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."
Now the sand is shifting through your life
The hands of time are twisting through your days
A captured moment in your kiss
Like winter snow it's gone
Melted away
There's a chapel on the edge of town
Baby take my hand
Before they tear it down
Cause now we find nothing's what it seems
Let me hold you close
Through these drivin' dreams
Cause the world is turning much too fast
And time won't wait
Gotta make love last
Cause the fields are burning
And there's no returning
Till the future finds the past
We gotta make love last
Make love last
Like a rose exploding in the sun
A precious time to live before it's gone
Tears fall on the ocean from different skies
Inside your kiss I wake and find the dawn
In temporary ways we give
But eternally our hearts will live
For now we find nothing's what it seems
You better run with me
Through these drivin' dreams
Cause the highway's fading much too fast
And time won't wait
We gotta make love last
Cause the fields are burning
And the season's turning
Till the future finds the past
This time we gotta make love last
Oh oh
Oh yeah
Oh
Cause the world is turning much too fast
And time won't wait
We gotta make love last
Cause the fields are burning
And the season's turning
Till the future finds the past
This time we're gonna make love last
We gotta make love last
Cause the highway's fading
And the world is turning
Much too fast
We gotta make love last
Make love last
The hands of time are twisting through your days
A captured moment in your kiss
Like winter snow it's gone
Melted away
There's a chapel on the edge of town
Baby take my hand
Before they tear it down
Cause now we find nothing's what it seems
Let me hold you close
Through these drivin' dreams
Cause the world is turning much too fast
And time won't wait
Gotta make love last
Cause the fields are burning
And there's no returning
Till the future finds the past
We gotta make love last
Make love last
Like a rose exploding in the sun
A precious time to live before it's gone
Tears fall on the ocean from different skies
Inside your kiss I wake and find the dawn
In temporary ways we give
But eternally our hearts will live
For now we find nothing's what it seems
You better run with me
Through these drivin' dreams
Cause the highway's fading much too fast
And time won't wait
We gotta make love last
Cause the fields are burning
And the season's turning
Till the future finds the past
This time we gotta make love last
Oh oh
Oh yeah
Oh
Cause the world is turning much too fast
And time won't wait
We gotta make love last
Cause the fields are burning
And the season's turning
Till the future finds the past
This time we're gonna make love last
We gotta make love last
Cause the highway's fading
And the world is turning
Much too fast
We gotta make love last
Make love last
Lyrics submitted by Ice
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
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
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.
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."
Indigo
Of Mice & Men
Of Mice & Men
This track is about is about questioning why the sky would choose to be blue if it had the choice to be anything else, “blue also meaning sad,” states frontman Aaron Pauley. “It's about comforting a loved one in a time of loss by telling them you feel blue, too.”