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."
There's an island hidden in the sound
Lapping currents lay your boat to ground
Affix your barb and bayonet, the curlews carve their Arabesques
And sorrow fills the silence all around
You come and see
There's a harbor lost within the reeds
A jetty caught in over-hanging trees
Among the bones of cormorants, no boot mark here nor finger prints
The rivers roll down to a soundless sea
That you come and see
Come and see
The tides will come and go witnessed by no waking eye
The willows mark the wind
And though we know for sure amidst this fading light
We'll not go home again
Come and see
Come and see
In the lowlands, nestled in the heat
A brier cradle rocks its babe to sleep
Its contents watched by Sycorax and Patagon in parallax
A foretold rumbling sounds below the deep
You come and see
Come and see
The tides will come and go witnessed by no waking eye
The willows mark the wind
And all we know for sure amidst this fading light
We'll not go home again
Come and see
Come and see
As I was a-ramble down by the water
I spied in sable the landlord's daughter
Produced my pistol then my saber
Said, "Make no whistle
Or thou will be murdered"
Lord
Lord
She cursed, she shivered
She cried for mercy
"My gold and silver
If thou will release me"
Lord
Lord
Lord
I'll take no gold, miss
I'll take no silver
I'll take those sweet lips
And thou will deliver, oh
Lord
Lord
I will dress your eyelids
With dimes upon your eyes
Lay you close to water
Green, your grave will rise
Go to sleep now, little ugly
Go to sleep now, you little fool
Forty-winking in the belfry
You'll not feel the drowning
You'll not feel the drowning
Forget you once had sweethearts
They've forgotten you
Think you not on parents
They've forgotten too
Go to sleep now, little ugly
Go to sleep now, you little fool
Forty-winking in the belfry
You'll not feel the drowning
You'll not feel the drowning
Go to sleep now, little ugly
Go to sleep now, you little fool
Forty-winking in the belfry
You'll not feel the drowning
You'll not feel the drowning
Hear you now the captain
Heave his sorrowed cry
The weight upon your eyelids
Is dimes laid on your eyes
Lapping currents lay your boat to ground
Affix your barb and bayonet, the curlews carve their Arabesques
And sorrow fills the silence all around
You come and see
There's a harbor lost within the reeds
A jetty caught in over-hanging trees
Among the bones of cormorants, no boot mark here nor finger prints
The rivers roll down to a soundless sea
That you come and see
Come and see
The tides will come and go witnessed by no waking eye
The willows mark the wind
And though we know for sure amidst this fading light
We'll not go home again
Come and see
Come and see
In the lowlands, nestled in the heat
A brier cradle rocks its babe to sleep
Its contents watched by Sycorax and Patagon in parallax
A foretold rumbling sounds below the deep
You come and see
Come and see
The tides will come and go witnessed by no waking eye
The willows mark the wind
And all we know for sure amidst this fading light
We'll not go home again
Come and see
Come and see
As I was a-ramble down by the water
I spied in sable the landlord's daughter
Produced my pistol then my saber
Said, "Make no whistle
Or thou will be murdered"
Lord
Lord
She cursed, she shivered
She cried for mercy
"My gold and silver
If thou will release me"
Lord
Lord
Lord
I'll take no gold, miss
I'll take no silver
I'll take those sweet lips
And thou will deliver, oh
Lord
Lord
I will dress your eyelids
With dimes upon your eyes
Lay you close to water
Green, your grave will rise
Go to sleep now, little ugly
Go to sleep now, you little fool
Forty-winking in the belfry
You'll not feel the drowning
You'll not feel the drowning
Forget you once had sweethearts
They've forgotten you
Think you not on parents
They've forgotten too
Go to sleep now, little ugly
Go to sleep now, you little fool
Forty-winking in the belfry
You'll not feel the drowning
You'll not feel the drowning
Go to sleep now, little ugly
Go to sleep now, you little fool
Forty-winking in the belfry
You'll not feel the drowning
You'll not feel the drowning
Hear you now the captain
Heave his sorrowed cry
The weight upon your eyelids
Is dimes laid on your eyes
The Island: Come and See; The Landlord's Daughter; You'll Not Feel the Drowning song meanings
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Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
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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,
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Sorry, specifically Caliban is singing to his DEAD mother in "You'll not feel the Drowning."