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."
Back home
Everybody's searching for somethin'
But all they can find is a whole lot of nothin'
Back home
Ain't nobody hoping and praying
'Cause they feel like nothing can save 'em
And they try to hold out but they can't fight the fact that
Life goes black when those lights go out
But I guess you gotta just watch out for your own
'Cause ain't a damn thing free
Back home
Back home they holler "disciple" and "blackstone"
Some black they freebase yo we trapped on
Where our grandmothers marched the guns clap on
There's liquor stores, beauty supplies, and rap songs
I travel the world just to come back to it
The crib got a lot of soul like black music
I'm attached to it
In many ways this city raised me and gave me
The drama, honor, and bravery
The streets seem hollow when I go to Chicago
It's cheap wine and sorrow
Times hard to swallow
In search of God's tomorrow I borrow words from the
Bible and use them for survival gangs rival
Signs painted on the walls like hieroglyphics
I tell 'em that this is all tribal
Used to do dirt shorty's goin' through the same cycle
And trials like Michael tryin' not to stay idle
Back home it's not Compton but close
The same problems exist and the pain throbbin'
And folks are so common
It don't really bother us much we just swallow it uh
Crack the bottle and smoke hope tomorrow something
Magical happens that'll put me back in the biz
But the chances of it actually happening's kinda slim
Back home we get the good life at glimpse
In the form of a rap start, drug dealers, and pimps
I'm back home
Back home I try my best to keep it together it's cold
Like the Windy City streets of December
I pace back and forth looking for the courage to shine
But can't tap the source need something to nourish my mind
I know we all lose quite a bit in life
Only to gain some
Life or the dark winding roads we came from
But I move with the night so I'm used to the shade
And never lose sight bringing truth back to the game
Back home we've got a lot of shit on our minds
We're always behind on something 'cause there's not enough time
And we're non-stop bottom line doing what we gotta do
To get some food in the fridge and stay out of the hospital
Back home there's people calling us hopeless
People trying to tell us all we need is some focus
But focus
Focus is overrated
Cause you see very blemish and mistake and can't change it
Back home is Alvarado K-Town and J-Town
Or Little Tokyo for those that don't know
Where figures shiver living right in the litter
Where kids write nigga right inside the L.A River
On the concrete a symbol of out everyday way
It's that color and concentration over heavy gray
And by the time the ink dries on this page
I'll be half a day away from the place where I stay
Everybody's searching for somethin'
But all they can find is a whole lot of nothin'
Back home
Ain't nobody hoping and praying
'Cause they feel like nothing can save 'em
And they try to hold out but they can't fight the fact that
Life goes black when those lights go out
But I guess you gotta just watch out for your own
'Cause ain't a damn thing free
Back home
Back home they holler "disciple" and "blackstone"
Some black they freebase yo we trapped on
Where our grandmothers marched the guns clap on
There's liquor stores, beauty supplies, and rap songs
I travel the world just to come back to it
The crib got a lot of soul like black music
I'm attached to it
In many ways this city raised me and gave me
The drama, honor, and bravery
The streets seem hollow when I go to Chicago
It's cheap wine and sorrow
Times hard to swallow
In search of God's tomorrow I borrow words from the
Bible and use them for survival gangs rival
Signs painted on the walls like hieroglyphics
I tell 'em that this is all tribal
Used to do dirt shorty's goin' through the same cycle
And trials like Michael tryin' not to stay idle
Back home it's not Compton but close
The same problems exist and the pain throbbin'
And folks are so common
It don't really bother us much we just swallow it uh
Crack the bottle and smoke hope tomorrow something
Magical happens that'll put me back in the biz
But the chances of it actually happening's kinda slim
Back home we get the good life at glimpse
In the form of a rap start, drug dealers, and pimps
I'm back home
Back home I try my best to keep it together it's cold
Like the Windy City streets of December
I pace back and forth looking for the courage to shine
But can't tap the source need something to nourish my mind
I know we all lose quite a bit in life
Only to gain some
Life or the dark winding roads we came from
But I move with the night so I'm used to the shade
And never lose sight bringing truth back to the game
Back home we've got a lot of shit on our minds
We're always behind on something 'cause there's not enough time
And we're non-stop bottom line doing what we gotta do
To get some food in the fridge and stay out of the hospital
Back home there's people calling us hopeless
People trying to tell us all we need is some focus
But focus
Focus is overrated
Cause you see very blemish and mistake and can't change it
Back home is Alvarado K-Town and J-Town
Or Little Tokyo for those that don't know
Where figures shiver living right in the litter
Where kids write nigga right inside the L.A River
On the concrete a symbol of out everyday way
It's that color and concentration over heavy gray
And by the time the ink dries on this page
I'll be half a day away from the place where I stay
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Mountain Song
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Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Magical
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How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Punchline
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Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Head > Heels
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“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
Mike said in an interview that he wanted to do a track about where he and the others grew up because nobody had before, as most rappers and bands stick to certain 'cool' areas to rap about. It shows the differences and similarities between the 'back homes' of mike, Ryu, Tak and Common.
It's what lucyb85 said, the song is about where they grew up.
Where figures shiver / living right in the litter Where kids write nigger / right inside the L.A River On the concrete / a symbol of out everyday way
It says bigger, NOT nigger...get it straight please.
Mike and Ryu's verses are the best in this song. Common is shithouse!
lasg
i really dig ryu's verse. the other verses are really dope but, to me, ryu's verse really shines. ;)