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."
It's late enough all you kids should be home
The policeman says as he takes your beer for his own
You remember wondering what his wife
Thought about his occupation
He knows that you were just chasing a dream
To the town line and then back and over again
So he winks at you girls
And he tells you all he'll see you later
I was stealing kisses from a boy
Now I'm begging affection from a man
In my housedress don't you know who I am
Don't you know who I am
Standing in your kitchen
It's late enough your husband's dinner is cold
So you wrap it up and leave it for him on the stove
It's probably the traffic again
Or another important meeting
And you haven't talked to one adult all day
Except your neighbor who drives you crazy
When he finally gets in he's sure
Not in the mood for talking
And hours become days, and days become years
And you could burn down this town
If they made matches from fear
But you're no worse off than anybody else
Hey don't you even know
Don't you even know yourself
So you're standing outside the high school doors
The ones you walked out of twenty years before
And you whisper to all of the girls, run, run, run
I was stealing kisses from a boy
Now I'm begging affection from a man
In my housedress don't you know who I am
Don't you know who I am
Take a look at who I am
Take a look at who I am
I'm stealing kisses
Stealing kisses
The policeman says as he takes your beer for his own
You remember wondering what his wife
Thought about his occupation
He knows that you were just chasing a dream
To the town line and then back and over again
So he winks at you girls
And he tells you all he'll see you later
I was stealing kisses from a boy
Now I'm begging affection from a man
In my housedress don't you know who I am
Don't you know who I am
Standing in your kitchen
It's late enough your husband's dinner is cold
So you wrap it up and leave it for him on the stove
It's probably the traffic again
Or another important meeting
And you haven't talked to one adult all day
Except your neighbor who drives you crazy
When he finally gets in he's sure
Not in the mood for talking
And hours become days, and days become years
And you could burn down this town
If they made matches from fear
But you're no worse off than anybody else
Hey don't you even know
Don't you even know yourself
So you're standing outside the high school doors
The ones you walked out of twenty years before
And you whisper to all of the girls, run, run, run
I was stealing kisses from a boy
Now I'm begging affection from a man
In my housedress don't you know who I am
Don't you know who I am
Take a look at who I am
Take a look at who I am
I'm stealing kisses
Stealing kisses
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More Featured Meanings
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.
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.
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.
could someone please tell me what this song means? i think it has a really deep meaning, but i am having a hard time figuring out what it is exactly!
hello cheer chic157. this song means so much. the meaning is simple: She jumped into a relationship too fast and she regreted it because he acted like she was nothing. She is trying to warn other girls to wait and not to just jump in to something that may seem good when it could be more negative than a positive.
Lori Mckenna is amazing. The emotions in this song are unbelievable. Building on what you said, annoyance, I think this song is about a woman who fell in love too fast and now her husband doesn't pay her any attention, etc (ie she has to "beg affection" from him). He barely notices her anymore and, even though she regrets being with him, she is too scared to do anything else than be with him (I'm sort of guessing on that but its what makes sense to me) and she is sort of hoping that one day he'll give her the love she always wanted.
(And just for the record, Faith Hill's cover can't touch this)
in the faith hill version, it's a very rich housewife, but in the lori mckenna version, i feel it's very different. i think it's a small town, very poor and, based on some of her other songs, she married young. i don't know if she rushed into her marriage or not, but it sounds like, at one point, she and her husband had a lot of fun at one point. But now they have children and he works all day and is miserable. I think she regrets staying in the small town and now it is too late for her to run away. she's bored, miserable and desperate.
Yep. This is how I interpret it as well.
I agree with the above, I think its just about any woman thats sick of her daily life and routine and having a man that takes you for granted. Just being sick of the mundane repetitive life that she has, taking care of the kids, having no actual people her own age to relate to, her husband is too busy doing his own thing to care about her etc etc....
And I agree Faith Hill's version wont ever come close to Lori's.