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."
The sun is shining,
We should be making hay,
But we're dead from the waist down,
Like in california
Victory is empty,
There are lessons in defeat,
But we're dead from the waist down,
We are sleeping on our feet.
We stole the songs from birds in trees,
Bought us time on easy street,
Now our paths, they never meet,
We chose to court and flatter greed, ego disposability,
I caught a glimpse and it's not me
Make hay not war,
Make hay not war,
Make hay not war,
Or else we're done for,
And we're d from the w down.
There's no contracts binding,
No bad scene beyond repair,
But when you're dead from the waist down,
You're too far gone to even care.
We stole the songs from birds in trees,
Bought us time on easy street,
Now our paths, they never meet,
We chose to court and flatter greed, ego disposability,
I caught a glimpse and it's not me
Make hay not war,
Make hay not war,
Make hay not war,
Or else we're done for,
And we're d from the w down.
The sun is shining
The sun is shining
We should be making hay,
But we're dead from the waist down,
Like in california
Victory is empty,
There are lessons in defeat,
But we're dead from the waist down,
We are sleeping on our feet.
We stole the songs from birds in trees,
Bought us time on easy street,
Now our paths, they never meet,
We chose to court and flatter greed, ego disposability,
I caught a glimpse and it's not me
Make hay not war,
Make hay not war,
Make hay not war,
Or else we're done for,
And we're d from the w down.
There's no contracts binding,
No bad scene beyond repair,
But when you're dead from the waist down,
You're too far gone to even care.
We stole the songs from birds in trees,
Bought us time on easy street,
Now our paths, they never meet,
We chose to court and flatter greed, ego disposability,
I caught a glimpse and it's not me
Make hay not war,
Make hay not war,
Make hay not war,
Or else we're done for,
And we're d from the w down.
The sun is shining
The sun is shining
Lyrics submitted by Mainstreet
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Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
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.
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.
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."
There is no harm in casual sex between consenting adults. It's natural, like hay.
(We stole the songs from birds in trees) Our past sexual experiences influence our current sexual experiences.
an interesting translation of the lyrics, I never really thought about it like that before.
yes i thought it was about war and the post-war world where we're all only concerned with our own welfare "flatter greed" and "too far gone to even care" etc
I really wish I knew what this song meant, that first translation dusn't really click and the second one is prob a lot closer, but not spot on, I have no idea!
Cerys Matthews (the singer/writer) has said in several interviews that this song is about male impotence but I've never really been able to work out what the lyrics mean!
I'd never thought of male impotence... but that'd make sense
Hmmm... IMHO this song is about sexual, and also emotional, abstinence. About people who, perhaps after a broken relationship or a bad experience, refrain themselves from the good and bad things love can bring, and choose to live in a state of blissful apathy.
"There's no contracts binding, No bad scene beyond repair, But when you're dead from the waist down, You're too far gone to even care.
We stole the songs from birds in trees, Bought us time on easy street, Now our paths, they never meet, We chose to court and flatter greed, ego disposability, I caught a glimpse and it's not me"
I think those lines prove it... Btw, don't mix politics into the bag, I'm not saying i'm seeing pro-life issues in this song!. In my oppinion, she's singing about the 'bah-I-don't-give-a-damn-about-sex-n-stuff' kind of abstinence rather than about the 'god-says-I-must-remain-pure-until-marriage' one, if you know what I mean...
The chorus is so moving....
To me this song is about selling your soul, and how focusing on success and material things at the extent of your emotional life ends up killing that part of you.
that's a good interpretation. I think your right.
At the time catatonia had achieved a modicum of success but the band were, as always, fighting. I read this song as a metaphor for the band’s impotence at this time. They should be making money and making songs but they weren’t able to. They were all living in different places, fighting and the songs they used to write so easily just weren’t coming. This was Cerys’s way of getting the band into peace talks. The reference to California was a trip they took there and it was a bit of a disaster in terms of relationships.
The songs we stole from birds in trees was a reference to their past ability to write songs and the easy life they had with a record deal and success. The paths that never meet is a reference to the bands separation and their individual greed and egos. But that’s not who Cherys was. Make hay not war means make the best of our fortunes and let’s stop fighting and do what we love.