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."
"don't get to close" you said, "cuz this is gonna burn,"
they say "kids don't play with fire,"
but we're kids we never learn.
and that's how i came to see
how Holden Caulfield was your prophet,
but the prophesy was self fulfilling and you know it.
and we were so naive. Yea so naive,
we could have turned back and walked away,
you were fucking screaming, and I could not see,
you'd given your best warning.
that the ghosts that you held close had told you
"hear now what we say, the world is gonna push you down,
so push the world away,"
and they said everybody knew you were a firecracker,
but i found out the hard way...
the love we held on to was so caught up in our belief,
that the dreams we had were stronger than the forces of defeat,
but then our dreams they one by one,
were swallowed by the situation,
of aggravated tension, yea, and miscommunication...
though i didn't have a clue... i found out.
i woke up from a dream when I met a generation,
who were terrified of Love,
though convinced that it could save them,
when like all things consecrated it turned out to be a lie,
it couldn't save them from the thing that had grown inside...
i met a generation that had lost their only friends,
to a suicidal culture that had forced them to pretend,
that the fuse that grew inside wasn't ready to ignite,
but kids will play with fire and we lit up the fucking night.
i found out, i found out, i found out the hard way.
i found you were a firecracker.
they say "kids don't play with fire,"
but we're kids we never learn.
and that's how i came to see
how Holden Caulfield was your prophet,
but the prophesy was self fulfilling and you know it.
and we were so naive. Yea so naive,
we could have turned back and walked away,
you were fucking screaming, and I could not see,
you'd given your best warning.
that the ghosts that you held close had told you
"hear now what we say, the world is gonna push you down,
so push the world away,"
and they said everybody knew you were a firecracker,
but i found out the hard way...
the love we held on to was so caught up in our belief,
that the dreams we had were stronger than the forces of defeat,
but then our dreams they one by one,
were swallowed by the situation,
of aggravated tension, yea, and miscommunication...
though i didn't have a clue... i found out.
i woke up from a dream when I met a generation,
who were terrified of Love,
though convinced that it could save them,
when like all things consecrated it turned out to be a lie,
it couldn't save them from the thing that had grown inside...
i met a generation that had lost their only friends,
to a suicidal culture that had forced them to pretend,
that the fuse that grew inside wasn't ready to ignite,
but kids will play with fire and we lit up the fucking night.
i found out, i found out, i found out the hard way.
i found you were a firecracker.
Lyrics submitted by DakotaFloyd
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Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
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Yo La Tengo
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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,
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This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
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Page
Ed Sheeran
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