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 have two heads
Where's the man, he's late
One burns, one's sky
Where's the man, he's late
I'm two headed one free one sticky
But is it freedom can burn?
Is sticky ever blue?
For instance where's my husband?
This is what I need why I can't stay
God, this is the devil too bad he's late
I love the smell of beer
The smell of dar, the feel of dark, to feel the rug
To press the rug beneath me
A small party
But is it sinners can burn?
I hear we let them speak
For instance where's my husband
If you're my husband I tell you something
Dance on the devil's roof
Under a devil's moon
I don't care and you don't move
Where's the man, he's late
One burns, one's sky
Where's the man, he's late
I'm two headed one free one sticky
But is it freedom can burn?
Is sticky ever blue?
For instance where's my husband?
This is what I need why I can't stay
God, this is the devil too bad he's late
I love the smell of beer
The smell of dar, the feel of dark, to feel the rug
To press the rug beneath me
A small party
But is it sinners can burn?
I hear we let them speak
For instance where's my husband
If you're my husband I tell you something
Dance on the devil's roof
Under a devil's moon
I don't care and you don't move
Lyrics submitted by weezerific:cutlery
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Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Punchline
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Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Plastic Bag
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Ed Sheeran
“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.
Trouble Breathing
Alkaline Trio
Alkaline Trio
While the obvious connections with suicide or alcoholism could be drawn easily, more subtly this song could be about someone who views the world through a negative lens constantly and how as much as the writer tries to show the beauty in the world, this person refuses to see it. It's one or another between the rope and the bottle. There is no good option for this person. They can't see it. Skiba sings it in a kind of exasperated way like He's tired of hearing this negative view constantly and just allowing that person to continue feeling the way they feel knowing he can't do anything about it. You can hear it when he says maybe you're a vampire.
Somewhere Only We Know
Keane
Keane
Per the FAQ on Keane's website, Keane's drummer Richard Hughes, stated the following:
"We've been asked whether "Somewhere Only We Know" is about a specific place, and Tim has been saying that, for him, or us as individuals, it might be about a geographical space, or a feeling; it can mean something individual to each person, and they can interpret it to a memory of theirs... It's perhaps more of a theme rather than a specific message... Feelings that may be universal, without necessarily being totally specific to us, or a place, or a time..."
With the nostalgic sentiment and the overall tone of the song, I think Keane is attempting to express a Portuguese term known as 'saudade', which does not have a direct English translation but roughly means "that which we remember because it is gone."
I love "for instance - where's my husband?" Wonderfully surprising change in mood, as in many of her songs.
Perhaps the 'two heads' are mania ('one free') and depression ('one sticky'). 'The devil's moon' being a reference to what was once referred to as lunacy.
This is about bi-polar disorder.
One mind is up and heavenly and the other is down and hellish.
But it ponders if up can be bad in certain circumstances then perhaps down could conversly be good in others. I think this deals with the battle when taking meds for bi-polar. you take the pills to prevent the crazy swings, but your inner voice is always saying "cmon we don't the meds, we'll have more fun without them". in the short term.
It's not actually about finding a man. the guy in the lyrics is a metaphor for the kind of debauched behaviour that awaits when you "go off the meds". hence the beer/tar (read sleazy bar/smokes) references.
The devils roof is the heinous heights that can be reached when you lose all self-control. I guess this counts also for addictions...not that i'm saying kristin was/is a drunk. great song too. :)
The crickster is spot on. This is about bipolar disorder, a topic which Hersh frequently comes back to. I am huge Muses fan and I think Crickster's interpetation of "the man" is interesting but I always thought of it as Hersh relating a melt down. Her husband is late and she is trying to tell herself to keep calm but her emotions are running away from her. Anybody who suffers from bipolar disorder can relate. Another great song about just the depression aspect of bi-polar by TM is "Fall Down," also on Hunkpapa.
Great interpretations. I think of it as a choice of being free and single but potentially lonely, and being in a relationship... with all that that entails. This doens't necessary contradicts stut's or thecrikster's interprestations.
This could've been my mother's jam when she was an undiagnosed bipolar in the 80's. The drinking, partying constantly...and my father took off b/c he couldn't understand her mania. Usually it was her leaving all of us, so when my father left we really knew there was something wrong with my mother. He came back when she got her diagnosis and lithium. "Where's the man, he's late" sounds like a manic person pacing back and forth, as they do. My mother paced for months, she barely ate, and stayed up all night literally losing her mind. Thank you Kristin Hersh for writing this tune.
@brokentelephone78 Despite being on lithium for over 25 years, and also despite beating cancer this year my mother attempted suicide last week. First attempt in 2 decades. Going to listen to some bipolar musicians today to try to understand the bipolar mind. Bipolar disease is so confusing to me, but many songs by Kristin help address issues and feelings about the bipolar mind. She is probably the best at writing about the raw emotions of being bipolar.
@brokentelephone78 I should have called it 'bipolar disorder' instead of disease...but my Mom calls it 'a mind disease'. Just in case someone needed to correct me on here at some point in the future.
i think of this as "i am of two minds". one has to do with constantly waiting for "the man" who brings you your heroin, and the other is the state of being free from that sinfulness. Which way will she choose?