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."
I used to march around the playground with my friends
Yelling we hate girls and now all's well that ends well
And there's so much to be said for fresh starts and second chances
In a world of scary monsters and high tech advances
I try to do what I do with love instead of with anger
And when sometimes I bite my nails 'cause real life is a cliffhanger
What with only seconds left at the end of the 10th hour
We got emergency ways to respond to the Nth power
The alloys are light weight and increasingly durable
But as far as I'm concerned, the original is preferable
I'm stubborn that way, I piss while humanity waits
My motto wouldn't fit on a set of vanity plates
The watch in my pocket maybe indeed old and tarnished
But at least I can raise my hand without a shoulder harness
You know I can easily replace my lungs with a respirator
My ?pants? with a DV and my staircase with an escalator
But my life revolves around the spherical orbit of earth
And it ends forever with the miracle moment of birth
On the first day of spring, I start work on the fall edition
And decide for myself who's a thief and who's a politician
It's two different things on different pages of the calendar
I gauge the way I react on the age of my challengers
I row my boat gently against the current and I believe
In real life and death experience and keeping and even keel
What's that Dim, Stop that racket (2X)
Damn that noise, I'll kill them all
Yelling we hate girls and now all's well that ends well
And there's so much to be said for fresh starts and second chances
In a world of scary monsters and high tech advances
I try to do what I do with love instead of with anger
And when sometimes I bite my nails 'cause real life is a cliffhanger
What with only seconds left at the end of the 10th hour
We got emergency ways to respond to the Nth power
The alloys are light weight and increasingly durable
But as far as I'm concerned, the original is preferable
I'm stubborn that way, I piss while humanity waits
My motto wouldn't fit on a set of vanity plates
The watch in my pocket maybe indeed old and tarnished
But at least I can raise my hand without a shoulder harness
You know I can easily replace my lungs with a respirator
My ?pants? with a DV and my staircase with an escalator
But my life revolves around the spherical orbit of earth
And it ends forever with the miracle moment of birth
On the first day of spring, I start work on the fall edition
And decide for myself who's a thief and who's a politician
It's two different things on different pages of the calendar
I gauge the way I react on the age of my challengers
I row my boat gently against the current and I believe
In real life and death experience and keeping and even keel
What's that Dim, Stop that racket (2X)
Damn that noise, I'll kill them all
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More Featured Meanings
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,
When We Were Young
Blink-182
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This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
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Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
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