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."
Begin the day with a friendly voice
A companion unobtrusive
Plays that song that's so elusive
And the magic music makes your morning mood
Off on your way, hit the open road
There is magic at your fingers
For the Spirit ever lingers
Undemanding contact in your happy solitude
Invisible airwaves crackle with life
Bright antennae bristle with the energy
Emotional feedback on timeless wavelength
Bearing a gift beyond price, almost free
All this machinery making modern music
Can still be open-hearted
Not so coldly charted
It's really just a question of your honesty, yeah
Your honesty
One likes to believe in the freedom of music
But glittering prizes and endless compromises
Shatter the illusion of integrity
Invisible airwaves crackle with life
Bright antennae bristle with the energy
Emotional feedback on timeless wavelength
Bearing a gift beyond price, almost free
"For the words of the profits were written on the studio wall
Concert hall
And echoes with the sound of salesmen...of salesmen...of salesmen."
A companion unobtrusive
Plays that song that's so elusive
And the magic music makes your morning mood
Off on your way, hit the open road
There is magic at your fingers
For the Spirit ever lingers
Undemanding contact in your happy solitude
Invisible airwaves crackle with life
Bright antennae bristle with the energy
Emotional feedback on timeless wavelength
Bearing a gift beyond price, almost free
All this machinery making modern music
Can still be open-hearted
Not so coldly charted
It's really just a question of your honesty, yeah
Your honesty
One likes to believe in the freedom of music
But glittering prizes and endless compromises
Shatter the illusion of integrity
Invisible airwaves crackle with life
Bright antennae bristle with the energy
Emotional feedback on timeless wavelength
Bearing a gift beyond price, almost free
"For the words of the profits were written on the studio wall
Concert hall
And echoes with the sound of salesmen...of salesmen...of salesmen."
Lyrics submitted by shed27, edited by mescaline20
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Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction

Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
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.

Another Love
Tom Odell
Tom Odell
I think the meaning is pretty clear. This person got really burned in a previous relationship, and because of this is unable to love and show care in his present one, even though he so badly wants to. It's lovely song, and very sad. You can really feel how defeated and frustrated he is with himself.

