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."
Lily is dancing
On the table
We've all been
Pushed
Too far
I guess on days
Like this
You know who your
Friends are
Just another dead fag
To you that's all
Just another light missing
On a long taxi ride
Taxi ride
And I'm down to
Your last cigarette and
This "we are one" crap
As you're invading
This thing you call
Love - she smiles
Way too much but
I'm glad you're
On my side, sure
I'm glad you're on
My side still
You think you deserve
A trust fund
Just because you
Want one
Sure you talk the talk
When you need to
I fear
The whole world is
Starting to
Believe you
Just another dead fag
To you that's all
Just another light missing
In a long taxi line
Taxi line
And I'm down to
Your last cigarette and
This "we are one" crap
As you're invading
This thing you call
Love - she smiles
Way too much but
I'm glad you're
On my side, sure
I'm glad you're on
My side still
Lily is dancing
On the
Table
We've all been pushed
Too far today
Even a glamorous
Bitch can be in
Need
This is where you know
The honey
From the
Killer bees
I'm glad you're on
My side
Sure
I'm glad you're on
My side
Sure
I'm glad you're on
My side still
Got a long taxi ride
Got a long taxi ride
On the table
We've all been
Pushed
Too far
I guess on days
Like this
You know who your
Friends are
Just another dead fag
To you that's all
Just another light missing
On a long taxi ride
Taxi ride
And I'm down to
Your last cigarette and
This "we are one" crap
As you're invading
This thing you call
Love - she smiles
Way too much but
I'm glad you're
On my side, sure
I'm glad you're on
My side still
You think you deserve
A trust fund
Just because you
Want one
Sure you talk the talk
When you need to
I fear
The whole world is
Starting to
Believe you
Just another dead fag
To you that's all
Just another light missing
In a long taxi line
Taxi line
And I'm down to
Your last cigarette and
This "we are one" crap
As you're invading
This thing you call
Love - she smiles
Way too much but
I'm glad you're
On my side, sure
I'm glad you're on
My side still
Lily is dancing
On the
Table
We've all been pushed
Too far today
Even a glamorous
Bitch can be in
Need
This is where you know
The honey
From the
Killer bees
I'm glad you're on
My side
Sure
I'm glad you're on
My side
Sure
I'm glad you're on
My side still
Got a long taxi ride
Got a long taxi ride
Lyrics submitted by Concertina
Taxi Ride Lyrics as written by Tori Ellen Amos
Lyrics © Downtown Music Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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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.
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
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.
Tori's longtime friend and makeup artist, Kevyn Aucoin, passed away in May 2002 from complications related to brain cancer. The song is mostly likely documenting the aftermath of his death. Kevyn's adopted mother, who started a support group for parents of gay children in the town where he was raised, locked Kevyn's husband out of the New York apartment he and Kevyn shared after his death. Had they been legally married, Kevyn's husband would have inherited everything, and Kevyn's mother having been percieved by many as being greedy in not sharing the inheritance with him, became very defensive about her support of gay rights when questioned, hence the "You think you deserve a trust fund just because you want one. Sure you talk the talk when you need to - I fear the whole world is starting to believe you". "I'm glad you're on my side, still" probably also refers to this ... in spite of it all, being glad that Kevyn's mother was still speaking out for gay rights, even if she was blind to her own hypocracy.
"this We are one crap" probably refers to the eulogy, and "We've all been pushed too far today" to the stress of dealing with the funeral and the whole situation. "Just another dead fag to you" is most likely an angry shot by tori at kevyn's adopted mother for not caring enough about Kevyn and being more concerned about his money (she had been living on social security prior to his death).
Apologies to all parties involved if this interpretation is wrong, as it sounds rather harsh, but Tori is not one to shy away from angry, heartfelt words when needed, and I think this is one of those occassions.
