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're the boys jailed in a horse's skull.
We nailed our ears to a feral glittery drone.
The only thing that makes our blood feel like blood
Is stealing cars and watching lightning bolts fuck.
So don't look away, every day's the same,
Every song's the same in this sanitized exploding airplane.
Well I got shot in the face, it's all on videotape
So come on, watch the blood, it's pouring commercial-free
Well I got shot in the face, it's all on videotape
So come on, watch the blood, it's pouring commercial-free
We're the girls chewing styrofoam
Pulling our wigs under a monochrome glow.
The only line that's talking us into bed
Is the freeway's static hiss drilling holes in our heads, so
So don't look away from the clouds leaking rust
The kingdom of heaven reeks of burning witches and dust.
Well I got shot in the face, it's all on videotape
So come on, watch the blood, it's pouring commercial-free
Well I got shot in the face, it's all on videotape
So come on, watch the blood, it's pouring commercial-free
Seven items dripped out the back of my head:
One big war and one color red;
One vulgar leg and one designer tree;
Two stallions and a pound of confetti.
Oh, salvation!
Hollow lightning, so skeletal...
Shipwrecked freeways!
Concrete ribcage, so boring...
Oh, salvation!
Hollow lightning, so skeletal
Shipwrecked freeways!
Well I got shot in the face, it's all on videotape
So come on, watch the blood, it's pouring commercial-free
Well I got shot in the face, it's all on videotape
So come on, watch the blood, it's pouring commercial-free
We ride skeletal lightning, vacant as a womb that's miscarried
We nailed our ears to a feral glittery drone.
The only thing that makes our blood feel like blood
Is stealing cars and watching lightning bolts fuck.
So don't look away, every day's the same,
Every song's the same in this sanitized exploding airplane.
Well I got shot in the face, it's all on videotape
So come on, watch the blood, it's pouring commercial-free
Well I got shot in the face, it's all on videotape
So come on, watch the blood, it's pouring commercial-free
We're the girls chewing styrofoam
Pulling our wigs under a monochrome glow.
The only line that's talking us into bed
Is the freeway's static hiss drilling holes in our heads, so
So don't look away from the clouds leaking rust
The kingdom of heaven reeks of burning witches and dust.
Well I got shot in the face, it's all on videotape
So come on, watch the blood, it's pouring commercial-free
Well I got shot in the face, it's all on videotape
So come on, watch the blood, it's pouring commercial-free
Seven items dripped out the back of my head:
One big war and one color red;
One vulgar leg and one designer tree;
Two stallions and a pound of confetti.
Oh, salvation!
Hollow lightning, so skeletal...
Shipwrecked freeways!
Concrete ribcage, so boring...
Oh, salvation!
Hollow lightning, so skeletal
Shipwrecked freeways!
Well I got shot in the face, it's all on videotape
So come on, watch the blood, it's pouring commercial-free
Well I got shot in the face, it's all on videotape
So come on, watch the blood, it's pouring commercial-free
We ride skeletal lightning, vacant as a womb that's miscarried
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This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
Head > Heels
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Ed Sheeran
“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.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
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.
i dont exactly know what the whole song means...
but i have an idea as to what the chorus means..
the part that goes "i got shot in the face its all on videotape so come on watch the blood its pouring commercial free"
it sounds like hes saying that anything that happens to someone will be on tv or the internet pretty much and that you can watch things that are even so bad as to getting shot in the face; commercial free. im not sure. but it sounds like stuff about the media like a lot of their songs.. i wanna know if anyone knows what the we ride skeletal lightning part means.
Agree with clasicdisaster17, I just think this is about general violence and how easy it is to get access to such stuff.
"Concrete ribcage, so boring..." Heart of stone, like people don't care what it is people see and have access to nowadays, kids seeing porn and executions on the lolinternet for example.
I dunno, it's pretty cryptic. Fucking love it.
[edit]: On second thoughts, maybe it's just about the world and people not giving a flying fuck about anyone but themself nowadays? It's goddamn true.
You guys are kind of right, but not really...
It's about how people are addicted to television/the internet blindly. The "don't look away from the clouds leeking rust" is meaning how if the tv shows/broadcasts are skeletal lightning, they're coming from a cloud, or satellite. The leaking rust is saying how we're taking in this stuff thats dulling us over, and how its better than christianity.
Most of the metaphors are straight forward, I'll ask them what the rest are when I see them in early december
oh god...please stop.
I interviewed them in early november, this song is about the war in Iraq.
but...it's pretty obvious...
wow. "maybe it's just about the world and people not giving a flying fuck about anyone but themself nowadays"
you guys are geniuses :D
oh god...please stop.<br /> I read your comment, you are an asshole.<br /> but...its pretty obvous...<br /> wow. "i am pretentious. I'm name dropping, but i'm nameless."<br /> you are a genius.
I think it still has a universal message aside from the war, though. I can see it being something about our addiction to television and media and how it is diluting the seriousness of certain matters (such as war and violence). I think it's also sort of about how so many teenagers get on the wrong tracks these days
The Blood Brothers are not a songmeanings.net-friendly band - in that there will never be a definite meaning to the majority of their work
I guess it could generate more comments though...
They write lyrics in the same way that I aspire to. Every few lines they will make a point very clearly and powerfully, with lots of fairly vague but cool-sounding stuff inbetween.
They're just badass in general and I'M SEEING THEM TONIGHT =D
wireless89 sucked the letters right out of my fingers.
wireless89 sucked the letters right out of my fingers.
its starting to bug me how every single song on this cd is basically about our shit bag president and the war in iraq...sure its big enough to base songs on, but an entire cd? jesus.