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."
This could be the saddest dusk
I've ever seen
Turn to a miracle
high alive
My mind is racing
As it always will
My hand is tired my heart aches
I'm half a world away here
my head sworn
To go it alone
And hold it along
Haul it along
And hold it
Go it alone
Hold it along and hold, hold.
This lonely deep sit hollow
I'm half a world
Half the world away
My shoes are gone
My life spent
I had too much to drink
I didn't think
and I I didn't think of you
I guess that's all I needed
To go it alone
And hold it along
Haul it along
And hold it
Blackbirds backwards forwards and fall and hold hold.
Oh this lonely world is wasted
Pathetic eyes high alive
blind to the tide that turns the sea
This storm it came up strong
it shook the trees
And blew away our fear
I couldn't even hear
To go it alone
And hold it along
Haul it along
And hold it
To go it alone
And hold it along
Haul it along
To go it alone
And hold it along
Haul it along
And hold it
Blackbirds backwards forwards and fall and hold hold.
This could be the saddest dusk
I've ever seen
Turn to a miracle
high alive
My mind is racing
As it always will
My hands tired my heart aches
I'm half a world away and go.
I've ever seen
Turn to a miracle
high alive
My mind is racing
As it always will
My hand is tired my heart aches
I'm half a world away here
my head sworn
To go it alone
And hold it along
Haul it along
And hold it
Go it alone
Hold it along and hold, hold.
This lonely deep sit hollow
I'm half a world
Half the world away
My shoes are gone
My life spent
I had too much to drink
I didn't think
and I I didn't think of you
I guess that's all I needed
To go it alone
And hold it along
Haul it along
And hold it
Blackbirds backwards forwards and fall and hold hold.
Oh this lonely world is wasted
Pathetic eyes high alive
blind to the tide that turns the sea
This storm it came up strong
it shook the trees
And blew away our fear
I couldn't even hear
To go it alone
And hold it along
Haul it along
And hold it
To go it alone
And hold it along
Haul it along
To go it alone
And hold it along
Haul it along
And hold it
Blackbirds backwards forwards and fall and hold hold.
This could be the saddest dusk
I've ever seen
Turn to a miracle
high alive
My mind is racing
As it always will
My hands tired my heart aches
I'm half a world away and go.
Lyrics submitted by Nelly
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Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
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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.
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.
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."
Indigo
Of Mice & Men
Of Mice & Men
This track is about is about questioning why the sky would choose to be blue if it had the choice to be anything else, “blue also meaning sad,” states frontman Aaron Pauley. “It's about comforting a loved one in a time of loss by telling them you feel blue, too.”
Defenitely not masturbating rolleyes
It's about strife and loneliness. when you feel so distant and hopeless yet still struggling on, still hoping for a miracle. pretty simplistic, yet this is one of the most honest songs in REM's repertoire.
I know this is going to sound very stupid, but I just broke up with my boyfriend and listened to that song on repeat until I fell asleep.<br /> <br /> If it was simply about masturbation I would feel it diminishes it a lot. It's pure though and you can hear his hurt. There's no way it could simply be about thinking about a loved one flogging it... :/<br /> <br /> Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you for clearing that up.
This is my favorite song on Out of Time. It's beautiful and achingly sad.
I think it's about a fight between lovers that forces the narrator out of his home with his girlfriend- maybe a divorce, I don't know- and now he regrets it. "The storm it came up strong, and shook the trees... I had too much to drink, I didn't think of you." Even though he's lonely and pining for her, he still has "sworn to go it along, and hold it along, haul it along and hold it"- meaning, I think, to stay out there, away from her, living alone. Maybe he doesn't want to apologize, maybe he thinks living apart would just make things easier for her.
The only thing I don't understand are the few lyrics that convey hope... "turn to a miracle, blew away our fear..." Maybe the narrator has some sliver of hope that they will reach a compromise and he will get to come home.
"My hand is tired, my heart aches... I'm half a world away." I always equate hands with working. Sounds like the narrator has been working too hard, probably because his lover is no longer able to support him (although if I was living with someone who didn't work, I wouldn't enjoy that very much..." Half a world away. They are far apart, emotionally and physically.
Y'know what the saddest line in this song is? "This lonely world is wasted, pathetic eyes, high alive." To me it conveys just not caring about life, about anoything, not even being able to hate it anymore, just feeling numb, resigned.
@EnduringChill This song is very existential full of<br /> despair and hopelessness It was never my favorite <br /> from the band, so depressing I'm glad I know Christ <br /> or else I would probably write something similar
Is his hand tired from playing the guitar... Or the harpsichord in the background...? Not all of life revolves around jerking it, you know.
I see that he cheated on his lover far away. "I had to much to drink, and I didn't think of you."
All of you seem to grasp the main meaning, but the chorus seems to say that, no matter what, your life is somethign you have to face alone. When it comes down to it, your life is no one's but yours and it can seem very lonely but you;ve got to "haul it along and hold it"
maybe because he had too much to drink and cheated on his lover was the reason for his having to be alone
it all points to solitude
What a bunch of perverts!
Has it ever occurred to you that the lyric "my hand is tired" is referencing writer's cramp as a result of trying to write a letter that never seems to come out right? Good lord, so many minds in the gutter (though it would be humorous if you were right!).
"my hand's tired" = masturbating? Come on guys don't be so literal. I think it's a metaphor for toil and hardship and being generally tired of the daily grind of life. This song is so beautiful - just conjurs up an image of someone who perhaps for one night is 'away from it all' (if only in thier mind), in solitude and contemplating an existence that's never been easy but one they bear all the same.
I have a love/hate relationship with this song. I love the art that is this song, in its architecture, in its abstractness that invites one to see into it different things perhaps at different times.
This song is so imbued with personal meaning for me, however, having been played over & over when my wife moved away after she fell in love with someone else, that all my comments come from that space. Some of this is projection, some of it may have been in Stipe's head, who knows?
For me, this song is about being so forsaken at love that has left and moved, with only yourself to keep going, that you drink to numb the pain. There are miracles of grand nature around you constantly and you are blind to them in your suffering at love lost.
Hands aching from all the wasted attempts to communicate, from wringing in pain. Mind racing from analyzing what has happened, what could have been done/said differently, what could be done now to repair. There is no calmness of mind or spirit in the turmoil of relationships torn asunder.
Life as a couple split apart, and so very, very far -- in fact, the absolute furthest one can get while on the planet: half a world away.
I can relate. My boyfriend was too suspicious of me whenever I was away, so I broke up with him last night and this song took form..it was like I was hearing it for the first time. There's no way it could be as simplistic as some people have said.
I can relate. My boyfriend was too suspicious of me whenever I was away, so I broke up with him last night and this song took form..it was like I was hearing it for the first time. There's no way it could be as simplistic as some people have said.
:( Sorry for the double post.
Great song...but I have NO CLUE what it means!!