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."
Out under the stars
Dodging them night cars baby
'Cause when you gotta move, you gotta move
Whatever that it was
You were thinking of lady
You're certainly not thinking of it now
And night birds sing you
An empty tune
In an empty house
In an empty room
In an empty moment
All the night birds sing
We were suppose to rise above
But we sink into the ocean
I feel like a body stuffed into a trunk
From a million years
Of lying and getting drunk
The people here inside me
They are loud and in the night
They scream and smash the windows
When they fight
And night birds sing you
An empty tune
In an empty house
In an empty room
With empty feelings
When it comes too soon
We're supposed to rise above
We were supposed to rise above
But we sink
Into the ocean
Into the ocean
Into the ocean
Dodging them night cars baby
'Cause when you gotta move, you gotta move
Whatever that it was
You were thinking of lady
You're certainly not thinking of it now
And night birds sing you
An empty tune
In an empty house
In an empty room
In an empty moment
All the night birds sing
We were suppose to rise above
But we sink into the ocean
I feel like a body stuffed into a trunk
From a million years
Of lying and getting drunk
The people here inside me
They are loud and in the night
They scream and smash the windows
When they fight
And night birds sing you
An empty tune
In an empty house
In an empty room
With empty feelings
When it comes too soon
We're supposed to rise above
We were supposed to rise above
But we sink
Into the ocean
Into the ocean
Into the ocean
Lyrics submitted by BlueAndStarry
Night Birds Lyrics as written by Ryan Adams
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Mountain Song
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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,
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this is definitely in my top five favorite Ryan Adams songs. It reminds me of staying up at three in the morning, wide-eyed, and completely awake but it's incredibly silent and at any moment a crash could come. Well, that's what I think. Etherized is also right in that it's like, so you drink every night and one day it crashes on you but it's so beautiful. You had hopes and dreams and you were supposed to succeed (rise above) but you sink and digress into a beautiful abyss. I can't really explain it at all 'cause I love it so much.
I'm slowly coming to appreciate the new album, 29, but i just dont dig the "{{{Into the oceannn}}}" part of this song.
when i first heard the album i thought that part was cool. it's his experimental side coming out. plus i was high when i heard it
29 is the best of the new albums by far. This song is really nice and then goes all psychedelic - it's a change for sure, but it works within the context and isn't a giant leap. I like the crashing single clipping guitar strum, it adds a totally different emotional angle.
I'm glad the world isn't full of the people that I assume it is.
It's about drinking, drugging and chasin' them nightbirds baby. It's about living the night life and partying and waking up one day and realizing that nothing meaningful has been done with one's life. It wasn't supposed to end up this way.. all the hopes and dreams the person had in his life hadn't been met because he listened to the night birds. All the drinking did for him is turn him into an ugly person with nothing to show for it.
"Night Bird" is a term for someone who lives the nightlife.