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."
We got knocked off the horse and we can't get back up. We can try to change but we've still got our bills that we gotta pay. And the payments stay the same no matter where you move and no matter how cheap the rent.
Stop screaming for a change.
Start screaming for a wage.
And the irony of plastic is when it starts replacing cash, soon enough you have no cash and it gets replaced with debt and all you're left with is past mistakes and the envelopes change color: all dimly lit pastels, they go white, then yellow then pink. It's like a fucking party to celebrate that you're fucked.
Electric flow and dirty clothes and students loans, oh god, ya gotta pay 'em.
Electric flow and student loans and dirty clothes, oh god, ya gotta clean 'em.
While you can't get a decent wage, I still can't find a job. Yeah, my life just repeats the 2005 series of rejected applications and me botching interviews and waiting for phone calls from a temp agency that never calls at all. It's never easy it's always electric flow...
The attack, I'm feeling the attack, I'm feeling the attack
of basic social skills I know I know I know I know I lack
I'm hyper-cognizant of facts
I'm well aware that we are barely scraping by
My good intentions aren't enough to salvage that
Gimme 1 gimme 2 gimme 3 4 5
Gimme more per hour so I can afford to pay for food and gas
And bags to throw away the trash
Ya gotta throw away the trash.
It's hard to pay the bills whne you can't work a forty hour week.
It's hard to interview when I am too depressed to even speak.
It's hard to have a blast when we spend all our spare time feeling weak because we're thinking about that electric flow etc.
Stop screaming for a change.
Start screaming for a wage.
And the irony of plastic is when it starts replacing cash, soon enough you have no cash and it gets replaced with debt and all you're left with is past mistakes and the envelopes change color: all dimly lit pastels, they go white, then yellow then pink. It's like a fucking party to celebrate that you're fucked.
Electric flow and dirty clothes and students loans, oh god, ya gotta pay 'em.
Electric flow and student loans and dirty clothes, oh god, ya gotta clean 'em.
While you can't get a decent wage, I still can't find a job. Yeah, my life just repeats the 2005 series of rejected applications and me botching interviews and waiting for phone calls from a temp agency that never calls at all. It's never easy it's always electric flow...
The attack, I'm feeling the attack, I'm feeling the attack
of basic social skills I know I know I know I know I lack
I'm hyper-cognizant of facts
I'm well aware that we are barely scraping by
My good intentions aren't enough to salvage that
Gimme 1 gimme 2 gimme 3 4 5
Gimme more per hour so I can afford to pay for food and gas
And bags to throw away the trash
Ya gotta throw away the trash.
It's hard to pay the bills whne you can't work a forty hour week.
It's hard to interview when I am too depressed to even speak.
It's hard to have a blast when we spend all our spare time feeling weak because we're thinking about that electric flow etc.
Lyrics submitted by MintyMintyMinty
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Mountain Song
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