@piecesofme Makes sense
I think this song is about how people don't think that the big things in life are a big deal. For example, when Tori says, "Just another dead fag to you that's all; just another light missing in a long taxi line", she's saying that when a minority(like a homosexual, or "fag" as homophobic bigots call them)dies, some people think it's as insignificant as "another light missing in a long taxi line". Also, the line where Tori says, "You think you deserve a trust fund just because you want one; sure you talk the talk when you need to; I fear the whole world is starting to believe you", I think she's saying that the world is starting to get spoiled. Some people think they deserve certain things without even earning them. To me, this song is about all the problems in the world. Even though we think we've come so far in the world, there are still a lot of things that need to be fixed. I really love this song. It's everything I believe in, and it's one of Tori's best songs. Anyway, that's just my opinion!
I think this song is about how people don't think that the big things in life are a big deal. For example, when Tori says, "Just another dead fag to you that's all; just another light missing in a long taxi line", she's saying that when a minority(like a homosexual, or "fag" as homophobic bigots call them)dies, some people think it's as insignificant as "another light missing in a long taxi line". Also, the line where Tori says, "You think you deserve a trust fund just because you want one; sure you talk the talk when you need to; I fear the whole world is starting to believe you", I think she's saying that the world is starting to get spoiled. Some people think they deserve certain things without even earning them. To me, this song is about all the problems in the world. Even though we think we've come so far in the world, there are still a lot of things that need to be fixed. I really love this song. It's everything I believe in, and it's one of Tori's best songs. Anyway, that's just my opinion!
i like this song too, it's up there with Talula and Silent all These Years for me. If you've been "pushed too far" and have been in New york on a long taxi ride, you can get the feeling of this song more easily. Tori songs are more feelings than real words.
Fag could also mean cigarette... just throwing that out there
Yes-fag could mean cigarette. But you would be a fool to think that’s what she meant in this context. It’s pretty obvious she was singing about dead gay person.
In this context, it's a pun. Yes, it refers to a gay person's death, and she illustrates people's cold reactions with the paralleled pun of a burnt out cigarette. "Just another dead fag to you, that's all / Just another light missing / on a long taxi ride..." She's saying that the death of this gay friend meant no more to these people than a burnt out cigarette.
@toxicwasteforbrains I think it means both. I've always pictured it as watching the light from a cigarette go out in the window of the taxi next to you while you're sitting in a taxi yourself, and thinking of how the person ("dead fag") disappeared just as quickly and nonchalantly. Maybe the person whose "last cigarette" you are down to is your lover, who doesn't care about the passing of gay people, and you disagree with that, so when you look at this cigarette you think, when this lover says "we are one," it's just a bunch of crap, because you and he/she are really not of the same mind. Maybe the "last cigarette" is like "the last straw" - if this person shows one more inhumane trait about themselves, you're done with them.
I’m going to dance on this song I think it's about a friendship which is still lasting for a very long time; "I'm glad you're on my side still" A lot of things happen in a friendship, like fights, in this kind of situations you may lose a good friend. I also think that it’s about two people who have a really good band.
And I also agree with SpaceLover11 and dazedkid.
I just love this song & Tori Amos<3
Check out ToriAmos.com and find out more info on Tori's new album "Scarlet's Walk", due out on Oct 29th!
i don't think i need to analyze this song so much to be able to tell what it's about. "We get along fine as humans, but do we ever take anything seriously? We should really think more." This is my favorite song, so i've listened to it alot
i listen to this song the moment i wake up. i have it on repeat until i get out of the house. i may not be able to relate too much with having a taxi ride in New York because im in Asia (although i have been to NY City) but i can relate to this song too somehow. this song makes me feel the pain in me. Tori seems to mirror what i feel inside...
i kinda agree with you guys, i always get the impression that theyve all come from a party and its the morning after when you feel crap and begin to realise stuff. it reminds me of whos afraid of virgina woolf when huge secrets have been revealed the night before or the great gatsby where everyone is so so rich and makes a complete fool of themselves. I think there is a friendship love hate thing going on, with one of them realising the other ones faults on the ride home. dont no thou ive never really liked tori amos but ive never really listened to anything by her but i really love LOVE this song theres something bout the lyrics that i relate to.