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 climbed the mountaintop
I saw the bottom drop
I'm clinging to driftwood, yeah
I swim in a deep world
Words unspoken seem so foreign
Have you heard this one?
[Chorus]
The hair on the back of your neck stands “Another way out”, “Another way out”
The army ants have escaped
The hair on the back of your neck stands up
Ink runs into my cup, I sip epiphany
Fang bite, tarantula
Taste of my symptoms
Gasoline and a pistol
Blood filling the bathtub
Swollen eyelids baffled by this
Tell us what you see
[Chorus]
I've bit my lip for the last time
The fog lifts up for the blind
Free of body, free of mind
I'll build my mold up, rest inside
Ink spills on paper, paper spells “my blood”
Ink spills on paper, paper spells “my blood”
The hair on the back of your neck stands up
Ink runs into my cup, I sip epiphany
The army ants have escaped
The hair on the back of your neck stands up
Ink runs into my cup, I sip epiphany
Ink spills on paper, paper spells “my blood”
Ink spills on paper, paper spells “my blood”
I saw the bottom drop
I'm clinging to driftwood, yeah
I swim in a deep world
Words unspoken seem so foreign
Have you heard this one?
[Chorus]
The hair on the back of your neck stands “Another way out”, “Another way out”
The army ants have escaped
The hair on the back of your neck stands up
Ink runs into my cup, I sip epiphany
Fang bite, tarantula
Taste of my symptoms
Gasoline and a pistol
Blood filling the bathtub
Swollen eyelids baffled by this
Tell us what you see
[Chorus]
I've bit my lip for the last time
The fog lifts up for the blind
Free of body, free of mind
I'll build my mold up, rest inside
Ink spills on paper, paper spells “my blood”
Ink spills on paper, paper spells “my blood”
The hair on the back of your neck stands up
Ink runs into my cup, I sip epiphany
The army ants have escaped
The hair on the back of your neck stands up
Ink runs into my cup, I sip epiphany
Ink spills on paper, paper spells “my blood”
Ink spills on paper, paper spells “my blood”
Lyrics submitted by AllStarMe, edited by digitaldubster, shinboke55, Whstdoido5
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corrections: its "I'm clinging to Driftwood", "the army ants have escaped", "Baffled by this" not "for by this", its "Fang Bite Tarantula" not think bite and "Blood filling The Bathtub" not bottle. also The end is "I'll build my mold up rest inside" all these corrections are from the lyric booklet on the cd
Finch has a new sound and it rocks!
I love this song so much the new album is great!! my favorite part is "the hair on the back..." the music + the way nate is singing is just perfect!
the new album is shit compared to their last. I have to say this album wont be gettin much rotation at all in my cd player.
dova2000, the first time i listened to the new album, i didn't know how much i liked it, but Finch's new album quickly grew on me. You can't expect them to put out a sequel to what it is to burn. one of the greatest things about bands putting out new albums is to see how they change, and personally I think that Finch has changed a lot and in a good way. There are a lot of albums that i'll buy, listen to and think they're shit, then a few months later, ill listen to it again, and wonder what the fuck i was thinking when i first listened to you. it'll probably grow on you eventually, who knows.
This album is by far superior to their last...
Anyway, I think this song has to do with how it hits me on a personal level, and that is, writing, expressing inner thoughts, pouring out the anguish if you will. Whenever I write, I'm taken to the outer realms of my mind, I'm writing things that seem to be nonsensical, insufferable, and causing my own physical void. Many nights have I been far too visually inclined, lacking sleep in the darkest hours...(swollen eyelids). These written testimonies are ultimately my scars, affliction, bane, lust, love, my veins ripped open...(blood).
It's the ultimate battle...yourself...
Anyway, that's just my personal experience, and that's how I can relate it to the song...
i think the song is about being trapped, not being able to move, or speak...and trying so hard to get out but not being able to. it talks about falling into a hole, being bit by a venomous spider, being poisoned.... all those things can make your body lock up and not be able to move, or cry for help. at the end it talks about being free of body, free of mind...maybe he's talking about finally dying, and being free?
their new shit is based on stuff like that. but hey, i could definitely be wrong.
i think its the whole album, in one song. look at all the lyrics of each song on the new album. each song has some kind of dark meaning to it. i think this song points out to all of them. and at the end when he sings-
"i've bitten my lip for the last time fog lifts up for the blind free of body free of mind i'll build my mold up, rest inside ink spills on paper paper spells my blood ink spills on paper paper spells my blood"
i think he's talking about the writing process. how its so fucking hard to write, but something eventually comes to him. "fog lifts up for the blind." ink spills on paper, paper spells my blood. paper spells everything inside of him, he releases everything onto paper.
get what im sayin?
Yeah, because I made that interpretation.
Nice that you see it that way too though.