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."
It's so depressing, uh
Be the realest shit I ever wrote (Money and cars bitches)
Shit Is Real Part 2 (drugs) modern day (society ya know?)
See what it's like to walk in my shoes
It ain't all fun and games (ya heard?)
Yo yo
I'm sick and tired of stressin', every days a different lesson
I'm free-fallin' tryna leave this deep depression
My son Joey still slow, my moms got cancer in her throat
My big brother sniffin' dope
Lemme know how many motherfucker want to be just like me
Screamed at and treated like shit by your wifey
This hot bitch be sweatin' the coke cash
My baby mother think I grow dough out my ass
It's like, how much fight I got left in me?
Niggas won't be happy till they bring the fuckin' death of me
But you never see Joe look weak or flow off beat
And Charlie sees the board in four more weeks
You gotta walk where I walked
Bang where I bang
Slang where I hang
To get where I'm going to
Stay where I stay
Blaze who I blazed
Pay dues how I payed
To get where I'm going to
You gotta walk where I walked
Bang where I bang
Slang where I hang
To get where I'm going to
Stay where I stay
Blaze who I blazed
Pay dues how I payed
To get where I'm going to
Uh, yo, the South Bronx, nine years later
Ain't nuttin' changed, niggas still playa haters
Ts the best that's done it, forever live and never front it
Reminisce of when I used to hold heat and tell niggas "run it"
Now we flooded with jewels, hundreds of dudes
Crowd the Coliseum to hear they favorite tunes
Then at the time of our prime we caught a sick one
The angels came down, took my twin Big Pun
Shit were unbalanced throughout the whole world
All I could do was try to provide for his seeds and his old girl
Hope your listenin', tell Ton' that we still missin' him
I'm like a prisoner in jail with no visitors
You gotta walk where I walked
Bang where I bang
Slang where I hang
To get where I'm going to
Stay where I stay
Blaze who I blazed
Pay dues how I payed
To get where I'm going to
You gotta walk where I walked
Bang where I bang
Slang where I hang
To get where I'm going to
Stay where I stay
Blaze who I blazed
Pay dues how I payed
To get where I'm going to
Yeah, uh, ayo the third verse is dedicated to you
Even though you switched teams, man I'm praying for you
We used to stay up all night countin' dollar for dollar
You was my son's godfather, where the fuck is your honor?
Can't even rap the shit we did together
You'd probably have me shackled locked down doin' bids forever
You broke the first code
I'd like to twist ya wifey till it roasts gold
Snitch nigga, turned state to sold ya soul
How could a nigga that was clappin' in the streets
Start yappin' to the deez, like what I rightly should believe?
Like ever verse is a charge, for every hurt there's a scar
I never once tried to hurt y'all
I'm just tryna do me, sell a few CD's
Buy land in Miami and cop a new be come on
Motherfuckers think it's sweet
Think a nigga got money and a nigga don't feel pain
You ain't never feel my pain
You don't know what the fuck I'm goin through
Niggas lookin' at me like, "He got it made"
Like I ain't lose Pun, my grandfather a week later
My aunt a month later
Like my fuckin' sister ain't in a coma right now
You motherfuckers don't know pain
Let's get one thing clear money'll never buy you happiness
My true niggas walk with me now
You gotta walk where I walked
Bang where I bang
Slang where I hang
To get where I'm going to
Stay where I stay
Blaze who I blazed
Pay dues how I payed
To get where I'm going to
You gotta walk where I walked
Bang where I bang
Slang where I hang
To get where I'm going to
Stay where I stay
Blaze who I blazed
Pay dues how I payed
To get where I'm going to
Be the realest shit I ever wrote (Money and cars bitches)
Shit Is Real Part 2 (drugs) modern day (society ya know?)
See what it's like to walk in my shoes
It ain't all fun and games (ya heard?)
Yo yo
I'm sick and tired of stressin', every days a different lesson
I'm free-fallin' tryna leave this deep depression
My son Joey still slow, my moms got cancer in her throat
My big brother sniffin' dope
Lemme know how many motherfucker want to be just like me
Screamed at and treated like shit by your wifey
This hot bitch be sweatin' the coke cash
My baby mother think I grow dough out my ass
It's like, how much fight I got left in me?
Niggas won't be happy till they bring the fuckin' death of me
But you never see Joe look weak or flow off beat
And Charlie sees the board in four more weeks
You gotta walk where I walked
Bang where I bang
Slang where I hang
To get where I'm going to
Stay where I stay
Blaze who I blazed
Pay dues how I payed
To get where I'm going to
You gotta walk where I walked
Bang where I bang
Slang where I hang
To get where I'm going to
Stay where I stay
Blaze who I blazed
Pay dues how I payed
To get where I'm going to
Uh, yo, the South Bronx, nine years later
Ain't nuttin' changed, niggas still playa haters
Ts the best that's done it, forever live and never front it
Reminisce of when I used to hold heat and tell niggas "run it"
Now we flooded with jewels, hundreds of dudes
Crowd the Coliseum to hear they favorite tunes
Then at the time of our prime we caught a sick one
The angels came down, took my twin Big Pun
Shit were unbalanced throughout the whole world
All I could do was try to provide for his seeds and his old girl
Hope your listenin', tell Ton' that we still missin' him
I'm like a prisoner in jail with no visitors
You gotta walk where I walked
Bang where I bang
Slang where I hang
To get where I'm going to
Stay where I stay
Blaze who I blazed
Pay dues how I payed
To get where I'm going to
You gotta walk where I walked
Bang where I bang
Slang where I hang
To get where I'm going to
Stay where I stay
Blaze who I blazed
Pay dues how I payed
To get where I'm going to
Yeah, uh, ayo the third verse is dedicated to you
Even though you switched teams, man I'm praying for you
We used to stay up all night countin' dollar for dollar
You was my son's godfather, where the fuck is your honor?
Can't even rap the shit we did together
You'd probably have me shackled locked down doin' bids forever
You broke the first code
I'd like to twist ya wifey till it roasts gold
Snitch nigga, turned state to sold ya soul
How could a nigga that was clappin' in the streets
Start yappin' to the deez, like what I rightly should believe?
Like ever verse is a charge, for every hurt there's a scar
I never once tried to hurt y'all
I'm just tryna do me, sell a few CD's
Buy land in Miami and cop a new be come on
Motherfuckers think it's sweet
Think a nigga got money and a nigga don't feel pain
You ain't never feel my pain
You don't know what the fuck I'm goin through
Niggas lookin' at me like, "He got it made"
Like I ain't lose Pun, my grandfather a week later
My aunt a month later
Like my fuckin' sister ain't in a coma right now
You motherfuckers don't know pain
Let's get one thing clear money'll never buy you happiness
My true niggas walk with me now
You gotta walk where I walked
Bang where I bang
Slang where I hang
To get where I'm going to
Stay where I stay
Blaze who I blazed
Pay dues how I payed
To get where I'm going to
You gotta walk where I walked
Bang where I bang
Slang where I hang
To get where I'm going to
Stay where I stay
Blaze who I blazed
Pay dues how I payed
To get where I'm going to
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.
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.
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.
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.