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."
Candy, it's been really nice, but I've got to go
'Cause I can't be the part of your life you don't wanna know
And I can't keep lying all the time
And I know you'll find a better man
They're all too easy to find
And I'll just go away somewhere and slowly lose my mind
Candy, they called you a baby, they called you a whore
And I can't see the light at the end for you anymore
And I can't keep lying all the time
And I know you'll find a better man
They're all too easy to find
And I'll just go away somewhere and slowly lose my mind
Candy, I can't be the man they want me to be
Maybe it was only with you that I could be me
And I can't keep lying all the time
And I know you'll find a better man
They're all too easy to find
And I'll just go away somewhere and slowly lose my mind
'Cause I can't be the part of your life you don't wanna know
And I can't keep lying all the time
And I know you'll find a better man
They're all too easy to find
And I'll just go away somewhere and slowly lose my mind
Candy, they called you a baby, they called you a whore
And I can't see the light at the end for you anymore
And I can't keep lying all the time
And I know you'll find a better man
They're all too easy to find
And I'll just go away somewhere and slowly lose my mind
Candy, I can't be the man they want me to be
Maybe it was only with you that I could be me
And I can't keep lying all the time
And I know you'll find a better man
They're all too easy to find
And I'll just go away somewhere and slowly lose my mind
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Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
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.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
My reading of it:
Candy is suffering due to her relationship with the narrator. He can no longer see her life improving with him in it. Possibly, he is much older than Candy, and thus it is socially shameful for them to be together. Or, he is in a position of political power which she is not. He refuses/cannot accept being the part of Candy’s life that she “doesn’t want to know” (pain, trauma, ostracism).
People call Candy a “baby” and a “whore” instead of shaming the narrator, and he can’t see any path of this rhetoric changing. He feels guilty knowing that he is ruining Candy’s life (no one else suspects except for him). Everyone else blames Candy. While she never admits it, Candy is suffering deeply in the relationship.
This is why the narrator has “got to go,” because he doesn’t want to be the reason that Candy must confront issues that she never planned to deal with in the first place (her identity, her worth). He can’t keep lying about their relationship all of the time, because lying creates a mockery of his love for her. Still, in the public eye, Candy must be painted as the “whore” in the wrong in order to preserve his reputation. (For some reason, their relationship is put on a Scaffold).
The narrator “knows” that Candy will find a man so much better, because they’re “easy to find” (or, he’s just easy to replace). It seems that the narrator is insecure about his “manhood” and the facets which make this identity due to the relationship, indicating that it must have been grounded in some strong form of cowardice (the most demasculinizing trait). He imagines himself losing his mind without Candy, which might be painful but not as painful as lying all of the time.
Reminds me in a lot of ways of Dimsdale & Hester relationship in The Scarlet Letter. Dimsdale literally just dips and is like “see ya Hester, gotta go” and then lives in extreme guilt with the fact that he abandons her (with the “right” intentions?), but in reality just leaves her to be shamed by society.
@grace11083 You especially know he's in a position of power when he says "Candy, I can't be the man they want me to be. Maybe it was only with you that I could be me" !!!
I feel like I should go away somewhere so I can slowly lose my mind in peace.
Candy, so sweet and so lonely
This song is so beautiful. And very catchy. I find myself singing it quite often.
To me it sounds like somebody who's in love with somebody with a career he can't handle her having, judging by the name a porno actress or stripper. (baby/whore being what she's called in her job.)
Candy knows the man doesn't agree with her choices, but she refuses to listen to how he really feels, and prefers believing the lies he's telling her about how he feels. (Can't be part of her life she doesn't want to know)
The man really loves her, and he feels as if he's unable to live without her. He thinks he can't be himself with anybody else, and that he'll lose his mind without her. Yet, he knows that he'll never accept the path she's taking in life, and he can't keep lying about being OK with it.
He believes she'll be able to find somebody else better suited, who's willing to support her in doing what she wants to. As he no longer see "the light at the end for her", where she'll quit doing it.