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."
Take me away
To that house you call home
Where nothing belongs to me
But my soul
I want to find out who I am on my own
With you
So we play piano
Sipping the wine
Talk to each other as you build a fire
And so here we go
Watching us slowly unravelling
Chorus
And I won’t ask you to stay
And I won’t ask us to name
This place we’re in
And I love how I feel with you
Magical wise
Quietly tingling
Caught in surprise
You look at me and you smoulder and sigh Oh my
Dancing with you across your kitchen floor
In pj’s and cardigans
And oh I need more of this
And oh your kiss
Chorus
And I will try, try not to want to much
And I will try not to feel every touch
And I won’t even ask where we are going
But I know inside I’m hiding
Every thought that I just may be falling
Anyway…
I’ll be ok
You’re asleep by the fire now,
Where we made a bed
And I’m lying awake
With the things I’ve not said
And I realise I’ve been gathering signs
Your heart’s not here.
So where does it live?
Is it out in the rain?
In that wild little garden
You can’t seem to tame?
In the words of the newspapers
Piled up in vain,
Waiting?
Chorus
But love was here
Here with you anyway
‘Cause oh my dear,
I couldn’t be any other way
I’ll leave you here,
‘Cause you don’t belong to me
But to learn to love and let them go
Is something, I didn’t know I could do
…A gift from you
You were a place,
I couldn’t stay long
Gave me a compass
I give you a son
To that house you call home
Where nothing belongs to me
But my soul
I want to find out who I am on my own
With you
So we play piano
Sipping the wine
Talk to each other as you build a fire
And so here we go
Watching us slowly unravelling
Chorus
And I won’t ask you to stay
And I won’t ask us to name
This place we’re in
And I love how I feel with you
Magical wise
Quietly tingling
Caught in surprise
You look at me and you smoulder and sigh Oh my
Dancing with you across your kitchen floor
In pj’s and cardigans
And oh I need more of this
And oh your kiss
Chorus
And I will try, try not to want to much
And I will try not to feel every touch
And I won’t even ask where we are going
But I know inside I’m hiding
Every thought that I just may be falling
Anyway…
I’ll be ok
You’re asleep by the fire now,
Where we made a bed
And I’m lying awake
With the things I’ve not said
And I realise I’ve been gathering signs
Your heart’s not here.
So where does it live?
Is it out in the rain?
In that wild little garden
You can’t seem to tame?
In the words of the newspapers
Piled up in vain,
Waiting?
Chorus
But love was here
Here with you anyway
‘Cause oh my dear,
I couldn’t be any other way
I’ll leave you here,
‘Cause you don’t belong to me
But to learn to love and let them go
Is something, I didn’t know I could do
…A gift from you
You were a place,
I couldn’t stay long
Gave me a compass
I give you a son
Lyrics submitted by ChalkyWalky
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