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."
Lost and alone on some forgotten highway
Traveled by many, remembered by few
Lookin' for something that I can believe in
Lookin' for something that I'd like to do with my life
There's nothin' behind me and nothin' that ties me to
Something that might have been true yesterday
Tomorrow is open, right now it seems to be more than enough
To just be here today, and I don't know
What the future is holdin' in store
I don't know where I'm goin' I'm not sure where I've been
There's a spirit that guides me, a light that shines for me
My life is worth the livin', I don't need to see the end
Sweet, sweet surrender, live, live without care
Like a fish in the water, like a bird in the air
Sweet, sweet surrender, live, live without care
Like a fish in the water, like a bird in the air
Lost and alone on some forgotten highway
Traveled by many, remembered by few
Lookin' for something that I can believe in
Lookin' for something that I'd like to do with my life
There's nothin' behind me and nothin' that ties me to
Something that might have been true yesterday
Tomorrow is open, right now it seems to be more than enough
Just be here today, and I don't know
What the future is holdin' in store
I don't know where I'm goin' I'm not sure where I've been
There's a spirit that guides me, a light that shines for me
My life is worth the livin', I don't need to see the end
Sweet, sweet surrender, live, live without care
Like a fish in the water, like a bird in the air
Sweet, sweet surrender, live, live without care
Like a fish in the water, like a bird in the air
Sweet, sweet surrender, live, live without care
Like a fish in the water, like a bird in the air
Sweet, sweet surrender, live, live without care
Like a fish in the water, like a bird in the air
Sweet, sweet surrender, live, live without care
Like a fish in the water, like a bird in the air
Sweet, sweet surrender, live, live without care
Traveled by many, remembered by few
Lookin' for something that I can believe in
Lookin' for something that I'd like to do with my life
There's nothin' behind me and nothin' that ties me to
Something that might have been true yesterday
Tomorrow is open, right now it seems to be more than enough
To just be here today, and I don't know
What the future is holdin' in store
I don't know where I'm goin' I'm not sure where I've been
There's a spirit that guides me, a light that shines for me
My life is worth the livin', I don't need to see the end
Sweet, sweet surrender, live, live without care
Like a fish in the water, like a bird in the air
Sweet, sweet surrender, live, live without care
Like a fish in the water, like a bird in the air
Lost and alone on some forgotten highway
Traveled by many, remembered by few
Lookin' for something that I can believe in
Lookin' for something that I'd like to do with my life
There's nothin' behind me and nothin' that ties me to
Something that might have been true yesterday
Tomorrow is open, right now it seems to be more than enough
Just be here today, and I don't know
What the future is holdin' in store
I don't know where I'm goin' I'm not sure where I've been
There's a spirit that guides me, a light that shines for me
My life is worth the livin', I don't need to see the end
Sweet, sweet surrender, live, live without care
Like a fish in the water, like a bird in the air
Sweet, sweet surrender, live, live without care
Like a fish in the water, like a bird in the air
Sweet, sweet surrender, live, live without care
Like a fish in the water, like a bird in the air
Sweet, sweet surrender, live, live without care
Like a fish in the water, like a bird in the air
Sweet, sweet surrender, live, live without care
Like a fish in the water, like a bird in the air
Sweet, sweet surrender, live, live without care
Lyrics submitted by hardcor_toonz
Sweet Surrender Lyrics as written by John Denver
Lyrics © Walt Disney Music Company, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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More Featured Meanings
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
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.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
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.
He want's to be free even though he is on a forgotten highway, "lost and alone". He needs spiritual guidance to affirm that his life is worth living and to surrender himself to:
loveliness? possibility? His own spiritual growth? Not knowing.
What ever it is, it will be sweet.
though i am not aware of the timeline on which this song was written, i would imagine it was during a tough part of john's life because there was a time in his life where he admitted he was searching pretty high and pretty low for happiness, peace, and understanding. or at least in my mind, this song was written during a tough time, which makes it even more beautiful that he sweetly surrendered himself in order to "live, live without care" because his life was indeed "worth living" and he didn't need to see the future or the end to know that life was worth it.
This song was written for a Walt Disney movie. It was written about a Vietnam War veteran coming home to the Northwest US and wondering what he was going to do with the rest of his life.
What a thoughtful and lovely responce, yourescum.
This is a song written be someone who is definately having a tough time and searching for the light at the end of the tunnel. It is a heart yearning to be free. It makes me sad to listen to this and not feel that way. But hey, thats something to look forward to in the future.