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."
This is an ambush
Yo looking at my watch it's about that time
To ascend with this art of zen
Another rhyme manifested in the physical miracal mc'in
Leadin' to a revolution solution is seein
The mind is a rotate so make no debate when I regulate
All the generals will terminate
Cause we cut and slice irrelevance to the bone
And decapitate rappers that idolize Al Capone
Or Jimmy Hopper, not a Hip-Hop copper
Just a vigilante with a mic that'll shot ya
Chopped the, beat up who then proceeded to rock the
Bells livin quite wells til' we gotta hopped the
Train raw like Big Daddy Cane 'cause I'm born on the same day as Kurt Cobain
Rap Nirvana, call me the Beat piranha
Without the drama, yeah
[Chorus:]
Don't let this wrongness revolution song
Hoping the wind can blow your way for once
A man is truly dead when confidante
That's why we're all still waiting here so long
Astrologically, I'm the water and a fish
Made a wish now I'm a stone cold lyrical catalyst
I don't eat fish, chicken or hamburger
But I eat phony emcees on a hot plate
God's great, magnificent and beneficent
This is militant, in particular significant
To the people, masses, lower classes
Making the hardest of hard colloid look flaccid
Contaminants with backstage laminates
Unoriginal thoughts that why we stay atimate
With frequencies that alter the mind-state
Makin' time wait, holdin' us up for hostage
I lost it, turned my back in '96 when they say complain the game
I'm back in the mix, with a brand new bag of magic and pixie dust
I love Hip-Hop, pray it never turns into lust, check it out
[Chorus]
Hey, hey, hey, ayee!
[Chorus]
Commandante, come back home
Commandante, come back home
Commandante, come back home
That's why we're all still waiting here so long
Yo looking at my watch it's about that time
To ascend with this art of zen
Another rhyme manifested in the physical miracal mc'in
Leadin' to a revolution solution is seein
The mind is a rotate so make no debate when I regulate
All the generals will terminate
Cause we cut and slice irrelevance to the bone
And decapitate rappers that idolize Al Capone
Or Jimmy Hopper, not a Hip-Hop copper
Just a vigilante with a mic that'll shot ya
Chopped the, beat up who then proceeded to rock the
Bells livin quite wells til' we gotta hopped the
Train raw like Big Daddy Cane 'cause I'm born on the same day as Kurt Cobain
Rap Nirvana, call me the Beat piranha
Without the drama, yeah
[Chorus:]
Don't let this wrongness revolution song
Hoping the wind can blow your way for once
A man is truly dead when confidante
That's why we're all still waiting here so long
Astrologically, I'm the water and a fish
Made a wish now I'm a stone cold lyrical catalyst
I don't eat fish, chicken or hamburger
But I eat phony emcees on a hot plate
God's great, magnificent and beneficent
This is militant, in particular significant
To the people, masses, lower classes
Making the hardest of hard colloid look flaccid
Contaminants with backstage laminates
Unoriginal thoughts that why we stay atimate
With frequencies that alter the mind-state
Makin' time wait, holdin' us up for hostage
I lost it, turned my back in '96 when they say complain the game
I'm back in the mix, with a brand new bag of magic and pixie dust
I love Hip-Hop, pray it never turns into lust, check it out
[Chorus]
Hey, hey, hey, ayee!
[Chorus]
Commandante, come back home
Commandante, come back home
Commandante, come back home
That's why we're all still waiting here so long
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Awesome, awesome track. K-os is the best hip-hop artist Americans have never heard of.
Few corrections though: it's "all agendas will terminate", and "Jimmy Hoffa", amongst others.