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."
to me, coming from you,
friend is a four letter word.
end is the only part of the word
that i heard.
call me morbid or absurd.
but to me, coming from you,
friend is a four letter word.
to me, coming from you,
friend is a four letter word.
end is the only part of the word
that I heard.
call me morbid or absurd.
but to me, coming from you,
friend is a four letter word.
when I go fishing for the words
i am wishing you would say to me,
i'm really only praying
that the words you'll soon be saying
might betray the way you feel about me.
but to me, coming from you,
friend is a four letter word.
friend is a four letter word.
end is the only part of the word
that i heard.
call me morbid or absurd.
but to me, coming from you,
friend is a four letter word.
to me, coming from you,
friend is a four letter word.
end is the only part of the word
that I heard.
call me morbid or absurd.
but to me, coming from you,
friend is a four letter word.
when I go fishing for the words
i am wishing you would say to me,
i'm really only praying
that the words you'll soon be saying
might betray the way you feel about me.
but to me, coming from you,
friend is a four letter word.
Lyrics submitted by Ice
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Mountain Song
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I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
Magical
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How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Midnight
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Midnight” is a song about finding a love that is so true that it provides a calming feeling through every storm. Ed Sheeran reflects on his good fortunes in landing someone with such peace and support and speaks of not fearing the dark days because he knows they’ll all end in the safety nets of her arms.
“Well, good morning there / What a way to start the day / With everything laid bare,” Ed Sheeran sings in the first verse, enthusiastic to be waking up beside his woman. He apologizes for missing her calls in the second verse and promises to return them because for him, speaking to her is the most important thing. “Well, I get lost inside my head / In this chaos, you’re my calm / And I will find my feet again / ‘Cause еven the worst days of my life will always еnd / At midnight in your arms,” sings Ed Sheeran in the chorus, revelling in his good luck.
Trouble Breathing
Alkaline Trio
Alkaline Trio
While the obvious connections with suicide or alcoholism could be drawn easily, more subtly this song could be about someone who views the world through a negative lens constantly and how as much as the writer tries to show the beauty in the world, this person refuses to see it. It's one or another between the rope and the bottle. There is no good option for this person. They can't see it. Skiba sings it in a kind of exasperated way like He's tired of hearing this negative view constantly and just allowing that person to continue feeling the way they feel knowing he can't do anything about it. You can hear it when he says maybe you're a vampire.
I had originally thought that this word was a negative end to a friendship.. and that the singer was talking about a friendship that no longer had meaning to him. I asked a friend of mine what he meant by four letter word and he said "I end" but that's two words.. and so he alluded it to swears.. however.. on taking a closer look and thinking about it.. to me it reveals itself to be about love (which conveniently happens to be a four-letter word). The "When I go fishing..." stanza tips off that he wants "his friend" to say something besides friend.. and that whenever she calls him a friend.. he just wants to friendship to end so the "love" can begin.. that way the song makes perfect sense to me.. but is almost completely the opposite from what I originally thought. Great song..
I agree except I think it's about a relationship that already happened and he wants her to just stop acting so distant and get close to him again. She's doing what many girls do and trying to keep the guy in her life as a friend, but all he wants is for her to want him back again. I think he's sort of going along with it just waiting for the oppurtunity to get back with her, and this song is sort of what's going on in the back of his mind.
The phrase '_____ is a four letter word' is a phrase that references something as being negative (which, in turn, references many swears, i.e. sh*t, f*k, cnt, d*mn). For example, the term 'diet is a four letter word.' Isn't saying that the word diet has four letters in it, it's saying that the speaker strongly dislikes diets.
Many of you have said that this is about a guy that is in a lover type relationship that is ending. Though that may be the situation, I do not see that there is enough evidence in the lyrics to say that definitively.
The term "four letter word" has been around for a while. Normally, when it is use, it is not meant literally. When one says 'I have a few four letter words I would like to tell him' or 'That movie has too many four letter words for me' then the term means ' vulgar insults and/or the using foul language'
With that said...
What I believe this song to mean is, A person (a guy in this case since the singer is male) is in a relationship (does not have to be sexual but could just be a friend) and the relationship has taken it's toll on him. Since there is no mutual benefit in the relationship he feels taxed by it. That feeling that he is being used or mistreated then makes him feel insulted... especially when his friend uses the word "friend" to excuse and condone the mistreatment.
The singer now beyond the breaking point in the relationship makes the decision that the person being sang to is no longer a friend and ends the friendship... if there ever really was one.
Similar to the saying "with friends like these, who needs enemies?"
Just my thought on the song.
This song, while not necessariy negative, is very sad. It's about when someone in a relationship says "let's just be FRIENDS". He is saying that when his girlfriend said that, that the word friend was as hurtful and insulting as four letter word (aka a swear). Also when he says: "end is the only part of the word, that i heard" he is saying how being friends is unimportant to him, because their relationship has ended. He also hopes that she will change her mind and stop wanting to only be friends and get back together. ("that the words you'll soon be saying might betray the way you feel about me.") Definately one of Cake's best songs, both lyrically and musically.
Disagree with one part. Think the four letter word is "Love". He's saying that when she says "we're just friends" he hears "I love you, don't give up". I think it's about being trapped in that situation where he's driven for a woman mostly because she has hurt his ego. He's just wants her to fix it, and he hears and sees what he wants to instead of what she is portraying. I basically agree with you except the curse part...
Okay I read some of these comments, a lot of them are wrong. This one is totally obvious.
It's a break-up song. And she's giving him the old "but I still want to be friends" line. That's why it's like a swear word to him. I don't know why women can't figure that one out, but it's like adding insult to injury. I can't think of how to dumb down "end is the only part I heard" any more. To him it's just ending, he doesn't exactly see it as gaining a friend.
The other verse is completely obvious too. He's basically saying "I wish you would tell me you love me anyway, even if you don't" ... like he would rather be lied to than have to face the truth.
Anyway. To those who had other ideas... the music gives it away.
It's about a guy who likes a girl, more then likely he loves her. She doesn't feel the same way, she sees their relationship as strictly platonic. Thus him saying "end is the only part of the word that i heard" because she's decided that that's all they'll ever be and he knows he can't just be her friend, it's too hard. "Friend is a four letter word" means she's put a negative stigma on this word that should be positive, but it's not enough for him, and so she's made their friendship tainted in his eyes. Like a consolation prize.
"I'm really only praying that the words you'll soon be saying might betray the way you feel about me." - means that he's just aching for her to say she feels something more for him then friendship. He desperately wants her to change her mind.
I had to listen to this song a few times. And then BAM it all became so clear to me. It's an amazing song. Gotta love cake.
I've always thought that if you spelled it F-R-I-END it makes sense, END being the fourth letter. "end is the only part of the word that I heard". Someone he's pursuing telling him let's just be friends, or one person in a reltionship saying we're better off friends than a couple. that's just how I've always thought it to be.
hey from me comming to you sheep is a five letter word
you're all wrong. if you think about what 4 letter words could come out of friend, clearly the answer is FRED. he's singing this song to his friend fred.
I had a hard time figuring out what this song was about. So i cheated a little and checked thier site when they were still offering Q&A. Its been a few years so i forgot the EXACT word they used, but there is a word to classify vulgar words (provided that they are four letters) not sure what it is, but to the speaker, "friend" is a vulgar FOUR LETTER WORD. This made alot of sense to me.
God Bless CAKE ;)
was the word cunt?
like most cake song, this is best understood visually:
two people sitting at a table, eyeing eachother with all the discomfort of a shared secrets. someone's travel bags sit in a corner, carefully packed, and contributing to the mobid mood.
"i only want to be friends"