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."
Last night, again
You were in my dreams
Several expendable limbs were at stake
You were a prince, spinning rims
All sentiments indian-given and half-baked
I was brought in on a palanquin
Made of the many bodies of beautiful women
Brought to this place to be examined
Swaying on an elephant a princess of India
We both want the very same thing
We are praying
I am the one to save you
But you don't even own
Your own violence
Run away from home
Your beard is still blue
With the loneliness of you mighty men
With your jaws, and fists, and guitars
And pens, and your sugar lip
But I've never been to the firepits with you mighty men
Who made you this way?
Who made you this way?
Who is going to bear your beautiful children?
Do you think you can just stop
When you're ready for a change?
Who will take care of you
When you're old and dying?
You burn in the Mekong
To prove your worth
Go Long, go Long
Right over the edge of the earth
You have been wronged
Tore up since birth
You have done harm
Others have done worse
Will you tuck your shirt?
Will you leave it loose?
You are badly hurt
You're a silly goose
You are caked in mud
And in blood, and worse
Chew your bitter cud
Grope your little nurse
Do you know why my ankles are bound in gauze
Sickly dressage a princess of Kentucky?
In the middle of the woods
Which were the probable cause
We danced in the lodge
Like two panting monkeys
I will give you a call, for one last hurrah
And if this tale is tall, forgive my scrambling
But you keep palming along the wall
Moving at a blind crawl
But always rambling
Wolf-spider, crouch in your funnel nest
If I knew you, once
Now I know you less
In the sinking sand
Where we've come to rest
Have I had a hand in your loneliness?
When you leave me alone
In this old palace of yours
It starts to get to me
I take to walking
What a woman does is open doors
And it is not a question of locking or unlocking
Well, I have never seen
Such a terrible room
Gilded with the gold teeth
Of the women who loved you
Though I die Magpie
This I bequeath
By any other name
A jay is still blue
With the loneliness
Of you mighty men
With your mighty kiss
That might never, never end
While, so far away
In the seat of the west
Burns the fount of the heat
Of that loneliness
There's a man who only will speak in code
Backing slowly, slowly down the road
May he master everything
That such men may know
About loving, and then letting go
You were in my dreams
Several expendable limbs were at stake
You were a prince, spinning rims
All sentiments indian-given and half-baked
I was brought in on a palanquin
Made of the many bodies of beautiful women
Brought to this place to be examined
Swaying on an elephant a princess of India
We both want the very same thing
We are praying
I am the one to save you
But you don't even own
Your own violence
Run away from home
Your beard is still blue
With the loneliness of you mighty men
With your jaws, and fists, and guitars
And pens, and your sugar lip
But I've never been to the firepits with you mighty men
Who made you this way?
Who made you this way?
Who is going to bear your beautiful children?
Do you think you can just stop
When you're ready for a change?
Who will take care of you
When you're old and dying?
You burn in the Mekong
To prove your worth
Go Long, go Long
Right over the edge of the earth
You have been wronged
Tore up since birth
You have done harm
Others have done worse
Will you tuck your shirt?
Will you leave it loose?
You are badly hurt
You're a silly goose
You are caked in mud
And in blood, and worse
Chew your bitter cud
Grope your little nurse
Do you know why my ankles are bound in gauze
Sickly dressage a princess of Kentucky?
In the middle of the woods
Which were the probable cause
We danced in the lodge
Like two panting monkeys
I will give you a call, for one last hurrah
And if this tale is tall, forgive my scrambling
But you keep palming along the wall
Moving at a blind crawl
But always rambling
Wolf-spider, crouch in your funnel nest
If I knew you, once
Now I know you less
In the sinking sand
Where we've come to rest
Have I had a hand in your loneliness?
When you leave me alone
In this old palace of yours
It starts to get to me
I take to walking
What a woman does is open doors
And it is not a question of locking or unlocking
Well, I have never seen
Such a terrible room
Gilded with the gold teeth
Of the women who loved you
Though I die Magpie
This I bequeath
By any other name
A jay is still blue
With the loneliness
Of you mighty men
With your mighty kiss
That might never, never end
While, so far away
In the seat of the west
Burns the fount of the heat
Of that loneliness
There's a man who only will speak in code
Backing slowly, slowly down the road
May he master everything
That such men may know
About loving, and then letting go
Lyrics submitted by animalcollector
Go Long Lyrics as written by Joanna Newsom
Lyrics © ROUGH TRADE PUBLISHING
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