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."
Missionary
--------------
[Words that change on different recordings or live are in round brackets, and my notes are in square brackets.]
You throw a party...
Are all your guests kept on ice?[1]
While you got drunk,
(I was) biding my time.[2]
From all on show,
(There's) nobody there that takes your fancy.[3]
You're stuck with one,[4]
But (I'm) not your first choice.[5]
Mmmmmh come on love,
(Have) a little fun.
Mmmmmh come on love,
(Have) a little fun.[6]
A fuck you (told) me:
(Was) uninspiring and missionary.[7]
You're quick to warn me
To sleep on my side.
You're none too warm and,
In the morning you're none too friendly.
No remorse then?[8]
We're not even tired.[9, 10]
Mmmmmh come on love,
(Have) a little fun.
Mmmmmh come on love,
(Have) a little fun.
A fuck you (sold) me
Was uninspiring and missionary.
No remorse, then,
(In) saying goodbye.[11]
(Goodbye...)[12]
Mmmmmh come on love
A little fun, love.
Notes
--------
1: To keep someone on ice is: 'to keep someone uninformed or uncontacted'.
2: On the album 'Thrawn', he says "I'm biding...". On 'The Jubilee E.P.' and also live he sings 'I was...', which definitely fits in better with the past tense in the third line.
3: a) 'There's' is omitted on the Thrawn version; b) If someone takes your fancy, you find them attractive.
4: 'stuck' indicates someone in a social situation they don't want to be in.
5: On Jubilee and live he usually says this. It makes more sense too. So the whole stanza means: 'From everyone who's in the room, nobody is really that attractive to you. I see you are unable to get away from talking to one person, and I note that I'm not your top preference here anyway.'
6: On the record 'Thrawn', he omits 'have', it seems, which suggests it's a question: i.e., "Come on love, won't you have a little fun? [sex]" BUT, live and on Jubilee he definitely says 'Have a...'.
7: The word 'was' isn't there in this verse on Thrawn, but again, live he puts it in. He also seems to alternate 'told'/'sold' when he plays live and on record.
8: It seems like he's asking a question here, as if to say to his bedfellow: "do you not even feel bad about the way you treated me last night?"
9: ...which leads onto: "look, we're not even tired" -- this could mean a number of things; maybe, "we should be tired, that is, we should have stayed up in bed having fun last night"; or, "neither of us can blame this situation on tiredness".
10: I've restructured this verse so it fits in better with the chord sequence and the other verses.
11: This is definitely not a question now--it's a statement: "I've no remorse in saying goodbye to you". Note, on Jubilee he omits the 'in'.
12: The song ends on a long drawn out 'Goodbye' on Jubilee, but not on Thrawn.
--------------
[Words that change on different recordings or live are in round brackets, and my notes are in square brackets.]
You throw a party...
Are all your guests kept on ice?[1]
While you got drunk,
(I was) biding my time.[2]
From all on show,
(There's) nobody there that takes your fancy.[3]
You're stuck with one,[4]
But (I'm) not your first choice.[5]
Mmmmmh come on love,
(Have) a little fun.
Mmmmmh come on love,
(Have) a little fun.[6]
A fuck you (told) me:
(Was) uninspiring and missionary.[7]
You're quick to warn me
To sleep on my side.
You're none too warm and,
In the morning you're none too friendly.
No remorse then?[8]
We're not even tired.[9, 10]
Mmmmmh come on love,
(Have) a little fun.
Mmmmmh come on love,
(Have) a little fun.
A fuck you (sold) me
Was uninspiring and missionary.
No remorse, then,
(In) saying goodbye.[11]
(Goodbye...)[12]
Mmmmmh come on love
A little fun, love.
Notes
--------
1: To keep someone on ice is: 'to keep someone uninformed or uncontacted'.
2: On the album 'Thrawn', he says "I'm biding...". On 'The Jubilee E.P.' and also live he sings 'I was...', which definitely fits in better with the past tense in the third line.
3: a) 'There's' is omitted on the Thrawn version; b) If someone takes your fancy, you find them attractive.
4: 'stuck' indicates someone in a social situation they don't want to be in.
5: On Jubilee and live he usually says this. It makes more sense too. So the whole stanza means: 'From everyone who's in the room, nobody is really that attractive to you. I see you are unable to get away from talking to one person, and I note that I'm not your top preference here anyway.'
6: On the record 'Thrawn', he omits 'have', it seems, which suggests it's a question: i.e., "Come on love, won't you have a little fun? [sex]" BUT, live and on Jubilee he definitely says 'Have a...'.
7: The word 'was' isn't there in this verse on Thrawn, but again, live he puts it in. He also seems to alternate 'told'/'sold' when he plays live and on record.
8: It seems like he's asking a question here, as if to say to his bedfellow: "do you not even feel bad about the way you treated me last night?"
9: ...which leads onto: "look, we're not even tired" -- this could mean a number of things; maybe, "we should be tired, that is, we should have stayed up in bed having fun last night"; or, "neither of us can blame this situation on tiredness".
10: I've restructured this verse so it fits in better with the chord sequence and the other verses.
11: This is definitely not a question now--it's a statement: "I've no remorse in saying goodbye to you". Note, on Jubilee he omits the 'in'.
12: The song ends on a long drawn out 'Goodbye' on Jubilee, but not on Thrawn.
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I tried my best to write down the lyrics of this amazing song. However I'm not a native english speaker, I would be glad to see what an exercised ear understand ;-)
@quarcks thank you very much friend. You did a wonderful job! I found this song at BIRP! COMMUNITY and then I translated the lyrics, the melody that fascinated me was even more special. A mixture of melancholy and sympathy about how the situation is handled, even if the character's bewilderment is implicit ... Who has never felt this way, sort of ... disposable? Thanks anyway, I'm behind the chords, one or the other I still haven't found!