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 body dances to the beat of the noises from the street
As patterns grids and schedules go, we took a subway to the show
So give us this day our daily commute
On the bus in three piece suits
Say goodbye, kiss and ride
On the way to the club, look outside
The movement kills in several ways, although we see it as delay
The steering wheel, a guillotine
The body dances to the beat
"Take the subway, fuck the street"
The flesh twists between the gap and passengers are also trapped
Inertia pushed them all along, but they won't make it to their next stop
Patrons complain about the wait
While the man outside can't feel his legs, "Just pull me out, save my life"
But all the cops can do is phone his wife
She drives as fast as she can and gets caught up in a traffic jam
As patterns grids and schedules go, we took a subway to the show
So give us this day our daily commute
On the bus in three piece suits
Say goodbye, kiss and ride
On the way to the club, look outside
The movement kills in several ways, although we see it as delay
The steering wheel, a guillotine
The body dances to the beat
"Take the subway, fuck the street"
The flesh twists between the gap and passengers are also trapped
Inertia pushed them all along, but they won't make it to their next stop
Patrons complain about the wait
While the man outside can't feel his legs, "Just pull me out, save my life"
But all the cops can do is phone his wife
She drives as fast as she can and gets caught up in a traffic jam
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Mountain Song
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love this song, if you listen carefully aftereach of the things said within the brackets you will hear 'the human arrives, sealed'
song is basically about a crash that could have easily been avoided by taking the street and not the subway, obviously this appears on a much larger scale in real life, every day situations, all of our choices in life contribute to our future and therefore our death.