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."
I locked myself inside the capsule
And watched the planet slowly turning blue
The lights before me flashed and sparkled
Holding keys to lives I've wandred through
Circuits buzzing, visions passing
Mysterious and cold upon the screen
Glowing, flowing with the currents
Yet never knowing where I've really been
The floating seeds of timeless travel
Come to rest in planes that don't exist
Visiting worlds of crystal beauty
Offering dreams so very hard to resist
I've seen the past, I've seen the future
Beyond dimension and into empty space
Finding questions, never answers
Living time behind another face
And watched the planet slowly turning blue
The lights before me flashed and sparkled
Holding keys to lives I've wandred through
Circuits buzzing, visions passing
Mysterious and cold upon the screen
Glowing, flowing with the currents
Yet never knowing where I've really been
The floating seeds of timeless travel
Come to rest in planes that don't exist
Visiting worlds of crystal beauty
Offering dreams so very hard to resist
I've seen the past, I've seen the future
Beyond dimension and into empty space
Finding questions, never answers
Living time behind another face
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Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
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.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
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.
I have no idea what the lyrics mean, beyond the obvious description of someone floating through space, but I find this is one of the best 'ambient' style songs PT have released. It has so much atmosphere! The sound is far more mature than the rest of the album, and shows clearly the direction PT were going musically.
the drowning planet and the space wanderer could be a metaphor for someone's life. the planet being slowly drowned could symbolize the destruction of everything they held dear. the capsule could be the only thing protecting them (drugs, alcohol are my thoughts). then the wandering is them trying to always find what it is they had before, but never finding it
Such a beautiful song. I agree with you Blacksheep.
Near Death Experience or reincarnation.
Another possibility is space travel- the "capsule" above the blue planet. Or drugs of course.
It sounds like it's someone fleeing the planet as it's flooding. He looks down at his home, and sees the land being enveloped in water (watched the planet slowly turning blue).
So now he travels the galaxy, holding within his mind the story of his faded planet, trying to find a home, seeing many planets along the way, but he never finds it, searching forever.
This is my favorite song from the band's early years. I just love the cryptic, spacey vibe of it. It's one of those songs where you can close your eyes and let it take you somewhere else.
IMO they really should have put it on Stars Die, because not too many people own On The Sunday of Life, and I think it's one of the most influential early songs on the band's sound. Anyway, great stuff.
I think this song is about television.
There's something absolutely amazing about this song. It is artistic in a very mystical sounding way. Each bang of bass in the background is like a crash of thunder, and each drum beat a pang of rain on the surface of the earth.
Primal, yet mystical, as the vocals ring through in a tone that expresses a sort of distant view of the earth. Space traveler asside, it seems like someone looking at the earth as a whole.
I believe the first bit of lyrics is from the point of view of someone looking at the world from a re-imagined perspective, having locked themselves inside the confounds of society, and realizing that they never really knew where they were in life.
Epiphany, even.
Or, and I usually hate to be one of these people, it could be about drugs. The second half sounds very LSD-y.