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."
We carried you in our arms on Independence Day
And now you throw us all aside and put us all away
Oh, what dear daughter 'neath the sun could treat her father so
To wait upon him hand and foot, yet always tell him no
Tears of rage, tears of grief
Why must I always be the thief
Come to me now, you know we're so alone
And life is brief
It was all so very painless when you ran out to receive
All that false instruction which we never could believe
And now the heart is filled with gold as if it was a purse
But, oh, what kind of love is this which goes from bad to worse
Tears of rage, tears of grief
Why must I always be the thief
Come to me now, you know we're so alone
And life is brief
We pointed you the way to go and scratched your name in sand
Though you just thought it was nothing more than a place for you to stand
I want you to know that while we watched you discover no one would be true
That I myself was among the ones who thought it was just a childish thing to do
Tears of rage, tears of grief
Why must I always be the thief
Come to me now, you know we're so alone
And life is brief
And now you throw us all aside and put us all away
Oh, what dear daughter 'neath the sun could treat her father so
To wait upon him hand and foot, yet always tell him no
Tears of rage, tears of grief
Why must I always be the thief
Come to me now, you know we're so alone
And life is brief
It was all so very painless when you ran out to receive
All that false instruction which we never could believe
And now the heart is filled with gold as if it was a purse
But, oh, what kind of love is this which goes from bad to worse
Tears of rage, tears of grief
Why must I always be the thief
Come to me now, you know we're so alone
And life is brief
We pointed you the way to go and scratched your name in sand
Though you just thought it was nothing more than a place for you to stand
I want you to know that while we watched you discover no one would be true
That I myself was among the ones who thought it was just a childish thing to do
Tears of rage, tears of grief
Why must I always be the thief
Come to me now, you know we're so alone
And life is brief
Lyrics submitted by NoThankYou!
Tears Of Rage Lyrics as written by Bob Dylan Richard Manuel
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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The opening song to their first album, this sad account of a daughter's rejection of her father is sung beautifully by Richard Manuel. Never had Richard sounded this intense or emotional..it's something you've truly got to hear. If you like his voice then I recommend "I Shall Be Released", "Rockin' Chair", and "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)". Although the credits to the song are Dylan/Manuel, I'm pretty sure Dylan wrote the lyrics and Richard came up with the piano. There's a version of the song on "The Basement Tapes" with Dylan singing lead and Richard in the background. Definetely worth checking out.
Hi. I absolutely love this song and have known it since the 70s when I had both versions (Basement Tapes and Big Pink). Still have them of course. I agree with you Richard Manuel's voice is just so full of pain and intense - beautiful). In fact there isn't a song on Big Pink and "The Band" I don't like but particularly fond of Jawbone, Rocking Chair (again Richard Manuel's voice is something else), Unfaithful Servant and King Harvest although love many of the others on the two albums. Never much liked Rag Mama Rag funnily enough. I am fascinated by Tears of Rage which is a song that has always moved me immensely. MY guess (just an opinion) is that Richard Manuel DID write some of the lyrics. Reason I say this is that unlike songs written by Dylan alone (by the way Dylan's poetry to me is pure inspiration and I virtually worship the ground he walks on) this song (to me anyway) DOES have some rational meaning. Whereas Dylan's songs to me (and that is the genius of them I think) are a constant enigma and just full of these beautiful metaphors and images and you can make what you will of them. This song though seems to be "about" something. Yes a daughter's rejection of her father. But what is the second verse about ?? This is surely the description of a child's trust and innocence ("you ran out to receive")being abused ? Children run out to their parents don't you think ? What do you think of "Why must I always be the thief" means ? Is this the father still talking or the daughter ? And a thief of what ? Love ?<br /> Then if you move to the next verse it seems to be a father's apology to his daughter for betraying her trust and abusing a child's innocence ("you discovered that there was no one true") ? Do you agree with this ? "I myself really thought it was just a childish thing to do" seems to be an apology don't you think ? Entreating the daughter to understand that he was not the instigator of her childish disappointment. Anyway really interested in your comments !!
@shoebobs perfectly put pal
Wow, such a beautiful song. All about the absurdity of life and the beauty of life. In the end, dust to dust. But in the mean time, at least we have...oh who am I kidding, we're all dead in the end.
The lines "What dear daughter 'neath the sun could love a father so To wait upon him hand and foot and always tell him no?" seem to me a pretty clear allusion to King Lear and his daughter Cordelia's refusal to flatter him. Indeed, one could interpret the whole song as a exegesis of King Lear.
I love this song. It's so cool how the electric guitar is plugged into an organ! I like the Basement Tapes version of this song too but I agree with "shoebobs", Richard Manuel's rendition is positively spectacular. Music From Big Pink is one of those few PERFECT albums. And this song is the perfect opening. I love everything about this song. The sad, honest lyrics. The flawless music. Perfect.
manuel just sings with such emotion and the guitar organ and piano sync into such hypnotic waves, this is by far the number one track on big pink and number two all time by the band behind 'it makes no difference' the woodstock performance of this song is great too, dylans version is much more bland though, if youve seen interviews with manuel youd be surprised that he can sing like he does too bad he went and off'd himself 20 years ago
Great song
But what does it mean?
@rustykenhas Wikipedia gives some "experts" opinions on the song...<br /> <br /> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tears_of_Rage<br /> <br /> Or more of a look at the relationship between a father and their daughter (where the daughter has disowned them for some reason ... greed??)<br /> <br /> Or more indepth ... bob-dylan.org.uk/archives/2112<br /> <br />
Idk if it was intended or not - I’d tend to think so - but I get undertones of a rejection of the “don’t trust anyone over 30” crowd/ethos. Dylan was always suspicious of it, didn’t take part in many of the things the sixties are known for (Woodstock/Monterey, etc) even though he was one of the big names of the early sixties folk/protest movements...like it was taken as too far.