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."
Girl from Ipanema goes to Greenland
Girl from Ipanema goes to Greenland
Witch-doctors are screaming
Nymphs are dreaming
This girl's lost someone
Who is that someone
She's leaving
Girl from Ipanema goes to Greenland
Girl from Ipanema goes to Greenland
Hot latitudes, cool attitudes
She's leaving
Moon in her mirror
Chasing northern lights
She goes, ahh
Girl from Ipanema goes to Greenland
Remember wherever you go
There you are
Girl from Ipanema goes to Greenland
Girl from Ipanema goes to Greenland
Girl from Ipanema goes to Greenland
Girl from Ipanema goes to Greenland
Girl from Ipanema goes to Greenland
Girl from Ipanema goes to Greenland
Girl from Ipanema goes to Greenland
Witch-doctors are screaming
Nymphs are dreaming
This girl's lost someone
Who is that someone
She's leaving
Girl from Ipanema goes to Greenland
Girl from Ipanema goes to Greenland
Hot latitudes, cool attitudes
She's leaving
Moon in her mirror
Chasing northern lights
She goes, ahh
Girl from Ipanema goes to Greenland
Remember wherever you go
There you are
Girl from Ipanema goes to Greenland
Girl from Ipanema goes to Greenland
Girl from Ipanema goes to Greenland
Girl from Ipanema goes to Greenland
Girl from Ipanema goes to Greenland
Girl from Ipanema goes to Greenland
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This song seems to have two meanings. First, it's about the Girl from Ipanema, who keeps walking past all the guys. She hasn't found anyone worth staying for, so she leaves for the opposite of Ipanema, which is Greenland, But she can't escape her own pickiness in men.
It also speaks to how much the world has opened up. That you can be in Greenland and listen to "Girl from Ipanema" because of technology means you can have an experience that doesn't necessarily coincide with your location. It also means that you can't escape songs like this no matter where you go.
I never thought of it that way. But what about the part where she's lost someone? Where does that fit?
I don't know if I'd consider it a good companion song to "The Girl From Ipanema", but all by itself this is a fun song.
I see the song as a response to "The Girl from Ipanema". In that song, she's always walking past everyone, her beauty causing everyone to sigh ("they go aaah") as she passes, but where is she going? Why is she passing by all those people?
This song feels like it's answering that question. The Girl is not happy in her fantastical Brazilian homeland - "Witch doctors are screaming, nymphs are dreamin....Hot latitudes, cool attitudes". She also seems to have lost someone important to her. Thus, she leaves Ipanema and goes north to Greenland, where she herself "goes aaaah".
I don't suppose there is anything specifically symbolic about Greenland. However, it does serve as a stark contrast and opposite to what the Girl already knows from her current life. In that case, maybe the song is about how opposites attract, or how we want whatever we don't have?
Or, it could just be a song with nonsense lyrics, made more for the music and the fun than for the meaning of words.