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."
And if she asks you why you can tell her that I told you
That I'm tired of Castles in the Air
I've got a dream I want the world to share and castle walls
Just lead me to despair
Hills of forest green where the mountains touch the sky
A dream come true, I'll live there 'til I die
I'm asking you, to say my last goodbye
The love we knew, ain't worth another try
Save me from all the trouble and the pain
I know I'm weak but I can't face that girl again
Tell her the reasons why I can't remain
Perhaps she'll understand if you tell it to her plain
Oh, but how can words express the feel of sunlight
In the morning in the hills away from city strife
I need a country woman for my wife
I'm city born but I love the country life
For I can not be part of her "Cocktail-Generation Partner's Waltz,"
Devoid of all romance
The music plays and everyone must dance
I'm bowing out, I need a second chance
Save me from all the trouble and the pain
I know I'm weak but I can't face that girl again
Tell her the reasons why I can't remain
Perhaps she'll understand if you tell it to her plain
And if she asks you why you can tell her that I told you
That I'm tired of Castles in the Air
I've got a dream I want the world to share and castle walls
Just lead me to despair
That I'm tired of Castles in the Air
I've got a dream I want the world to share and castle walls
Just lead me to despair
Hills of forest green where the mountains touch the sky
A dream come true, I'll live there 'til I die
I'm asking you, to say my last goodbye
The love we knew, ain't worth another try
Save me from all the trouble and the pain
I know I'm weak but I can't face that girl again
Tell her the reasons why I can't remain
Perhaps she'll understand if you tell it to her plain
Oh, but how can words express the feel of sunlight
In the morning in the hills away from city strife
I need a country woman for my wife
I'm city born but I love the country life
For I can not be part of her "Cocktail-Generation Partner's Waltz,"
Devoid of all romance
The music plays and everyone must dance
I'm bowing out, I need a second chance
Save me from all the trouble and the pain
I know I'm weak but I can't face that girl again
Tell her the reasons why I can't remain
Perhaps she'll understand if you tell it to her plain
And if she asks you why you can tell her that I told you
That I'm tired of Castles in the Air
I've got a dream I want the world to share and castle walls
Just lead me to despair
Lyrics submitted by Novartza, edited by bigblueblogger
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
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.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
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.
Another Love
Tom Odell
Tom Odell
I think the meaning is pretty clear. This person got really burned in a previous relationship, and because of this is unable to love and show care in his present one, even though he so badly wants to. It's lovely song, and very sad. You can really feel how defeated and frustrated he is with himself.
Sunglasses at Night
Corey Hart
Corey Hart
In the 1980s, sunglasses were a common fashion for people who wanted to adopt a "tough guy" persona (note all the cop shows from that era -- Simon & Simon, Miami Vice, etc. -- where the lead characters wore shades). So I think this song is about a guy who wears shades as a way of hiding his insecurity after learning that his girlfriend is cheating on him. He's trying to pretend that he's a "tough guy" to hide the fact that his girlfriend's affair is disturbing him.
My fav line is "But how can words express The feel of sunlight in the morning in the hills, Away from city strife" it just reminds me of me, I love camping, and eveything about nature, even when you run out of toilet paper and you have to use pinecones, and I love when I'm in the mountins and I just sit and watch the sun rise
Olex..yes you aint kidding....spot on line about the good things in life.........
This is one of my all time favrite songs! The melody and the lyrics are just magnificently matched. Typical elegance by one our premiere singer song writers.
yeah i love this song
Favorite Line: "For I Will Not Be Part Of Her Cocktail Generation, Partners Waltz, Devoid Of All Romance, The Music Plays, Everyone Must Dance, I'M Bowing Out, I Need A Second Chance"
My favorite line is "away from city strife I need a country woman for my wife I'm city born but I love the country life"
This song speaks about Don McLean's disenchantment with high society. The girl he's referring to may be an upper-class socialite with whom he had a relationship, or possibly even describing his dalliances in high society as an affair he had with materialistic, consumerist city life. Either way, he no longer wants for the dream of more. The song reminds me a little of "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald, in which Jay Gatsby seems to be ever in search for the elusive American Dream, where he can finally be accepted into the old money world. However, after Daisy refuses him yet again, he realizes that perhaps his fruitless efforts to fit in are a blessing in disguise, in that he doesn't have to live a life of immorality and superficiality. The lines: "For I will not be part Of her cocktail generation, partners waltz Devoid of all romance the music plays And everyone must dance..." remind me of Gatsby's sparkling parties, as well as the character of Jordan, who epitomizes the philosophy during that cultural paradigm. The end of the novel sees Gatsby's death, as well as the narrator, Nick Carraway, leaving the East and West Eggs. Nick's casual and barely imperceptible relationship with Jordan, coupled with his subsequent departure from the Eggs corresponds with McLean's need take leave of the relationship with the city life and woman. Don McLean is rejecting modern life, in all its mundanity, with its trinkets and conveniences, for the beautiful simplicity of nature and the "country life".
Also, however romantic "castles in the air" may seem, it is unattainable and ultimately, he becomes disillusioned with its impossibility. What was a dream, turns nightmarish, as "castles walls just lead [him] to despair." Instead of trying to obtain the unrealistic fantasy, he recognizes the beauty and romance that had always existed in nature and his very foundations for life. Though "Castles in the Air" may be a dream for most, the narrator instead, ironically, finds "Hills of forest green/Where the mountains touch the sky, a dream come true".
Very intuitive, svenschborsteinheim. I think the thing I like most about this song is that he's getting someone else to break up for him. An interesting way to frame the song. I wonder what the significance of that is? At any rate, it makes me smile for some reason!
I love this song
It is just one of the most beautiful songs ever written
And so underrated...why is this song not more popular than it is
Its a shame but at least i know it and love it
this song to me reminds me about my grandfather. he always used to say, "you're never happy or unhappy, you just have happiness or unhappiness in you," I think in the city it's easier to lose track of that. you feel that you can relate so much to your unhappiness that you are unhappy, that unhappiness is you, the way your name or address or phone number is. but unhappiness can be dropped. it can be changed by being present in the now.
the girl in this song was holding the narrator back from experiencing the now. she had her "castles" (wishes) in the "air" (future/heaven/afterlife/long-haul) and he couldn't hold out any longer knowing that the simple pleasures of existing were available to him in the here and now.