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.”
I always thought this song was specifically about the magic that radio can be, and should be. But it's also a lament over the commercialization that leads to cookie-cutter formats, and soulless corporate suits who care only about the bottom line.
Radio is meant to be personal, and can indeed be a friend...a "companion unobtrusive." But the song, in its brilliant prescience, foretells corporate ownership, consolidation, and the move away from local and personal focus.
I think the line about "all this machinery making modern music" just refers to the technical, physical equipment necessary to broadcast a radio signal.
Great song indeed; it's one of my favorites.
Dude... that was deep.
@djmike Awesome analysis. Only thing to add is it is about a specific radio station, 102.1 CFNY.<br /> <br /> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CFNY-FM
@djmike I'm with you most of your post, but one question/possible disagreement - that line "all this machinery making modern music, can still be open-hearted", I always thought that line was about the infiltration into Rock and Roll of synthesizers, etc. ( a direction in which Rush was heading next), and how the message shouldn't be reduced to the medium.
Oh, also, similar ground was covered by another Canadian power trio, Triumph, the following year, with Magic Power.
Radio industry at the time was so stupid that it jumped on this song as an anthem, not realizing that it was in actuality a scathing review. They failed to look beyond the title.<br /> <br /> And to think, five years esrlier they banned The Doobie Brithers’ single “Another Park, Another Sunday” because it contained the line “My car is empty and the radio just seems to bring me down.”
Personally, I believe that the song is about the music industry, in general. It's saying that music can be a wonderful form of expression, and can make life better, when made for the right reasons. It's saying that the music industry can ruin music. It can fill people with the wish to make music soley for money, for profit, and no other reason (and the words of the profits were written on the studio hall... and echoes with the sounds of salesmen) and that this makes many musicians compromise their art, their music, for the money (glittering prizes and endless compromises...). It's also saying that it doesn't need to be this way, "it's really just a matter of your honesty". It's up to the musicians to make the music for the right reasons.
@Philosophic_Musings I never really thought about those lines being applied to musicians but I totally see your point. I took the “glittering prizes” as the call-in contests on radio stations (I won my fair share back in the day) and “echo with the sound of salesmen” as a reference to radio ads but I think it can be taken both ways. Even the line “all this machinery making modern music” could refer to musicians’ instruments or the broadcast gear at a radio station, although the line “not so coldly charted” is a specific dig at radio’s top 40 charts. Same with “words of the profits were written on the studio walls” could be radio station studio or recording studio. Thanks for adding a second perspective to my take on the song.
One year I saw Rush in concert, the baseball teams were on strike.
They changed the lyrics in the song to "One likes to believe in the spirit of baseball."
The song is about the conflict between artistic passions and marketability.
1981 or 1994? Hmm. Geddy Lee is a huge baseball fan and you can see him sitting behind home plate at many a Toronto Blue Jays game.
@NightMgr Baseball went on strike 1981. I did not go to the Signals Tour (1982) but my Rush nut friend told me that was the lyric. I think it was the Signals album that mentions Warren Cromartie ( a prominent Expo at the time). I did go to the Grace Under Pressure tour. Opening act was the late Gary Moore.
@NightMgr I remember that but he sang “One likes to believe in the freedom of baseball.”
Not sure if this is obvious or not but the last 3 lines are a reference to Simon and Garfunkel's "Sound of Silence". The lines from that are:
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls And tenement halls" And whispered in the sounds of silence
interesting tidbit about this song.
@Mystrocool Thanks. I thought that line sounded familiar from somewhere, but I couldn't make the connection.
This is partly a tribute to the former Toronto FM station, CFNY 102.1, the "Spirit of Radio" (their tagline.) I was a teenager growing up listening to CFNY circa 1980-86. There was nothing else like it on Toronto airwaves, if not in all of North America. The DJs basically played what they liked - New Wave, Punk, New World Music, etc., and a lot of Brittish stuff. It stood in great contrast to all of the other FM "Rock" stations, at times appearing seemingly amateurish, yet intellectual at the same time. I can not adequately descibe the wonderful feelings I would have, as a teenager, discovering some great obscure song that they would start playing. It was like a breath of fresh air putting that station on in the mornings. I gather that that is what Neil Peart felt when he would put it on -it was just such a contrast to all of the other stations, where it was the same top 40 songs with stupid contests all of the time. For some archived shows, visit the fanpage spiritofradio.ca/
@palofcyruss 100%.
More info on CFNY and Rush.<br /> <br /> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CFNY-FM
When you wake up the morning, you might turn on the radio, and everyday, reliably, you can hear the familiar voices or songs. As you set out to do your morning activities the radio sets you at ease.
When you get in your car, the stereo is there, and even though you are by yourself, you have the radio to lift your spirits. The radio asks nothing in return, and so in many ways, it can be an ideal "friend".
As if by magic, the radio reaches you through the air, and the price you have to pay is nothing compared to the joy it brings.
As time goes on man has made devices to make music easier to make and reproduce (auto-tune, synthesizers, etc) So long as the artist maintains his or her integrity, there is no reason not to put these devices to good use.
However, there are always going to be parties that exploit the technology purely for financial gain and not for artistic merit. It's up to the listener to determine the difference between art and business or commercialism.
Remember that a lot of the music or programming you hear on the radio is played only because someone is paying them to pay it.
Begin the day with a friendly voice A companion unobtrusive Plays that song that's so elusive And the magic music makes your morning mood
Off on your way, hit the open road There is magic at your fingers For the Spirit ever lingers Undemanding contact in your happy solitude
[Chorus:] Invisible airwaves crackle with life Bright antennae bristle with the energy Emotional feedback on timeless wavelength Bearing a gift beyond price, almost free
All this machinery making modern music Can still be open-hearted Not so coldly charted It's really just a question of your honesty, yeah Your honesty One likes to believe in the freedom of music But glittering prizes and endless compromises Shatter the illusion of integrity
[Chorus]
"For the words of the profits were written on the studio wall Concert hall And echoes with the sound of salesmen...of salesmen...of salesmen."
wow..i really can not beleave that anyone has posted about this song yet...to me it is a truely amazing song. I would love to hear what other people think about this song and what they think it is about.
The first 3 stanzas are kind of just describing the radio and what a good thing it is. The 4th appears to deal with the controversy when the tape recorder was first introduced, people could just record music off the radio, so it's saying it's a question of your honesty. (The same issue that went on with the VCR and now the file-sharing)
The rest of the song kind of ties it together with the whole music-for-profit theme that seems to be going on overall.
Now to the reason I am really writing this, because, thanks to Philosophic Musings quoting that line I realized it's almost a direct copy of a line from Simon and Garfunkel's "Sounds of Silence".
Rush: "and the words of the profits were written on the studio wall... and echoes with the sounds of salesmen."
Paul Simon: "and the words of the prophets were written on the subway walls... and echoes with the sounds of silence"
Now that I take the time to think about it... The two songs really have a lot in common. The most accepted meaning of Sounds of silence was that people are building to much on pop-culture and not really listening, and if they did they would find that the music has a lack of meaning and is not heartfelt.
So by writing this I realized a few things myself, I guess it's true what my professor always tries to tell me. "If you write something down, it causes you to think about it." Once again he's proved right.
Sorry for being kinda long-winded there (I say this as I continue to type) But, you know, it kinda happens sometimes. Especially when you don't have something outlined and of course I'm not gonna take the time to outline what was originally a "comment" and turned it into this... Well never mind.
wow! This song is brilliant, just read the lyrics again, while listening to the song. "All this machinery making modern music..." is obviously refering to the rave and electronica culture, yet they show some form of respect by singing "...can still be open-hearted." Philosophic_Musings and chibiweav are both 100% correct: this song is about the music industry, heartfelt music etc. Great song.
I agree, however, this song is from the 70's, so the electronica you speak of wasn't as developed as now...
@inactive account Rave and electronica culture were not a thing back in 1980. The line was likely a reference to synthesizers, which had been in mainstream modern music for around a decade, or it’s a reference to radio broadcasting equipment.