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."
Wrote you this
I hope you got it safe
It's been so long
I don't know what to say
I've travelled 'round
Through deserts on my horse
But jokes aside
I wanna come back home
You know that night
I said I had to go
You said you'd meet me
On the sunny road
It's time, meet me on the sunny road
it's time, meet me on the sunny road
I never married
Never had those kids
I loved too many
Now heaven's closed its gates.
I know I'm bad
To jump on you like this
Some things don't change
My middle name's still 'Risk'
I know that night
So long long time ago
Will you still meet me
On the sunny road
It's time, meet me on the sunny road
It's time, meet me on the sunny road
Well, this is it
I'm running out of space
Here is my address
And number just in case.
This time as one
We'll find which way to go
Now come and meet me
On the sunny road
I hope you got it safe
It's been so long
I don't know what to say
I've travelled 'round
Through deserts on my horse
But jokes aside
I wanna come back home
You know that night
I said I had to go
You said you'd meet me
On the sunny road
It's time, meet me on the sunny road
it's time, meet me on the sunny road
I never married
Never had those kids
I loved too many
Now heaven's closed its gates.
I know I'm bad
To jump on you like this
Some things don't change
My middle name's still 'Risk'
I know that night
So long long time ago
Will you still meet me
On the sunny road
It's time, meet me on the sunny road
It's time, meet me on the sunny road
Well, this is it
I'm running out of space
Here is my address
And number just in case.
This time as one
We'll find which way to go
Now come and meet me
On the sunny road
Lyrics submitted by Madraykin
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Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
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Plastic Bag
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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.

Trouble Breathing
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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.
oo i just discovered this song, i'm already crazy about it.
i think the singer/writer of the "letter"/narrator is speaking to an old lover, someone she used to be young and in love with. she left because she was young and restless, and needed to figure things out. he said "meet me on the sunny road" perhaps not realizing how much time would pass, but time DID pass, years and years, after she should have settled down and after she should have had kids, but none of that ever happened, and now she's alone and has figured out that she was only comfortable with that one lover she had so long ago...and she wants to know if she can meet her old friend on the sunny road. she's so road-worn that she realizes he might not want to, and she braces herself, giving him her address and such, leaving the option open. "i know i'm bad to jump on you like this" implies that it's been a long, long time since they last spoke and she's contacting him really randomly...
i hope i never have to identify with this song (in the way i've interpreted it anyway) but i think it would make for a beautiful story.
What an awesome song!
Why have no more comments been made on this song? We need some more JJJ listeners around.
Quality track. She pursues the lryrics, finds the right emotional ground and delivers them with a stunning passion. Ahh.
sends shivers through body i can relate 2 this song so much
there is one person to whom I would like to send such letter... it's been so long time ago, but I still miss him. Every time I listen to this song I remember him, but i am not so brave to take some action. Beautifull song
Are the 'deserts' traveled a metaphor for a series empty or leading-to-nowhere relationships? The following line, of 'jokes aside' allude to a quest for something grand, 'traveled round through deserts on my horse', that really didn't amount to much real meaning for her.
My first hit on the lyric 'now heaven's closed its gates' was that the time for her chance to have kids passed by age or circumstance.
I never got the death of a partner hit from the lyrics, and it doesn't make sense for me with the closing lines of 'here's my address and number just in case'. It is still valid for the writer of this comment, as one could write a letter as an act of closing, or self fulfillment, or longing.
I love this song. My take on it has always been a bittersweet one. To me it’s a song about true love, about regret, and about death. The speaker writing the letter is on her death bed, her last thoughts are this letter to her lover, the last thing on her mind. It’s written to the one she let go in search of adventure, and greener grass. She’s lived an unconventional journey and shirked the traditional good life. It was full if hedonism and “sin” and so the conventional heaven is no longer an option. At the end, she decides she wants to be with this one person, despite having missed the opportunity throughout their lives. She makes a last ask, to meet her on the sunny road, she says tongue in cheek, as the road to hell, paved with her good intentions. I think it’s a beautiful and sad song. It’s saying, I’ve lived this life, and if I had to do it again, I’d choose to do it with you. But we can’t redo this life, so let’s meet in the afterlife instead.
There aren't many songs I consider "soothing" or "feel-good" or whatever, songs I can listen to on repeat for hours and feel better and calm... But along with JCale's "Magnolia", this is one of them. Absolutely gorgeous, and very effective. Most songs I listen to and love for a catchy beat or poem, but this one has impact on my emotions, in a very strong and very good way (unlike 'Wishful thinking', by wilco, which always has me dying inside..)
:)
this song is so beautiful. Her voice is surprisingly unique and lovely. The way she sings it is so wonderfully understated when so many other artists-thanks in great part to american idol-think that good singing is simply belting every note you can. She shapes it so perfectly.
your right this song is calming, its pretty, and peaceful.
awesome song. i totally think shes writing it to either A) an old boyfriend or B) her husband. "Wrote you this I hope you got it safe It's been so long I don't know what to say I've travelled 'round Through deserts on my horse But jokes aside I wanna come back home You know that night I said I had to go You said you'd meet me On the sunny road It's time, meet me on the sunny road it's time, meet me on the sunny road" basiclly saying that its been a long time since she left and shes been everywhere but she wants to go back home to him. and she thinks its time for him to meet her at this one place they always shared. "I never married Never had those kids I loved too many Now heaven's closed its gates. I know I'm bad To jump on you like this Some things don't change My middle name's still 'Risk' I know that night So long long time ago Will you still meet me On the sunny road It's time, meet me on the sunny road It's time, meet me on the sunny road" Okay, I got 2 things out of this.either A) she is writing to her husband whom she left and how when she was gone she could be anyone, that she never had kids or got married and that she was with a lot of people and was taking risks while she was gone but she realizes shes getting older and should face the mistakes shes made or B) its to an ex boyfriend about how she could always change who she was, like she could have been married or had kids and that shes told the lies to many people and she was always taking a risk that they would find out the truth about her and that maybe her ex boyfirend did and thats why she left. "Well, this is it I'm running out of space Here is my address And number just in case. This time as one We'll find which way to go Now come and meet me On the sunny road" shes finishing up her letter, that is on maybe like a napkin or a hotel piece of paper, a small piece of paper, and giving him her info to see if he'll contact her or meet her if hes still in love with her