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."
Bleached by the sun
And scorned by the moon
If I make it 'til tomorrow noon
I'm leaving
'Tween the horror of space
And the terror of time
My heart in crystal
Down the line I'm screaming
What I need is a kiss from you babe
Before it's hangover time
What I need is some love from you babe
Before this stampede arrives
Desolate landscapes
Storybook bliss
Darling let me tell you
This is crazy
Hell of a memory
Is a Heaven a pain
Snow is cold but so is rain
Please save me
What I need is a kiss from you babe
Before it's hangover time
What I need is some love from you babe
Before the stampede arrives
I need you
And scorned by the moon
If I make it 'til tomorrow noon
I'm leaving
'Tween the horror of space
And the terror of time
My heart in crystal
Down the line I'm screaming
What I need is a kiss from you babe
Before it's hangover time
What I need is some love from you babe
Before this stampede arrives
Desolate landscapes
Storybook bliss
Darling let me tell you
This is crazy
Hell of a memory
Is a Heaven a pain
Snow is cold but so is rain
Please save me
What I need is a kiss from you babe
Before it's hangover time
What I need is some love from you babe
Before the stampede arrives
I need you
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Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
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.
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.
This is the best 'morning after' song I've heard, a sentiment mainly captured by 'what I need is a kiss from you babe, before it's hangover time'. What a great line that is...this song is so damn catchy. I think in a fair world about 75% of the songs on Spectres would have been MASSIVE radio hits, they're all accessible, catchy singalong tunes with fine song-writing. 'Going Thru The Motions' should have been one of the biggest anthems of the 70s.
I can pick up the morning-after hangover thing from this song but much of the rest seems to be some kind of dark nightmare, with a sci-fi feel.
I have never been sure that he was saying "before it's hangover time." I am 23 and BOC has been my favorite band since I was 4. Honestly. And this has been one of my favorite albums for over a decade. I have heard this song more times than I can ever remember, and I have never been able to figure out what he's saying there. But I TOTALLY agree with you in that most of their songs should have been huge on the radio. Everyone says Led Zeppelin was the best early heavy metal band, but BOC has more original material than almost ANY group or artist in ANY genre. (Frank Zappa has an entire vault of unreleased recordings.) They simply had horrible marketing strategies, and constantly refused to change little words in their lyrics here and there to comply with FCC. Plus, a staggering majority of their music is very dark, deep and contemplative. It almost always borderlines on Doom Cake Metal (like Type O Negative, another pioneer band that trancsends almost every time and genre), which was and remains to be, very contrary to what big-time radio stations see as something that can boost ratings. They seem to want music that while completely lacking in any intelligent substance whatsoever, has a catchy beat and makes people (I call them SHEEP) feel happy without having to think about why they are feeling happy. I don't know why a group of people that can be so VERY musically talented, genious even(!!), can be so ignorant or even lazy to the marketing aspect of music. Either they didn't know how to make their music popular, or they didn't care if it was popular or not. I'd like to think it was the latter. "Let the SHEEP have their top 40 lists and Tony Awards, we will have a base core of true, diehard fans that will span and transcend generations. We will have a CULT!!" <br /> Anyway, I'm sorry, Ive been a dihard BOC fan my whole life, and have been completely isolated in my love for them. I have friends who will listen to them, and say "oh, thats cool, can we listen to Rammstein now?". They do not or will not stop for three seconds and let themselves delve into the seemingly infinite facets and layers to every peice of music in a BOC song. So, to see that there are people out there who Understand, really makes me feel like I'm not alone in this for the first time EVER!!(Besides being at a BOC show, Ive seentwo so far!!!)
great song from a great band
Is it not scorched by the moon rather than scorned by the moon?..bleached by the sun scorched by the moon makes more sense..
GREAT SONG!!!! I THINK IT\'S AN ALBERT SONG CUZ HE HAS BEEN SINGING ON IT WHEN THEY PLAY IT LIVE WHICH IS RARE
great song