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."
Things are shaping up to be pretty odd
Little deaths in musical beds
So it seems I'm someone I've never met
You will only hear these elegant crimes
Fall on your ears from criminal dimes
They spill unfound from a pretty mouth
And everybody gets there, everybody gets their
And everybody gets their way (hey)
I never said I missed her when everybody kissed her
Now I'm the only one to blame
Things have changed for me, and that's okay
I feel the same, I'm on my way, and I say
Things have changed for me, and that's okay
I want to go where everyone goes
I want to know what everyone knows
I want to go where everyone feels the same
I never said I'd leave the city
I never said I'd leave this town
A falling out we won't tiptoe about
Well, everybody gets there, everybody gets their
And everybody gets their way
I never said I missed her when everybody kissed her
Now I'm the only one to blame
Things have changed for me, and that's okay
I feel the same, I'm on my way, and I say
Things have changed for me, and that's okay
I feel the same, I'm on my way, and I say
Well, things have changed for me
Come on, everybody, let's dance and sing
I'm singing it all night long
Come on, everybody, yeah, join along
I'm singing, well, things have changed for me
Come on everyone, let's dance and sing
Well I'm singing it all night long
So come on everybody, yeah, sing along
Things have changed for me, and that's okay
I'm on my way, and I'll say
Things have changed for me
Little deaths in musical beds
So it seems I'm someone I've never met
You will only hear these elegant crimes
Fall on your ears from criminal dimes
They spill unfound from a pretty mouth
And everybody gets there, everybody gets their
And everybody gets their way (hey)
I never said I missed her when everybody kissed her
Now I'm the only one to blame
Things have changed for me, and that's okay
I feel the same, I'm on my way, and I say
Things have changed for me, and that's okay
I want to go where everyone goes
I want to know what everyone knows
I want to go where everyone feels the same
I never said I'd leave the city
I never said I'd leave this town
A falling out we won't tiptoe about
Well, everybody gets there, everybody gets their
And everybody gets their way
I never said I missed her when everybody kissed her
Now I'm the only one to blame
Things have changed for me, and that's okay
I feel the same, I'm on my way, and I say
Things have changed for me, and that's okay
I feel the same, I'm on my way, and I say
Well, things have changed for me
Come on, everybody, let's dance and sing
I'm singing it all night long
Come on, everybody, yeah, join along
I'm singing, well, things have changed for me
Come on everyone, let's dance and sing
Well I'm singing it all night long
So come on everybody, yeah, sing along
Things have changed for me, and that's okay
I'm on my way, and I'll say
Things have changed for me
Lyrics submitted by applehxcsauce, edited by lifexuke, greengents, TR_Jessie
That Green Gentleman (Things Have Changed) Lyrics as written by George Ross Brendon Urie
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
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More Featured Meanings
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
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When We Were Young
Blink-182
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This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
No Surprises
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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
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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.
I think this song is a bit more sinister than people are considering. It sounds upbeat and happy and proclamatory and all that, but the lyrics aren't exactly joyous or anything.
The second line: "little death" in French becomes "le petit mort/la petite morte"---a euphemism for an ORGASM. I'm positive that this is what the line references... it's the kind of thing Ryan Ross might find clever.