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."
All you've been asking for's been placed in front of you.
The headaches, the shaking, the boredom the boardroom brings.
You're scratching at itching brought by the spiders beneath your skin.
The answer in question is over before it begins.
Hey there sleepy smile,
I see you've brought your bedroom eyes.
Not assuming you wanna keep 'em,
I'm assuming you reckon you won't.
All you've been asking for's been placed in front of you.
The headaches, the shaking, the boredom the boardroom brings.
You're scratching at itching brought by the spiders beneath your skin.
The answer in question is over before it begins.
Hey there sleepy smile,
I see you've brought your bedroom eyes.
Not assuming you wanna keep 'em,
I'm assuming you reckon you won't.
Nothing to see here but the rain.
There's nothing to hold you but the flames.
Nothing to see here but the rain.
There's nothing to hold you but the flames.
Nothing to see here but the rain.
There's nothing to hold you but the flames.
Nothing to see here but the rain.
It's raining flames.
Earth to sleepy smile,
Where'd you take those bedroom eyes?
Not assuming you wanna keep 'em,
I'm assuming you reckon you won't.
The headaches, the shaking, the boredom the boardroom brings.
You're scratching at itching brought by the spiders beneath your skin.
The answer in question is over before it begins.
Hey there sleepy smile,
I see you've brought your bedroom eyes.
Not assuming you wanna keep 'em,
I'm assuming you reckon you won't.
All you've been asking for's been placed in front of you.
The headaches, the shaking, the boredom the boardroom brings.
You're scratching at itching brought by the spiders beneath your skin.
The answer in question is over before it begins.
Hey there sleepy smile,
I see you've brought your bedroom eyes.
Not assuming you wanna keep 'em,
I'm assuming you reckon you won't.
Nothing to see here but the rain.
There's nothing to hold you but the flames.
Nothing to see here but the rain.
There's nothing to hold you but the flames.
Nothing to see here but the rain.
There's nothing to hold you but the flames.
Nothing to see here but the rain.
It's raining flames.
Earth to sleepy smile,
Where'd you take those bedroom eyes?
Not assuming you wanna keep 'em,
I'm assuming you reckon you won't.
Lyrics submitted by oofus
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Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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.
Zombie
Cranberries, The
Cranberries, The
"Zombie" is about the ethno-political conflict in Ireland. This is obvious if you know anything of the singer (Dolores O'Riordan)'s Irish heritage and understood the "1916" Easter Rising reference.
"Another head hangs lowly
Child is slowly taken
And the violence caused such silence
Who are we mistaken
-
Another mother's breaking
Heart is taking over"
Laments the Warrington bomb attacks in which two children were fatally injured on March 23rd, 1993. Twelve year old Tim Parry was taken off life support with permission from his mother after five days in the hospital, virtually braindead.
"But you see it's not me
It's not my family"
References how people who are not directly involved with the violence feel about it. They are "zombies" without sympathy who refuse to take action while others suffer.
Sunglasses at Night
Corey Hart
Corey Hart
In the 1980s, sunglasses were a common fashion for people who wanted to adopt a "tough guy" persona (note all the cop shows from that era -- Simon & Simon, Miami Vice, etc. -- where the lead characters wore shades). So I think this song is about a guy who wears shades as a way of hiding his insecurity after learning that his girlfriend is cheating on him. He's trying to pretend that he's a "tough guy" to hide the fact that his girlfriend's affair is disturbing him.
this song is yet another great alkaline trio song... for some reason i dont listen to it that much... that will all change soon tho (-:
trio is my favorite band by far... i actually created a poem using ALL 91 of their songs. Each song is special in its own way so I am going to give credit to all of them and post my website (maxpages.com/alk3poem) where you are more than welcome to read my poem and post your comments and opinions, have a good one fellow trio fans (-:
This could quite possibly be my favorite alk3 song. If you don't have Maybe I'll Catch Fire, you should definitely check it out. I think this song is about a person who lives in their nightmares, like a sleepwalking wanderer in an unkind world. Lines like "earth to sleepy smile" make me think that someone's trying to snap this person out of their reality and into what's real, but they won't return from their self imposed hell. Fell free to add your pieces of mind below...
I see it as his message to someone who's having a problem with drugs... "All you've been asking for's been placed in front of you. The headaches, the shaking"; it sems like withdrawl symptoms to me
My favortie lyric in this song is, "Sleepy smile" I think thats a really great line. "Hey there sleepy smile" it makes me giggle.
its a great song. wow, how come i always end up posting under you.....crazy.
I think its about a girl that feels very unworthy of anyone...like shes unaware of her own self worth. So she sleeps around and plays around and then does drugs and drinks to try and forget the crap she does. I could be wrong, but I know a girl that fits this song perfectly. she smiles at me like she just wants to screw...ya know? But I think she needs more than that, so I certainly don't, I just remain her friend. "Hey there sleepy smile" to me implies that he feels dearly for this girl. Well thats my thoughts...great song nonetheless :D
"theres nothing to hold you but the flames". yeah that kinda sounds like all that bad stuff youre talking about steve.and maybe when they say "nothing to see here but the flames" its like, you cant keep this up forever
I never really liked this song much. It's ok, I guess, but there are so many better songs on maybe I"ll catch fire . . .
I def think that this is about somebody on drugs... just picture somebody with a "sleepy smile"- they look like their high! It touches on hallucinations n the fact that their world is different from reality... n it seems like the person's friend is trying to help him get over the drugs... I've never really been into drugs, but I still love the meaning of this song...good stuff!
This song could be about drugs, it is a unique sounding Alkaline Trio song, and I can't make up my mind if is better than most of their songs or worse.
Nothing to see here but the rain. There's nothing to hold you but the flames
That's my favorite part of the whole song, it rules.