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."
Your mother made you cry when she told you about the womb
And how people die
Watching over you when you were young
Smiling when you learned to crawl
You don't know her at all
It's a dirty job, but they're very suave
Jesus high on wine weeping turpentine
Daddy's voice like an intercom connected to a hidden room
Where yellow roses bloom
A sacred mountain near Peterborough where clouds paint a picture so calm
That they swallowed Mom
It's a dirty job but they're very suave
Jesus high on wine, weeping turpentine
What are they doing in there?
Have they got guns?
Make you run up and down the same hill
And they'll break your will
Was it Christmas or Groundhog Day when your friends turned to shadows
And they dragged you away
Tell nobody that you've been here, don't breathe a word that's been said
(Now there's a scar)
Upon your forehead
It's a dirty job but they're very suave
Jesus high on wine, weeping turpentine
What are they doing in there?
Have they got guns?
Whether Mount Pinatubo
Or the threat of God's love
There'll always be something that's raining
Down from above.
Down from above.
Down from above.
Down from above
And how people die
Watching over you when you were young
Smiling when you learned to crawl
You don't know her at all
It's a dirty job, but they're very suave
Jesus high on wine weeping turpentine
Daddy's voice like an intercom connected to a hidden room
Where yellow roses bloom
A sacred mountain near Peterborough where clouds paint a picture so calm
That they swallowed Mom
It's a dirty job but they're very suave
Jesus high on wine, weeping turpentine
What are they doing in there?
Have they got guns?
Make you run up and down the same hill
And they'll break your will
Was it Christmas or Groundhog Day when your friends turned to shadows
And they dragged you away
Tell nobody that you've been here, don't breathe a word that's been said
(Now there's a scar)
Upon your forehead
It's a dirty job but they're very suave
Jesus high on wine, weeping turpentine
What are they doing in there?
Have they got guns?
Whether Mount Pinatubo
Or the threat of God's love
There'll always be something that's raining
Down from above.
Down from above.
Down from above.
Down from above
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Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
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.
A great song, by a great band...which seems to be about how children and families in general are lured into cults. Examples: "You don't know her at all" The child that was once cared for by a loving parent doesn't recognise that part of their past. "Daddy's voice like an intercom connected to a hidden room" The child's father is constantly referencing things that seem secret and possibly frightening. Or the "hidden room" could be a surveillance tactic like "Big Brother is watching". "...they swallowed Mom" The mother that the child "didn't" know has now been swallowed by the doctrines of the cult, and is now recognisable. "Make you run up and down the same hill/ And they'll break your will" The repetitive and tiring nature of the tasks given to the family break them down emotionally and psychologically, submitting them to the cult's will. "...your friends turned to shadows/ And they dragged you away/ Tell nobody that you've been here, don't breathe a word that's been said/ (Now there's a scar)/ upon your forehead" By now, the child and the family are no longer able to function outside the cult, and when they do go out, they are forced into silence. The "scar" could be referencing a brand made on cult members, or the emotional scars of the people who do leave and are forced to hide what happened to them. In that vein, the scar on the forehead could also reference Harry Potter, though that doesn't seem as likely. "...the threat of God's love/ There'll always be something that's raining/ Down from above" This line reminds the listener that the threat of cults is not just a story in the song, but a real and insidious problem.