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've got a plan to make it rich and famous,
Luck for me, for you it's a bitch you ain't in,
My plans are slowly changing,
Fame is so contagious,
I'm willing to sleep my way to the top,
I want to be pop-ular,
I don't want to keep my feet on the ground,
I want to be popular,
I must confess I've been a ve-ry bad boy,
Been sleeping around talk of the town,
My name is,
Hollywood will beckon,
Everyone will listen,
Play my Video,
Hear me on the Radio,
Dancing at the disco,
No-one ever says no,
I'm willing to sleep my way to the top,
I want to be pop-ular,
I don't want to keep my feet on the ground,
I want to be popular,
I'm willing to sleep my way to the top,
I want to be pop-ular,
I don't want to keep my feet on the ground,
I want to be popular,
My friends are all in Limousine's,
My friends are all Celebrities,
ha, ha, ha,
I just sold my soul,
Play my Video,
Hear me on the Radio,
Dancing at the disco,
No-one ever says no,
I'm willing to sleep my way to the top,
I want to be pop-ular,
I don't want to keep my feet on the ground,
I want to be popular,
I'm willing to sleep my way to the top,
I want to be pop-ular,
I don't want to keep my feet on the ground,
I want to be popular,
My friends are all Celebrities,
My friends are all in limousine's
Play my Video,
(I'm willing to sleep my way to the top,)
(I want to be pop-ular,)
Hear me on the Radio
(I don't want to keep my feet on the ground,)
(I want to be popular,)
Dancing at the disco,
(I'm willing to sleep my way to the top,)
(I want to be pop-ular)
No-one ever says no,
(I don't want to keep my feet on the ground,)
(I want to be popular)
Are you willing to sleep you way to the top?
Do you want to be pop-ular?
Luck for me, for you it's a bitch you ain't in,
My plans are slowly changing,
Fame is so contagious,
I'm willing to sleep my way to the top,
I want to be pop-ular,
I don't want to keep my feet on the ground,
I want to be popular,
I must confess I've been a ve-ry bad boy,
Been sleeping around talk of the town,
My name is,
Hollywood will beckon,
Everyone will listen,
Play my Video,
Hear me on the Radio,
Dancing at the disco,
No-one ever says no,
I'm willing to sleep my way to the top,
I want to be pop-ular,
I don't want to keep my feet on the ground,
I want to be popular,
I'm willing to sleep my way to the top,
I want to be pop-ular,
I don't want to keep my feet on the ground,
I want to be popular,
My friends are all in Limousine's,
My friends are all Celebrities,
ha, ha, ha,
I just sold my soul,
Play my Video,
Hear me on the Radio,
Dancing at the disco,
No-one ever says no,
I'm willing to sleep my way to the top,
I want to be pop-ular,
I don't want to keep my feet on the ground,
I want to be popular,
I'm willing to sleep my way to the top,
I want to be pop-ular,
I don't want to keep my feet on the ground,
I want to be popular,
My friends are all Celebrities,
My friends are all in limousine's
Play my Video,
(I'm willing to sleep my way to the top,)
(I want to be pop-ular,)
Hear me on the Radio
(I don't want to keep my feet on the ground,)
(I want to be popular,)
Dancing at the disco,
(I'm willing to sleep my way to the top,)
(I want to be pop-ular)
No-one ever says no,
(I don't want to keep my feet on the ground,)
(I want to be popular)
Are you willing to sleep you way to the top?
Do you want to be pop-ular?
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More Featured Meanings
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
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.
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.
This is what Darren said about Popular :
We are obsessed with fame..it has become a vocation we now train for and people are literally willing to do anything to get it. At the same time I was feeling completely bored with my persona and the corner of musical direction I’d painted myself into. I was bored with pop music, bored with the radio.. and really wrote this song as a way of poking fun at myself and the conveyor belt that brought me to this point in my career. It’s ironic because in the song I’m proclaiming all the things I am not. And yet it rings true because I’m sure deep down there was and some days still is a part of me that is tempted by the devil that is fame.