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."
Yes it's me
I am the one
To make you see
Where we belong
I was shaking
Like a leaf
All wrapped up
In my dirty sheets
If I agree to what comes next
I would be faking
With the best of them
It seems a crime
I would commit
Without the difference
Of all the world's gifts
Sweet sweet sweet
Could you taste it
Never never never
Never never never (taste it)
To dream
All the time
Without a scream
In the dead of night
All those faces
Come back to me
I'll be begging
To swim that sea
Yea I made
A picture story
Make you cry
In all your glory
A need to quench
The thirst of many
To justify
And make ready
Sweet sweet sweet
Could you taste it
Never never never (taste it)
Never never never (taste it)
Never never never (taste it)
Never never never (taste it)
This realization
Owes us strength to show
If you're uncertain
You're invited to believe
These are the words I speak
These are the words I speak
A dislocation
From where we once came from
Give sons and daughters
Because we want to go on
These are the words she speaks
These are the words she speaks
Sweet sweet sweet
Could you taste it
Never never never (taste it)
Never never never (taste it)
Never never never (taste it)
Never never never (taste it)
Never never never
Never never never
I am the one
To make you see
Where we belong
I was shaking
Like a leaf
All wrapped up
In my dirty sheets
If I agree to what comes next
I would be faking
With the best of them
It seems a crime
I would commit
Without the difference
Of all the world's gifts
Sweet sweet sweet
Could you taste it
Never never never
Never never never (taste it)
To dream
All the time
Without a scream
In the dead of night
All those faces
Come back to me
I'll be begging
To swim that sea
Yea I made
A picture story
Make you cry
In all your glory
A need to quench
The thirst of many
To justify
And make ready
Sweet sweet sweet
Could you taste it
Never never never (taste it)
Never never never (taste it)
Never never never (taste it)
Never never never (taste it)
This realization
Owes us strength to show
If you're uncertain
You're invited to believe
These are the words I speak
These are the words I speak
A dislocation
From where we once came from
Give sons and daughters
Because we want to go on
These are the words she speaks
These are the words she speaks
Sweet sweet sweet
Could you taste it
Never never never (taste it)
Never never never (taste it)
Never never never (taste it)
Never never never (taste it)
Never never never
Never never never
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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,
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.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
Nobody has commented on this song yet?! I LOVE it!!
I like it too...but what is it about exactly? I guess something about appreciating life's joys, trying to make a difference in the world, trying to find your place in the world...possibly a religious overtone?
This song was about Michael Hutchence, literally being unable to taste.
I believe it was either 1994 or 1995 when he was king hit from behind by a taxi driver. Michael was out riding his bike in the South of France and refused to move off to the side of the road. The taxi driver got out and hit him in the back of the head which resulted in a concussion.
He lost both taste and smell senses.
From that moment on, he became a different person. He suffered depression.
The song is from 1992, Michael was hit the same year in Denmark, I don't know whether the album was released after the incident and the song refers to it.
Yet another INXS song that doesn't leave your head for a day. It literally kept me awake at night... I lay in bed trying to sleep but all I could hear was "Sweet, sweet, sweet, could you taste it?"
This song is about never being satisfied (either sexually or just in general), and the never ending quest to find satisfaction. Add guilt to that quest, and it leaves you feeling rather empty. Very similar to the lyric in the song "Time" from the FMDH album. "Just when you taste it, you turn to walk away". Quite a depressing song in that context.
Apparently stems from a comment Michael Hutchins made to a band mate after losing his sense of taste and smell regarding never being able to taste or smell his current lover at the time, that is if you believe the tele movie they just showed here in Oz.
To be honest I think it has a double meaning one re losing his sense of taste and smell and also the hollow feeling of having casual affairs or being with some one you have no feeling for.
It seems that we all chase that elusive feeling of love and the sensation. Of it to me so it makes sense.
Michael was a very talented yet abstrAct poet or lyricist.
Then again it could all just be random stuff he thought fitted with Andrews music. We will never really know I suppose.
A friend once told me that he felt this song had duel lyrics , with one being Eve tasting the Apple in the Garden of Eden. "This is a crime, I will commit, it will make the difference of all the world's gifts "