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."
Watery eyes of the last sighing seconds
Blue reflections mute and dim
Beckon tearful child of wonder
To repentance of the sin
And the blind and lusty lovers
Of the great eternal lie
Go on believing nothing
Since something has to die
And the ape's curiosity
Money power wins
And the yellow, soft mountains
Move under him
I'm with you L.E.M
Though it's a shame that it had to be you
The mother ship
Is just a blip from your trip made for two
I'm with you boys
So please employ just a little extra care
It's on my mind
I'm left behind when I should have been there
Walking with you
And the limp face hungry viewers
Fight to fasten with their eyes
Like the man hung from the trapeze
Whose fall will satisfy
And congratulate each other
On their rare and wondrous deed
That their begrudged money bought
To sow the monkey's seed
And the yellow soft mountains
They grow very still
Witness as intrusion
The humanoid thrill
I'm with you L.E.M
Though it's a shame that it had to be you
The mother ship
Is just a blip from my trip made for two
I'm with you boys
So please employ just a little extra care
It's on my mind
I'm left behind when I should have been there
Walking with you
With you
With you
Blue reflections mute and dim
Beckon tearful child of wonder
To repentance of the sin
And the blind and lusty lovers
Of the great eternal lie
Go on believing nothing
Since something has to die
And the ape's curiosity
Money power wins
And the yellow, soft mountains
Move under him
I'm with you L.E.M
Though it's a shame that it had to be you
The mother ship
Is just a blip from your trip made for two
I'm with you boys
So please employ just a little extra care
It's on my mind
I'm left behind when I should have been there
Walking with you
And the limp face hungry viewers
Fight to fasten with their eyes
Like the man hung from the trapeze
Whose fall will satisfy
And congratulate each other
On their rare and wondrous deed
That their begrudged money bought
To sow the monkey's seed
And the yellow soft mountains
They grow very still
Witness as intrusion
The humanoid thrill
I'm with you L.E.M
Though it's a shame that it had to be you
The mother ship
Is just a blip from my trip made for two
I'm with you boys
So please employ just a little extra care
It's on my mind
I'm left behind when I should have been there
Walking with you
With you
With you
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Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
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.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
The moon landing, of course, was hugely celebrated and televised as an incredibly exciting "giant leap for mankind" But I believe that Ian Anderson is comparing his own feelings when he watched it to the feelings of Michael Collins, feeling excluded and "left behind" while Armstrong and Aldrin walked on the moon. He is specifically talking about his feelings of alienation, and being unable to share in the great shared excitement of the crowd, feeling like and outsider looking in on the whole thing with no ability to relate to it.
The reason that he feels so alienated is because he sees the contrast between all of the great hype of the moon landing and people celebrating it as some huge human achievement, and the darkness and drudgery of human life on earth. He references the moral nihilism, greed, and stupidity of the human crowd, which is in a self-congratulatory mood. But he sees them more as glorified apes and monkeys. They can put a man on the moon but they can't get this world or themselves in any kind of decent order.