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."
It's all about the Pentiums, baby
Uh, uh-huh, yeah
Uh, uh-huh, yeah
It's all about the Pentiums, baby
It's all about the Pentiums, baby
It's all about the Pentiums (it's all about the Pentiums, baby)
It's all about the Pentiums (it's all about the Pentiums, baby)
Yeah
What y'all wanna do?
Wanna be hackers? Code crackers? Slackers
Wastin' time with all the chatroom yakkers?
9 to 5, chillin' at Hewlett Packard?
Workin' at a desk with a dumb little placard?
Yeah, payin' the bills with my mad programming skills
Defraggin' my hard drive for thrills (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
I got me a hundred gigabytes of RAM (yeah, yeah, yeah)
I never feed trolls and I don't read spam
Installed a T1 line in my house
Always at my PC, double-clickin' on my mizouse
Upgrade my system at least twice a day
I'm strictly plug-and-play, I ain't afraid of Y2K
I'm down with Bill Gates, I call him "Money" for short
I phone him up at home and I make him do my tech support
It's all about the Pentiums, what?
You've gotta be the dumbest newbie I've ever seen
You've got white-out all over your screen
You think your Commodore 64 is really neat-o
What kinda chip you got in there, a Dorito?
You're usin' a 286? Don't make me laugh
Your Windows boots up in what, a day and a half?
You could back up your whole hard drive on a floppy diskette
You're the biggest joke on the internet
Your database is a disaster
You're waxin' your modem, tryin' to make it go faster
Hey fella, I bet you're still livin' in your parents' cellar
Downloadin' pictures of Sarah Michelle Gellar
And postin' "me too" like some brain-dead AOL-er
I should do the world a favor and cap you like Old Yeller
You're just about as useless as JPEGs to Hellen Keller
It's all about the Pentiums, yeah (it's all about the Pentiums, baby)
It's all about the Pentiums, yeah (it's all about the Pentiums, baby)
It's all about the Pentiums, yeah (it's all about the Pentiums, baby)
It's all about the Pentiums, yeah (it's all about the Pentiums, baby)
Now, what y'all wanna do?
Wanna be hackers? Code crackers? Slackers
Wastin' time with all the chatroom yakkers?
9 to 5, chillin' at Hewlett Packard? (Uh, uh, loggin' in now)
Wanna run wit my crew, huh? (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Rule cyberspace and crunch numbers like I do?
They call me the king of the spreadsheets
Got 'em all printed out on my bedsheets
My new computer's got the clocks, it rocks
But it was obsolete before I opened the box
You say you've had your desktop for over a week? (Uh-huh)
Throw that junk away, man, it's an antique (come on)
Your laptop is a month old? (Yeah) well, that's great
If you could use a nice, heavy paperweight
My digital media is right-protected
Every file inspected, no viruses detected
I beta tested every operating system
Gave props to some, and others? I dissed 'em
While your computer's crashin', mine's multitaskin' (uh, uh)
It does all my work without me even askin' (uh, uh, uh)
Got a flat-screen monitor, forty inches wide
I believe that yours says "Etch-A-Sketch" on the side
In a 32-bit world, you're a 2-bit user (come on)
You've got your own newsgroup, "Alt.Total-Loser" (come on)
Your motherboard melts when you try to send a fax (come on)
Where'd you get your CPU, in a box of Cracker Jacks? (Come on)
Play me online? Well, you know that I'll beat you
If I ever meet you I'll control-alt-delete you
What? What? What? What? What? (It's all about the Pentiums, baby)
It's all about the Pentiums, yeah (it's all about the Pentiums, baby)
It's all about the Pentiums, yeah (it's all about the Pentiums, baby)
It's all about the Pentiums, yeah (it's all about the Pentiums, baby)
It's all about the Pentiums (it's all about the Pentiums, baby)
What y'all wanna do? (It's all about the Pentiums, baby)
Wanna be hackers? Code crackers? Slackers (It's all about the Pentiums, baby)
Wastin' time with all the chatroom yakkers? (It's all about the Pentiums, baby)
9 to 5, chillin' at Hewlett Packard?
What?
