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 other day I swear to God
I got a letter in the mail that
Said register with us or you're
Gonna go to jail
You'll be put inside a cage, then
Forced to enlist
Well I laughed out loud, said I
Won't comply
To be labeled as one of those
Who qualify to be shipped off to
Fight some fucking war
'Cause war's not about policy-religion
It's about economy and I'm not dying
to set your country free
I'll never bow to your expectations
I never have I never will
I'm not a puppet, pawn, or
Figure head I'm a man of my
Own free will
Our freedoms are slowly surrendered
As they take more than their fill
How much power is ever enough for
The men, the men on Capitol Hill
They're cuttin's back on welfare
IL legalizing harmlessness, am I the
Only one to see there's something
Wrong with this
I don't have the answers won't
Pretend to say I will but to put
My trust in government, I think I'd
rather kill
Off mighty word democracy
Spells freedom for you and me
The books have all been written
And the prophets denied
Little by little watch this state
Begin to fall as we awaken from
This dream and find ourselves
Nailed to the wall
Oh firecracker patriotic lire, you were
Burnin' bright the day the country
Died, in all your glory in all your
Pride
Light the way torch of Liberty
Light the sky for the whole world
To see, in all your glory in all
Your pride
I got a letter in the mail that
Said register with us or you're
Gonna go to jail
You'll be put inside a cage, then
Forced to enlist
Well I laughed out loud, said I
Won't comply
To be labeled as one of those
Who qualify to be shipped off to
Fight some fucking war
'Cause war's not about policy-religion
It's about economy and I'm not dying
to set your country free
I'll never bow to your expectations
I never have I never will
I'm not a puppet, pawn, or
Figure head I'm a man of my
Own free will
Our freedoms are slowly surrendered
As they take more than their fill
How much power is ever enough for
The men, the men on Capitol Hill
They're cuttin's back on welfare
IL legalizing harmlessness, am I the
Only one to see there's something
Wrong with this
I don't have the answers won't
Pretend to say I will but to put
My trust in government, I think I'd
rather kill
Off mighty word democracy
Spells freedom for you and me
The books have all been written
And the prophets denied
Little by little watch this state
Begin to fall as we awaken from
This dream and find ourselves
Nailed to the wall
Oh firecracker patriotic lire, you were
Burnin' bright the day the country
Died, in all your glory in all your
Pride
Light the way torch of Liberty
Light the sky for the whole world
To see, in all your glory in all
Your pride
Lyrics submitted by firstarsbrnwhite
Firecracker Lyrics as written by Robert Zabrecky Fred Schneider
Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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this song is great, never really listened to the lyrics before but now it has a helluva lot of meaning with this crap in Iraq