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."
Try, seeker, try
To find this path of mine
I weave a simple line
Take care to watch my flight
Place your fingers here to guide me
Guide me under
One must lead the other
See, the way I bring
Can change easily
The end knows those who come
But each can run away with us
Place your fingers here to guide me
Guide me under
One must lead the other
Walk here softly through this door or never
Follow me into my sanctum
There are no words, so watch as I
Strip away layers, I strive to find paces
I reel from each image, a product of loss
Bearing away my wholeness, fooled by my own hands
Offer a useless notion to satisfy demands
Paint me again so deeply
Illusions from within
Make me a tragic canvas
For the dye inside my skin
Sorry you never asked me
Sorry you never tried
Grief you hold so shallow will pass away in time
Shards of my identity
Scattered here upon the ground
Fragments of a tragedy
Dig in coarse to bring me down
Kneeling in my agony
Reaching in to pick them out
Holding on so desperately
'Til they cut inside and drown
In this prison of my misery
In the vessel of my doubt
In the court of endless suffering
In the hall where I am bound
To these servants of a history
As they circle all around
They stand in their delight
I lay my hands upon these wounds and cry in empty ridicule
Broken words and Hollow truths
I've crept inside a sorrowful embrace
Cruel embrace
Await my claim
So stay away
Stay away
Away (repeated)
To find this path of mine
I weave a simple line
Take care to watch my flight
Place your fingers here to guide me
Guide me under
One must lead the other
See, the way I bring
Can change easily
The end knows those who come
But each can run away with us
Place your fingers here to guide me
Guide me under
One must lead the other
Walk here softly through this door or never
Follow me into my sanctum
There are no words, so watch as I
Strip away layers, I strive to find paces
I reel from each image, a product of loss
Bearing away my wholeness, fooled by my own hands
Offer a useless notion to satisfy demands
Paint me again so deeply
Illusions from within
Make me a tragic canvas
For the dye inside my skin
Sorry you never asked me
Sorry you never tried
Grief you hold so shallow will pass away in time
Shards of my identity
Scattered here upon the ground
Fragments of a tragedy
Dig in coarse to bring me down
Kneeling in my agony
Reaching in to pick them out
Holding on so desperately
'Til they cut inside and drown
In this prison of my misery
In the vessel of my doubt
In the court of endless suffering
In the hall where I am bound
To these servants of a history
As they circle all around
They stand in their delight
I lay my hands upon these wounds and cry in empty ridicule
Broken words and Hollow truths
I've crept inside a sorrowful embrace
Cruel embrace
Await my claim
So stay away
Stay away
Away (repeated)
Lyrics submitted by AphroHeidi
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