Uh, uh-huh, yeah
Uh, uh-huh, yeah
It's all about the Pentiums, baby
It's all about the Pentiums, baby
It's all about the Pentiums (it's all about the Pentiums, baby)
It's all about the Pentiums (it's all about the Pentiums, baby)
Yeah
What y'all wanna do?
Wanna be hackers? Code crackers? Slackers
Wastin' time with all the chatroom yakkers?
9 to 5, chillin' at Hewlett Packard?
Workin' at a desk with a dumb little placard?
Yeah, payin' the bills with my mad programming skills
Defraggin' my hard drive for thrills (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
I got me a hundred gigabytes of RAM (yeah, yeah, yeah)
I never feed trolls and I don't read spam
Installed a T1 line in my house
Always at my PC, double-clickin' on my mizouse
Upgrade my system at least twice a day
I'm strictly plug-and-play, I ain't afraid of Y2K
I'm down with Bill Gates, I call him "Money" for short
I phone him up at home and I make him do my tech support
It's all about the Pentiums, what?
You've gotta be the dumbest newbie I've ever seen
You've got white-out all over your screen
You think your Commodore 64 is really neat-o
What kinda chip you got in there, a Dorito?
You're usin' a 286? Don't make me laugh
Your Windows boots up in what, a day and a half?
You could back up your whole hard drive on a floppy diskette
You're the biggest joke on the internet
Your database is a disaster
You're waxin' your modem, tryin' to make it go faster
Hey fella, I bet you're still livin' in your parents' cellar
Downloadin' pictures of Sarah Michelle Gellar
And postin' "me too" like some brain-dead AOL-er
I should do the world a favor and cap you like Old Yeller
You're just about as useless as JPEGs to Hellen Keller
It's all about the Pentiums, yeah (it's all about the Pentiums, baby)
It's all about the Pentiums, yeah (it's all about the Pentiums, baby)
It's all about the Pentiums, yeah (it's all about the Pentiums, baby)
It's all about the Pentiums, yeah (it's all about the Pentiums, baby)
Now, what y'all wanna do?
Wanna be hackers? Code crackers? Slackers
Wastin' time with all the chatroom yakkers?
9 to 5, chillin' at Hewlett Packard? (Uh, uh, loggin' in now)
Wanna run wit my crew, huh? (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Rule cyberspace and crunch numbers like I do?
They call me the king of the spreadsheets
Got 'em all printed out on my bedsheets
My new computer's got the clocks, it rocks
But it was obsolete before I opened the box
You say you've had your desktop for over a week? (Uh-huh)
Throw that junk away, man, it's an antique (come on)
Your laptop is a month old? (Yeah) well, that's great
If you could use a nice, heavy paperweight
My digital media is right-protected
Every file inspected, no viruses detected
I beta tested every operating system
Gave props to some, and others? I dissed 'em
While your computer's crashin', mine's multitaskin' (uh, uh)
It does all my work without me even askin' (uh, uh, uh)
Got a flat-screen monitor, forty inches wide
I believe that yours says "Etch-A-Sketch" on the side
In a 32-bit world, you're a 2-bit user (come on)
You've got your own newsgroup, "Alt.Total-Loser" (come on)
Your motherboard melts when you try to send a fax (come on)
Where'd you get your CPU, in a box of Cracker Jacks? (Come on)
Play me online? Well, you know that I'll beat you
If I ever meet you I'll control-alt-delete you
What? What? What? What? What? (It's all about the Pentiums, baby)
It's all about the Pentiums, yeah (it's all about the Pentiums, baby)
It's all about the Pentiums, yeah (it's all about the Pentiums, baby)
It's all about the Pentiums, yeah (it's all about the Pentiums, baby)
It's all about the Pentiums (it's all about the Pentiums, baby)
What y'all wanna do? (It's all about the Pentiums, baby)
Wanna be hackers? Code crackers? Slackers (It's all about the Pentiums, baby)
Wastin' time with all the chatroom yakkers? (It's all about the Pentiums, baby)
9 to 5, chillin' at Hewlett Packard?
What?
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Mountain Song
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Just A Little Lovin'
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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/
Blue
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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.
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.
Parody of "It's All About the Benjamins" by Puff Daddy.