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."
Moments can be monuments to you
If your life is interesting and true.
It's just the same for a man or a girl,
The meaning of the world lies outside thw world.
People love people and they understand
if you wanna renovate your background mind
(a federal woman needs a municipal man)
people gotta synchronize to animal time.
You can't change the feeling
but you can change your feelings about the feeling in a second or two…
People always come around.
I'm studying the ceiling on a little afternoon
and when I paint my dining room
people gonna come around.
I love to see a rainbow from a garden hose
lit up like the blood of a centerfold
I love the city and the city rain,
suburban kids with biblical names.
People ask people to watch their scotch.
People send people up to the moon.
When they return, well there isn't much.
People be careful not to crest too soon.
The drums march along at the clip of an I.V. drip
like sparks from a muffler dragged down the strip.
I really hope you'll come around.
It's sunny and 75. It feels so good to be alive.
Come on baby don't stay inside.
Everybody's coming out tonight.
If your life is interesting and true.
It's just the same for a man or a girl,
The meaning of the world lies outside thw world.
People love people and they understand
if you wanna renovate your background mind
(a federal woman needs a municipal man)
people gotta synchronize to animal time.
You can't change the feeling
but you can change your feelings about the feeling in a second or two…
People always come around.
I'm studying the ceiling on a little afternoon
and when I paint my dining room
people gonna come around.
I love to see a rainbow from a garden hose
lit up like the blood of a centerfold
I love the city and the city rain,
suburban kids with biblical names.
People ask people to watch their scotch.
People send people up to the moon.
When they return, well there isn't much.
People be careful not to crest too soon.
The drums march along at the clip of an I.V. drip
like sparks from a muffler dragged down the strip.
I really hope you'll come around.
It's sunny and 75. It feels so good to be alive.
Come on baby don't stay inside.
Everybody's coming out tonight.
Lyrics submitted by 3ric, edited by Mellow_Harsher
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Lyrics © ROUGH TRADE PUBLISHING
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People, a generic title, and to me ironic, when considering the highly personal and soul-seeking nature of this song.
''It's just the same for a man or a girl, The meaning of the world lies outside the world. People love people and they understand if you wanna renovate your background mind''
These four lines essentially define the song for me, inviting deep introspection, and a retreat to existential philosophy in order to defeat conflict. People are flawed true, but as Berman notes, not irreparably so. We need only to 'renovate our background minds' in order to alter the perceptions, (or more accurately the misperceptions), we have. Instead of allowing the mundane to crowd our minds, we need to seek a deeper, and more primordial aspect on life, one allowing the many moments we encounter to become the very monuments Berman sings of.. The rainbow from the garden hose IS the city and the city rain, The nature of such a journey is fragile however, with Berman encouraging the need to ‘scotch watch’ whilst ‘people travel to the moon’. The foundations are still too weak for us to 'crest too soon', and we need to take note of the fragility of such progression. Whilst such a pursuit is a step forward in exploration, Berman finally appears to consider the futility of such a quest, and the worryingly perpetual nature of common attitude. The slow and unsteady tempo of IV drips combined with a final decision to stay inside when, 'everybody's coming out tonight', suggest a begrudging abandonment of such naive, yet beautiful idealism. To put it bluntly, Berman cherishes his romantic and comforting dream, but realises he must always wake.