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."
It wasn't me, I wasn't there
I was just watching from over here
And besides, I couldn't afford the bus fare
In Hollywood and Washington
They shake and smile through the harm they've done
But it's your little red wagon and you gotta pull it
It'll take a lifetime to clear your name
Under the bridges of fame it's always nighttime
It wasn't me, I wasn't there
I was stone drunk, it isn't clear
And it doesn't count cause I don't care
The years transform my memories
Of all the countless decades of grief
It was cut and run in '91
Put yourselves in a straightjacket
But when you're pleading
Saying it's no cheaper than humiliation
That's free
That's free
That's free
I've gone and quit my worshiping
Of the false gods and golden sins
'Cause we've made love in the Tower of Babel and it fell down
It wasn't me, I wasn't there
That was not my love affair
That is not my lover, that's not even my friend
It wasn't me, I wasn't there
I was stone drunk, it isn't clear
And it doesn't count cause I don't care
But I use a pop song to clear my name
Under the bridges of fame it's always nighttime
I'll end with a closure and say goodnight
I was just watching from over here
And besides, I couldn't afford the bus fare
In Hollywood and Washington
They shake and smile through the harm they've done
But it's your little red wagon and you gotta pull it
It'll take a lifetime to clear your name
Under the bridges of fame it's always nighttime
It wasn't me, I wasn't there
I was stone drunk, it isn't clear
And it doesn't count cause I don't care
The years transform my memories
Of all the countless decades of grief
It was cut and run in '91
Put yourselves in a straightjacket
But when you're pleading
Saying it's no cheaper than humiliation
That's free
That's free
That's free
I've gone and quit my worshiping
Of the false gods and golden sins
'Cause we've made love in the Tower of Babel and it fell down
It wasn't me, I wasn't there
That was not my love affair
That is not my lover, that's not even my friend
It wasn't me, I wasn't there
I was stone drunk, it isn't clear
And it doesn't count cause I don't care
But I use a pop song to clear my name
Under the bridges of fame it's always nighttime
I'll end with a closure and say goodnight
Lyrics submitted by y plus white girl
It Wasn't Me Lyrics as written by Jenny Lewis
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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“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.
Anyone who says she can't write a good song after hearing this album, and especially this song, needs to really open his ears and mind to her unique voice. Jenny's writing as well as anyone in this song, taking her own history and turning it into something larger and universal that resonates with her audience. If this isn't good songwriting, I don't know what is: "in hollywood and washington / they shake and smile through the harm they've done / but it's your little red wagon / and you gotta pull it"
This song is great, this album is remarkable, and Jenny Lewis is on her way to being as good a singer/songwriter as anyone else in popular music. No exaggeration.
I disagree completely. She is not as good a singer/songwriter as anyone else in popular music, she is way above most popular music. Her voice is pristine. Her lyrics make you feel like she wrote the song for you. She is AMAZING.
i read in a magazine (filter maybe?) that 1991 was when she decided that she'd quit acting or the year where she actually quit acting and took music seriously. hence the line "it was cut & run in '91".
i can't quite say what the different verses mean - they seem to have deeper underlying meanings beneath (almost like a song within a song) - but from what i gather it's about the things in life that you're not proud of. like when you made a fool of yourself when you were really drunk, or when you cut your ties with someone who played a significant part in your life whether romantically or not, or just stupid things you did that couldn't warrant any substantial reasoning. you can't really explain why it happened, and you're not proud of it, but it did.
and like "your little red wagon", you can't escape your sins/mistakes even if you've changed. your mistakes follow you wherever you go, as though you're parading them around as your little red wagon. and even though it's glaring and often precedes you - "you've gotta pull it".
i absolutely love that metaphor. she's got a knack for metaphors doesn't she? my fave from the album.
I think its a reference to the first Gulf War. We pulled out of there in '91 or so, and now (or 06 when this came out) it is considered to cut and run when we did the same thing before (re: Iraq) Obvs. I oversimplified the situation, but thats the gist of what I think she is saying. <br /> <br /> I only say this because the first reference to washington and hollywood sets up a political connotation. <br /> I've read some interviews with her and she's pretty political, so I think it's more about that than quitting acting.
every time i hear her sing "it's your little red wagon and you've got to pull it" i think to myself: deal with your shit. people do all sorts of crazy shit, but its unbelievable how much denial of shoving off of responsibility goes on. personal accountability is required for life.
jadedgypsy~ i think you are most deffinately right, it is greed not grief... i think we can all tell from jennys lyrics, her mother was quite a character (rabbit fur coat, a better son/daughter, and others) i would imagine she was greedy when jenny began to make money... but this song is also talking about the music business, which i can imagine, generates some very greedy people... peace~
"say goodnight, jenny"
Jenny Lewis is god.
I'm pretty sure that:
but when you're pleading saying it's no cheaper than humiliation
is really:
but when you plead insane it's no cheaper than humiliation
the "little red wagon" part kind of reminds me of when you are little and you know, you bother your mom to let you bring this toy out and she is like "well if you want to bring it, you have to carry it". It is like jenny is going back to that time when you have to learn to be responsible for yourself, mom isn't going to pull the wagon for you anymore when you get sick of it.
I disagree with jadedgypsy (although youre right, Jenny does have a knack for metaphors). Jenny Lewis was still making movies after 1991. She was in Foxfire in '96 and Pleasantville in '98. I believe she got with RK in late '99 although they had been friends before that. In '91 Jenny was 15 and i believe had just had huge success in The Wizard. So that would explain the Cut and Run in '91...
yeah, i was just making that link based on that article i read but i didn't really check if she was still in movies after that. there goes that theory heh.
anyway, i may be wrong but in "The years transform my memories, Of all the countless decades of grief" -- I seem to hear greed instead. There seems to be a hard D sound rather than an F sound. That would also make sense now that roxyjl's cleared that up. Anyone else?