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."
She's the kind of girl you know,
Who likes to keep account of what she owes,
And I would try to let her out,
But I can hear her when she's not around.
And she's saying things about my hair, She's saying things about my hair.
She's wondering why the guys don't know
Why she's afraid of what she owes.
She is only learing of
A different kind of love.
He's the only man you love,
He's the only man you're thinking of.
You'd never try to make a deal,
The kind of love that you don't have to feel.
But she's leaving him, now she's grown,
She's leaving him, now she's grown.
And I'm saying all the right things,
I'm saying all the right things.
She's feeling like she'll owe her man
A wilfull taste of all she is.
She thinks she's only learning of
A different kind of love.
So maybe she can be the man,
Get the money any way she can.
I'll wait in the house alone,
Give her what she needs when she gets home.
But I'm just as blind as the rest,
I'm just as blind as the rest.
Cause she's saying things about my hair,
She's saying things about my hair.
She's feeling like she'll owe the world,
To anyone who'll take her in.
She thinks she's only learning of
A different kind of love.
She's wondering why the guys don't know
Why she's afraid of what she owes
She is only learning of
A different kind of love.
Who likes to keep account of what she owes,
And I would try to let her out,
But I can hear her when she's not around.
And she's saying things about my hair, She's saying things about my hair.
She's wondering why the guys don't know
Why she's afraid of what she owes.
She is only learing of
A different kind of love.
He's the only man you love,
He's the only man you're thinking of.
You'd never try to make a deal,
The kind of love that you don't have to feel.
But she's leaving him, now she's grown,
She's leaving him, now she's grown.
And I'm saying all the right things,
I'm saying all the right things.
She's feeling like she'll owe her man
A wilfull taste of all she is.
She thinks she's only learning of
A different kind of love.
So maybe she can be the man,
Get the money any way she can.
I'll wait in the house alone,
Give her what she needs when she gets home.
But I'm just as blind as the rest,
I'm just as blind as the rest.
Cause she's saying things about my hair,
She's saying things about my hair.
She's feeling like she'll owe the world,
To anyone who'll take her in.
She thinks she's only learning of
A different kind of love.
She's wondering why the guys don't know
Why she's afraid of what she owes
She is only learning of
A different kind of love.
Lyrics submitted by smuffy
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More Featured Meanings
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
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.
To me, this song is about a guy who's head over heels for this girl, but she's afraid of commitment.
"She's the kind of girl you know, Who likes to keep account of what she owes, And I would try to let her out,"
Basically, he's saying he knows she doesn't want to owe anything to him, so he wants to get out of the relationship. However...
"But I can hear her when she's not around.
And she's saying things about my hair, She's saying things about my hair."
...He's always thinking about her, and thinking about comments she's made about him (and assumably how he can change to be better).
"She's wondering why the guys don't know Why she's afraid of what she owes."
It's saying she doesn't understand why guys expect her to commit.
"She is only learning of A different kind of love."
She's learning about a love that doesn't leave when it gets bored. The part about her learning about a different kind of love (different being the key word) implies that she's used to a "love" that's temporary.
"He's the only man you love, He's the only man you're thinking of. You'd never try to make a deal,"
I'm less sure about this one. I believe it's saying something along the lines of how she really loves this guy, but she's not willing to let him commit, because then she'd have to.
"The kind of love that you don't have to feel."
Referring to a love that isn't based on fleeting emotions.
"But she's leaving him, now she's grown, She's leaving him, now she's grown."
She's convinced herself that she's too old to believe in fairy tale-esque ideas like true love, so she's leaving.
"And I'm saying all the right things, I'm saying all the right things."
He doesn't understand what he's doing wrong, that she'd want to leave him.
"She's feeling like she'll owe her man A wilfull taste of all she is."
She understands that she'll have to completely open to the guy, and (presumably) doesn't want to.
"She thinks she's only learning of A different kind of love."
The key difference here is the "thinks." I believe it's saying that she doesn't understand that she's felt this non-fleeting love for all the guys before (which would be why it hurt when they didn't, and left), and so while she thinks she doesn't understand this "different" kind of love, she actually understands it all too well (which is why she knows she'd have to open up completely).
"So maybe she can be the man, Get the money any way she can. I'll wait in the house alone, Give her what she needs when she gets home."
I believe this one is a metaphor. The metaphor is of her going to support herself financially while he waits at home to give her whatever she'd need, which represents her trying to support herself emotionally, while he's waiting to be there for her.
"But I'm just as blind as the rest, I'm just as blind as the rest. Cause she's saying things about my hair, She's saying things about my hair."
Despite knowing all this, he still knows that he knows nothing, because he's too crazy about her to think straight. I.e., even though he knows it's her, not him, he's still trying to make himself good enough for her.
"She's feeling like she'll owe the world, To anyone who'll take her in. She thinks she's only learning of A different kind of love."
It's like earlier; she knows if she commits to someone, and lets them commit to her, she'll have to give herself completely to them; she's not thinking about the fact that they'll be giving themselves completely to her too. (as evidenced by the second two lines).
"She's wondering why the guys don't know Why she's afraid of what she owes She is only learning of A different kind of love."
The first chorus again, this time with the meaning of the rest of the song behind it. Now it's saying that she doesn't understand why guy's don't understand why she won't commit, because she hasn't learned that some guys actually can be true.
Well, that's my thoughts at least.