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."
Dear Mr. and or Mrs. sender
We're pleased to inform you that your application's been accepted
Starting from the time you get this letter
Your life will be one never-ending "hope you're feeling better"
You get your choice of an aesthetic
Ah we need to chop your clock off tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock
It might not be what you expected
There is no money back once you've been ripped off, ripped off, ripped off
Today's a very special day
The boys'll murder for it but what will the neighbors say?
It leaves you feeling pretty hollow it might be nice to look at
Don't forget you're stuck with it tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
You're big enough to stop pretending
You'll start to really show it in a week or so
So don't go saying it's just come to your attention
You'll get more than you're asking for without the right protection
Today's a very special day
And how you'd love to have a little thing with which to play
But love won't get you very far, today be still your beating heart
You'll have to keep on feeding it tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
Boys will be boys, will be boys, will be boys, will be boys
Will be boys, will be girls with no warning
Girls will be girls, will be guys, will be boys that don't cry over toys
That they use to beat girls they despise by the morning
They always said that sex would change you
Change you, change you, change you
No second thoughts the knife is nearing
You'll never hear the little pitter patter pitter patter
Of this little feat of engineering
Of course I love you and of course it's what's inside that matters
But I think the whole charade is ending
It seems to me to be the only way to keep from getting
Caught up in a long life of regretting
The doctors say that once you get a taste for it should keep on cutting
But while you happen to be here
Why don't you whisper all those sweet forevers in my ear?
Stiff upper lip in all this sorrow, hurry up and stick it in
You never know when it will end tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow
Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
They always said that sex would change you
Change you, change you, change you
We're pleased to inform you that your application's been accepted
Starting from the time you get this letter
Your life will be one never-ending "hope you're feeling better"
You get your choice of an aesthetic
Ah we need to chop your clock off tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock
It might not be what you expected
There is no money back once you've been ripped off, ripped off, ripped off
Today's a very special day
The boys'll murder for it but what will the neighbors say?
It leaves you feeling pretty hollow it might be nice to look at
Don't forget you're stuck with it tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
You're big enough to stop pretending
You'll start to really show it in a week or so
So don't go saying it's just come to your attention
You'll get more than you're asking for without the right protection
Today's a very special day
And how you'd love to have a little thing with which to play
But love won't get you very far, today be still your beating heart
You'll have to keep on feeding it tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
Boys will be boys, will be boys, will be boys, will be boys
Will be boys, will be girls with no warning
Girls will be girls, will be guys, will be boys that don't cry over toys
That they use to beat girls they despise by the morning
They always said that sex would change you
Change you, change you, change you
No second thoughts the knife is nearing
You'll never hear the little pitter patter pitter patter
Of this little feat of engineering
Of course I love you and of course it's what's inside that matters
But I think the whole charade is ending
It seems to me to be the only way to keep from getting
Caught up in a long life of regretting
The doctors say that once you get a taste for it should keep on cutting
But while you happen to be here
Why don't you whisper all those sweet forevers in my ear?
Stiff upper lip in all this sorrow, hurry up and stick it in
You never know when it will end tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow
Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
They always said that sex would change you
Change you, change you, change you
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Mountain Song
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Did anyone else catch the Macbeth allusions?
"Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" - one of the most famous speeches in the play. It's about the passage of time, which is perverted and made unnatural in the duration of the play. There are also lots of other references to time in the song ("tick tock tick tock," etc.)
"Starting from the time you get this letter...it might not be what you expected" - The witches prophecy that Macbeth will be king, but instead of this being a joyous thing he starts murdering everything and things get more and more terrible.
"You're big enough to stop pretending" - Illusion plays a big part in Macbeth. At first Lady Macbeth is completely fine with all the murder and is convinced that she and her husband can still be pure and innocent. Over time though she realizes the horror of what's going on.
"Boys will be boys...they always said that sex would change you" - Over the course of the play Macbeth and Lady Macbeth somewhat change places in terms of traditional gender roles. When at first he's reluctant to commit the murders, she teases him and says he's not being manly enough. She also rejects traditional motherhood and is very driven to attain a higher status (like a man, traditionally, at least in Shakespeare's time.) Later though Macbeth gets caught up in all the murdering and is a "man," but a crazy one.
"The knife is nearing" - Macbeth hallucinates a bloody knife hovering toward him before committing his first murder.
"The whole charade is ending...caught up in a long life of regretting" - Macbeth often expresses sentiments that he is jealous of the people he's killed, because he's so tortured by what he's done. He feels like death is the only true peacefulness.
"Once you get a taste for it you keep on cutting" - Once he commits one murder he can't stop.
"You never know when it will end, tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" - At the end of the play Macbeth, now king, is killed. At the beginning of the play he killed the original king, so it's like the cycle is starting over.
....I don't know how that all meshes with the other interpretations of the song, which all seem pretty sound. But we just studied Macbeth and this song just jumped out at me...thoughts?