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."
The half-backflip
Conception state hospital birth
The most threadbare, tall story the country has ever heard
Brought home to breath smoke in the arms of her mother
The blunt kitchen knife, who just lays in a submissive position
Beneath a national weight, and the slow arc of a fist
Her heart beats like a breezeblock, thrown down the stairs
Her blood is thicker than concrete, forced to be brave, she was
Born into a grave
And in the limp through years of bored schooling
She's accustomed to hearing that she could never run far
A slipped disc in the spine of community
A bloody curse word in a pedestrian verse
Spirits in graveyards and fingers in car parks
She cries on the high street just to be heard.
A screaming anchor for nothing in particular
At the foot of the fuck of it
Dragging her heels in the dirt
Her heart beats like a breezeblock, thrown down the stairs
Her blood is thicker than concrete, forced to be brave, she was
Born into a grave
The cheek of youth flashed red and turned grey
Now she lies on the pavement she is helped to her feet
All thighs, hair and magpie handbags
Saturday's uniform for the 'fuck me' parade
Brought home to keep warm in the arms of a plumber, ruddy and balding
Who just needs a spine to dig in to
A chest for the head and a hand for the holding
Her heart beats like a breezeblock, thrown down the stairs
Her blood is thicker than concrete, forced to be brave, she was
She was
Her heart beats like a breezeblock, thrown down the stairs
Her skin is thicker than concrete, forced to be brave, she was
She was
A broken elevator anthem, held between floors
But if blood is thicker than concrete, all is not lost.
All is not lost
All is not lost
All is not lost
All is not lost
Conception state hospital birth
The most threadbare, tall story the country has ever heard
Brought home to breath smoke in the arms of her mother
The blunt kitchen knife, who just lays in a submissive position
Beneath a national weight, and the slow arc of a fist
Her heart beats like a breezeblock, thrown down the stairs
Her blood is thicker than concrete, forced to be brave, she was
Born into a grave
And in the limp through years of bored schooling
She's accustomed to hearing that she could never run far
A slipped disc in the spine of community
A bloody curse word in a pedestrian verse
Spirits in graveyards and fingers in car parks
She cries on the high street just to be heard.
A screaming anchor for nothing in particular
At the foot of the fuck of it
Dragging her heels in the dirt
Her heart beats like a breezeblock, thrown down the stairs
Her blood is thicker than concrete, forced to be brave, she was
Born into a grave
The cheek of youth flashed red and turned grey
Now she lies on the pavement she is helped to her feet
All thighs, hair and magpie handbags
Saturday's uniform for the 'fuck me' parade
Brought home to keep warm in the arms of a plumber, ruddy and balding
Who just needs a spine to dig in to
A chest for the head and a hand for the holding
Her heart beats like a breezeblock, thrown down the stairs
Her blood is thicker than concrete, forced to be brave, she was
She was
Her heart beats like a breezeblock, thrown down the stairs
Her skin is thicker than concrete, forced to be brave, she was
She was
A broken elevator anthem, held between floors
But if blood is thicker than concrete, all is not lost.
All is not lost
All is not lost
All is not lost
All is not lost
Lyrics submitted by wyndhamhrt, edited by everestdesign, johninky, smallwonderrobot, eliot01, stall0ut, rossb93, virtuallypainless
State Hospital Lyrics as written by David William Lawrence Kennedy Andy Monaghan
Lyrics © DOMINO PUBLISHING COMPANY
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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More Featured Meanings
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
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,
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
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.
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.
Lyrics are now correct as seen in the CD Booklet