
And if you think...
And if you think about it, it'll eat you
From the inside out till you don't know what to do
You fall apart
Jumped out a twenty story window today
I got back up, and then I walked away
My head was screaming for a Tylenol
Opened the bottle and I ate 'em all
My head was spinnin' in a daze and I need to relax
So where's my chainsaw, butcher knife, and muthafuckin' axe?
Something...someone
To help me with my brain cause it's falling apart
I need something...someone
To help me with my brain cause it's falling apart
I fall apart
I'm falling to pieces, and I don't know why
It's all because...
It's all because we're all afraid to die
And if you think...
And if you think about it, it'll eat you
From the inside out till you don't know what to do
You fall apart
I'm falling to pieces, and I don't know why
It's all because...
It's all because we're all afraid to die
And if you think...
And if you think about it, it'll eat you
From the inside out till you don't know what to do
You fall apart
I keep fallin' apart (I never wanted to die)
I keep fallin' apart
I keep fallin' apart (I never wanted to die)
I keep fallin' apart
I keep fallin' apart (I never wanted to die)
I keep fallin' apart
I keep fallin' apart (I never wanted to die)
I keep fallin' apart
I keep fallin' apart (I never wanted to die)
I keep fallin' apart
Cut out my heart and gave it to my love
I hung myself with an extension cord
And dangled high above the Quija board
I heard the wind through the trees and it made me scream
I'm wonderin' if it's real life or just another dream
I need something...someone
To help me with my brain because it's falling apart
I fall apart
I'm falling to pieces and I don't know why
It's all because...
It's all because we're all afraid to die
And if you think...
And if you think about it, it'll eat you
From the inside out till you don't know what to do
You fall apart
I'm drinkin' gas, smokin' square after square
I'm lookin' for this place but I don't know where
I'm just a soul in the land of the lost
I feel the blood in my lungs when I cough
I cut my hands off in the dark and just sat there and bled
While the whole world fell apart inside of my head
I need something...someone
To help me with my brain because it's falling apart
I fall apart
I'm falling to pieces, and I don't know why
It's all because...
It's all because we're all afraid to die
And if you think...
And if you think about it, it'll eat you
From the inside out till you don't know what to do
You fall apart
I cut my rib cage open with a butcher knife
And opened up the wound to show my life
I'm not the devil, but your mama swear we're one in the same
And we didn't make it this way so we're not carrying the blame
I been down and out
I know what that's all about
I need something...someone (You fall apart!!)
Help me wit my brain
Help me wit my brain
I need something, someone (You fall apart!!)
Help me wit my brain
Help me wit my brain
I need something, someone (You fall apart!!)
Help me wit my brain
Help me wit my brain
I'm falling to pieces and I don't know why
It's all because...
It's all because we're all afraid to die
And if you think...
And if you think about it, it'll eat you
From the inside out till you don't know what to do
You fall apart
Jumped out a twenty story window today
I got back up, and then I walked away
My head was screaming for a Tylenol
Opened the bottle and I ate 'em all
My head was spinnin' in a daze and I need to relax
So where's my chainsaw, butcher knife, and muthafuckin' axe?
Something...someone
To help me with my brain cause it's falling apart
I need something...someone
To help me with my brain cause it's falling apart
I fall apart
I'm falling to pieces, and I don't know why
It's all because...
It's all because we're all afraid to die
And if you think...
And if you think about it, it'll eat you
From the inside out till you don't know what to do
You fall apart
I'm falling to pieces, and I don't know why
It's all because...
It's all because we're all afraid to die
And if you think...
And if you think about it, it'll eat you
From the inside out till you don't know what to do
You fall apart
I keep fallin' apart (I never wanted to die)
I keep fallin' apart
I keep fallin' apart (I never wanted to die)
I keep fallin' apart
I keep fallin' apart (I never wanted to die)
I keep fallin' apart
I keep fallin' apart (I never wanted to die)
I keep fallin' apart
I keep fallin' apart (I never wanted to die)
I keep fallin' apart
Lyrics submitted by nikuku
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More Featured Meanings
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
Good song. Like meow said, people are afraid to live their life because they're afraid to die or afraid to make mistakes or afraid of shit in gerenal.