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."
From the window of your rented limousine
I saw your pretty blue eyes
One day soon you're gonna reach sixteen
Painted lady in the city of lies
Oh, do you know my name?
Do I look the same?
You know I'm the one you want, babe
I must be the one you need, yeah
Clutching pages from your teenage dream
In the lobby of the Hotel Paradise
Through the circus of the LA queens
How fast your learn the downhill side
Oh, how you like my face?
Still don't know your name
You know I'm the one you want, babe
Oh yes, I must be the one you need, yeah
Oh, you got me feeling
Just a bit, just a bit
Lips like cherries and the brow of a queen
Come on, flash it in my eyes
Said you dug me since you were thirteen
Then you giggle as you heave and sigh
Oh, do you know my name?
Do I look the same?
Baby I gotta tell you, I'm the one you want
And everybody know I'm the one you need, yeah
Oh, give it to me, come on now
Hours, hours, and the moments in between
Oh, baby, I couldn't count the times
The fun of comin', oh the pain in leavin'
Baby, dry those silver eyes
Oh, do you know my name?
Do I look the same?
You know I'm the one you want
Oh yes, I'm the one you need
Oh, that's right, oh, yes that's right
Oh, that's right, that's right, that's right
Oh yeah, that's right
I saw your pretty blue eyes
One day soon you're gonna reach sixteen
Painted lady in the city of lies
Oh, do you know my name?
Do I look the same?
You know I'm the one you want, babe
I must be the one you need, yeah
Clutching pages from your teenage dream
In the lobby of the Hotel Paradise
Through the circus of the LA queens
How fast your learn the downhill side
Oh, how you like my face?
Still don't know your name
You know I'm the one you want, babe
Oh yes, I must be the one you need, yeah
Oh, you got me feeling
Just a bit, just a bit
Lips like cherries and the brow of a queen
Come on, flash it in my eyes
Said you dug me since you were thirteen
Then you giggle as you heave and sigh
Oh, do you know my name?
Do I look the same?
Baby I gotta tell you, I'm the one you want
And everybody know I'm the one you need, yeah
Oh, give it to me, come on now
Hours, hours, and the moments in between
Oh, baby, I couldn't count the times
The fun of comin', oh the pain in leavin'
Baby, dry those silver eyes
Oh, do you know my name?
Do I look the same?
You know I'm the one you want
Oh yes, I'm the one you need
Oh, that's right, oh, yes that's right
Oh, that's right, that's right, that's right
Oh yeah, that's right
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Mountain Song
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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.
okay once again.. song = not about heroin
it was written by plant about female groupies.
Sounds like groupies or even street whores-- "painted ladies". Personally, I think Robert Plant is bi so "L.A. queens" might be about gay guys or trannies. Other than that, the only thing certain is they're young and he's mocking them, and all the while he's banging them:
"Oh, baby, I couldn't count the times the fun of comin', oh the pain in leavin', Baby, dry those silver eyes "
"Do you know my name, do I look the same"-- it sounds like that's the groupie talking and he's mocking their desperation.
Zep is kind of gross, huh? I love their music but that all sounds so sleazy and pitiful...
-10
this is sort of the same subject matter as "what is and what should never be". seems like he had a thing for the groupie teen chicks that must have always been around him, but based on the lyrics of these songs, must have kept that thing as a fantasy and not let it actually happen.
From what I've read about Jimmy Page, that last sentence is probably not accurate...
What do you mean, plunketts?
Ever heard of Lori Maddox, mnkyonastick? But Plant wrote this song. I reallylike this song, it's a great way to end the album.
Ever heard of Lori Maddox, mnkyonastick? But Plant wrote this song. I reallylike this song, it's a great way to end the album.
This song is about how when Robert thinks back about all of the YOUNG groupies that he met, how much he felt sorry for them."How fast you learn the downhill slide" I read it somewhere
Plunketts is right if he means that the members of Zeppelin were sex animals. Apparently they would exploit their groupies to the absolute max. Groupies have told of how Jimmy Page would often make them stick octupi in their vaginas.
Anyway, to the song, this is my favourite Zeppelin song at the moment. Its one of the few Zeppelin songs with real lyrical depth, though it might not be apparent when you read the lyrics off the page like this.
To me, the song is either about the plight of groupies in general or it is about one in particular.