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."
Only once the drugs are done
That I feel like dying, I feel like dying
Only once the drugs are done
That I feel like dying, I feel like dying
Only once the drugs are done
That I feel like dying, I feel like dying
(I feel like, I feel like, I feel like)
I am sittin' on the clouds
I got smoke comin' from my seat
I can play basketball with the moon
I got the whole world at my feet
Playin' touch football, on marijuana street
Or, in a marijuana field, you are so beneath my cleets
Get high, so high, that I feel like lying
Down in a cigar, roll me up and smoke me 'cause
(I feel like dying)
Only once the drugs are done
That I feel like dying, I feel like dying
Only once the drugs are done
That I feel like dying, I feel like dying
(I feel like, I feel like, I feel like)
Swimming laps around a bottle of Louis the Thirteenth
Jumpin' off of a mountain into a sea of Codeine
I'm at the top of the top, but still I climb
And if I should ever fall
The ground would then turn to wine
Pop, pop, I feel like flying
Then I feel like frying, then
(I feel like dying)
Only once the drugs are done
That I feel like dying, I feel like dying
Only once the drugs are done
That I feel like dying, I feel like dying
(I feel like, I feel like, I feel like)
I can mingle with the stars
And throw a party on Mars
I am a prisoner, locked up behind Xanax bars
I have just boarded a plane, without a pilot
And violets are blue, roses are red
Daisies are yellow, the flowers are dead
Wish I can give you this feeling, I feel like buying
And if my dealer don't have no more, then
(I feel like dying)
Only once the drugs are done
That I feel like dying, I feel like dying
Only once the drugs are done
That I feel like dying, I feel like dying
That I feel like dying, I feel like dying
Only once the drugs are done
That I feel like dying, I feel like dying
Only once the drugs are done
That I feel like dying, I feel like dying
(I feel like, I feel like, I feel like)
I am sittin' on the clouds
I got smoke comin' from my seat
I can play basketball with the moon
I got the whole world at my feet
Playin' touch football, on marijuana street
Or, in a marijuana field, you are so beneath my cleets
Get high, so high, that I feel like lying
Down in a cigar, roll me up and smoke me 'cause
(I feel like dying)
Only once the drugs are done
That I feel like dying, I feel like dying
Only once the drugs are done
That I feel like dying, I feel like dying
(I feel like, I feel like, I feel like)
Swimming laps around a bottle of Louis the Thirteenth
Jumpin' off of a mountain into a sea of Codeine
I'm at the top of the top, but still I climb
And if I should ever fall
The ground would then turn to wine
Pop, pop, I feel like flying
Then I feel like frying, then
(I feel like dying)
Only once the drugs are done
That I feel like dying, I feel like dying
Only once the drugs are done
That I feel like dying, I feel like dying
(I feel like, I feel like, I feel like)
I can mingle with the stars
And throw a party on Mars
I am a prisoner, locked up behind Xanax bars
I have just boarded a plane, without a pilot
And violets are blue, roses are red
Daisies are yellow, the flowers are dead
Wish I can give you this feeling, I feel like buying
And if my dealer don't have no more, then
(I feel like dying)
Only once the drugs are done
That I feel like dying, I feel like dying
Only once the drugs are done
That I feel like dying, I feel like dying
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Favorite song to blaze to.