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."
I am a lonely visitor
I came to late to cause a stir
Though I campaigned all my life towards that goal
I hardly slept the night you wept
Our secret's safe and still well-kept
Where even Richard Nixon has got soul
Even Richard Nixon has got soul
Traffic cops are all colorblind
People steal from their own kind
Evening comes too early for a stroll
Down neon streets the streaker streaks
The speaker speaks but the truth still leaks
Where even Richard Nixon has got soul
Even Richard Nixon has got it
Soul
The podium rocks in the crowded waves
The speaker talks of the beautiful saves
That went down long before he played this role
For the hotel queens and the magazines
Test tube genes and slot machines
Where even Richard Nixon has got soul
Even Richard Nixon has got it
Soul
Hospitals have made him cry
But there's always a freeway in his eye
Though his beach just got too crowded for his stroll
Roads stretch out like healthy veins
And wild gift horses strain the reins
Where even Richard Nixon has got soul
Even Richard Nixon has got soul
I am a lonely visitor
I came to late to cause a stir though I campaigned all my life towards that goal
I came to late to cause a stir
Though I campaigned all my life towards that goal
I hardly slept the night you wept
Our secret's safe and still well-kept
Where even Richard Nixon has got soul
Even Richard Nixon has got soul
Traffic cops are all colorblind
People steal from their own kind
Evening comes too early for a stroll
Down neon streets the streaker streaks
The speaker speaks but the truth still leaks
Where even Richard Nixon has got soul
Even Richard Nixon has got it
Soul
The podium rocks in the crowded waves
The speaker talks of the beautiful saves
That went down long before he played this role
For the hotel queens and the magazines
Test tube genes and slot machines
Where even Richard Nixon has got soul
Even Richard Nixon has got it
Soul
Hospitals have made him cry
But there's always a freeway in his eye
Though his beach just got too crowded for his stroll
Roads stretch out like healthy veins
And wild gift horses strain the reins
Where even Richard Nixon has got soul
Even Richard Nixon has got soul
I am a lonely visitor
I came to late to cause a stir though I campaigned all my life towards that goal
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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.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the song references the 1968 election. The speaker offers that the reason Nixon beat Humphries is because of charisma (this is a Nixon who who had lost to Kennedy because of his lack of it), and that this was his secret weapon.
The lines: "Traffic cops are all color blind./ People steal from their own kind" seem to refer to the chaos at 1968 Democratic Convention or perhaps the turmoil of the late 60's where the police weren't just clubbing black Civil Rights protestors but white protestors as well, a period that also saw hundreds of cities plagued with riots.
The question of who's the campaigner is ambiguous. I'm gonna say he's campaigning for Nixon, but it just as equally go the other way. He was too late to cause the stir of social unrest and calls of changes agitated by the protests. The fact that he's a lonely visitor may mean that he doesn't agree with Nixon, but is doing it to do something.
But that fact that Nixon can win it is something that takes him by surprise. His significant other or friend wept at the election results and he has been unable to sleep from it all.