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."
Faith, you're driving me away
You do it everyday
You don't mean it but it hurts like hell
My brain says I'm receiving pain
A lack of oxygen from my life support
My iron lung
We're too young to fall asleep
Too cynical to speak
We are loosing it, can't you tell?
We scratch our eternal itch
Our twentieth century bitch and we are grateful for our
Iron lung
Suck, suck your teenage thumb
Toilet trained and dumb
When the power runs out we'll just hum
This this is our new song
Just like the last one
A total waste of time
My iron lung
If you're frightened
You can be frightened
You can be, it's okay
If you're frightened
You can be frightened
You can be, it's okay
You do it everyday
You don't mean it but it hurts like hell
My brain says I'm receiving pain
A lack of oxygen from my life support
My iron lung
We're too young to fall asleep
Too cynical to speak
We are loosing it, can't you tell?
We scratch our eternal itch
Our twentieth century bitch and we are grateful for our
Iron lung
Suck, suck your teenage thumb
Toilet trained and dumb
When the power runs out we'll just hum
This this is our new song
Just like the last one
A total waste of time
My iron lung
If you're frightened
You can be frightened
You can be, it's okay
If you're frightened
You can be frightened
You can be, it's okay
Lyrics submitted by piesupreme, edited by rahvii, mattbirt, AnytimeAnyhow, Zainy
My Iron Lung Lyrics as written by Edward John O'brien Colin Charles Greenwood
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Downtown Music Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
I think the song is not about Creep, in my opinion...
Faith, you're driving me away You do it everyday You don't mean it but it hurts like hell My brain says I'm receiving pain A lack of oxygen from my life support My iron lung
Faith means fear, fear about losing someone (I'll explain why someone later...) and he's losing any kind of hope... he knows he's getting worse because he wants something he can't achieve, he's "dying" because he can't get it, the iron lung is the most beautiful part of the song, it means something you need but you don't wanna have... for example: when you love someone you don't wanna love, but she/he makes you happy sometimes, even though it's just a lie.
We're too young to fall asleep Too cynical to speak We are losing it, can't you tell? We scratch our eternal itch A twentieth century bitch And we are grateful for our iron lung
Just as said before, he's losing someone, and they won't talk about it, but there's plenty of time (we're to young to fall asleep, this means there's plenty of time to talk about it, yet, they won't), and he's quite angry that she (in my opinion it's about a girl) doesn't even care. "We scratch our eternal itch, a twentieth century bitch" they won't do anything about it, and they will feel kind of uncomfortable, but they'll pretend there's nothing wrong, and pretend they are fine (just like everyone does, and that's what 20th century means). And they'll pretend they're fine depending on an "iron lung" (that keeps them "alive")
The headshrinkers They want everything My uncle Bill My Belisha beacon
Headshrinkers as headhunters are like fears, he's starting to lose control, his head is like a belisha beacon and he's losing it
Suck, suck your teenage thumb Toilet trained and dumb When the power runs out we'll just hum This, this is our new song Just like the last one A total waste of time My iron lung
he's saying like "keep being so childish, pretending everything's alright, eventually it will be". "This is our new song, just like the last one a total waste of time, my iron lung" I love this part, I'm also a composer, and writing a song is like writing down your feelings and finally let them go... but some feelings are really really sad and even if you make a lot of songs, you can't make them go, and you hope that when you write a nice song for someone, that someone appreciates it, but when she/he doesn't, you feel like crap, like a waste of time...
And if you're frightened You can be frightened You can be, it's okay
Cause he's not
I hope you like it, obviously it's not the perfect meaning, because unless you're the writer, you can't completely understand a song... but that's the way I see the song...
Very cool, man, nice interpretation. I'd just add that maybe the feelings that the song narrates and describes aren't about a girl...but about your ownself. I mean, maybe the Iron Lung is about what we feel when we let the head bows to the bad or sad things we see and feel...but we admit them, because there's no way or because there's something amongst them that makes we feel comfortable...I don't know, that's just another point of view hehe