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."
Taught young, the world’s wisdom
I told life’s a game, the earth will be your stadium
Be alert, pay attention
(One day) Even your friends will become the competition
Trust no one but do remember this, never burn any potential bridges
Know who’s who, and what they can do for you
And don’t feel bad cause’ in the end they’re gonna do it to you too
Remember life’s not fair
In order to maintain, your gonna have to let you sensitivity be trained
A machine more than a human being
What you say doesn’t always have to be what you mean
Tell them what they want to hear if it’s to your benefit
And words beyond closed doors are insignificant
Push yourself, never be satisfied
Even if you don’t get it, at least you died knowing you tried
Born, live, strive, succeed
Gain it all, bye, now it’s time to leave…
Now, all we see is now
Taught young, the world’s wisdom
Begin to pay attention and make my own observations
All of the kids working hard for admiration
Trying their best not to meet their social expiration
Kind of hard in a world this finicky
Easily praised and yet destroyed just as quickly
I guess me and this world must not be compatible, cause I don’t want its approval to feel valuable
So who’s next to climb the wall of success, just to see how good the top truly gets
Chasing lies disguised as going somewhere only to arrive and realize it’s really no where’
That’s even if you get there in the first place
What an incredible let down we’re bound to face when we substitute purpose for cheap counterfeit
Too busy trying to succeed in life that we forget to live it
You can live in the infinite or give in to the immediate
Gain it all but someday you’ll have to leave it
This world is temporary and it’s heart is selfish
Think to yourself, is this what wealth is
But now, all we see is now and now is not a bad thing but now does bring tomorrow then
Now becomes then
Moments escape, new ones replace them
Don’t want to face the end still searching
Asking what in this world did I ever find worth in
What could be worse than life of wasted years
Nothing lasting, nothing true, nothing dear
I fear losing beauty in pursuit of bigger things
I fear a broken home courtesy of the American dream
Maybe that’s just me with my emotions on my sleeve, but one way or another we all wear what we believe
Born, live, strive, succeed
Gain it all, bye, now it’s time to leave…
But now, we’re wasting now
I told life’s a game, the earth will be your stadium
Be alert, pay attention
(One day) Even your friends will become the competition
Trust no one but do remember this, never burn any potential bridges
Know who’s who, and what they can do for you
And don’t feel bad cause’ in the end they’re gonna do it to you too
Remember life’s not fair
In order to maintain, your gonna have to let you sensitivity be trained
A machine more than a human being
What you say doesn’t always have to be what you mean
Tell them what they want to hear if it’s to your benefit
And words beyond closed doors are insignificant
Push yourself, never be satisfied
Even if you don’t get it, at least you died knowing you tried
Born, live, strive, succeed
Gain it all, bye, now it’s time to leave…
Now, all we see is now
Taught young, the world’s wisdom
Begin to pay attention and make my own observations
All of the kids working hard for admiration
Trying their best not to meet their social expiration
Kind of hard in a world this finicky
Easily praised and yet destroyed just as quickly
I guess me and this world must not be compatible, cause I don’t want its approval to feel valuable
So who’s next to climb the wall of success, just to see how good the top truly gets
Chasing lies disguised as going somewhere only to arrive and realize it’s really no where’
That’s even if you get there in the first place
What an incredible let down we’re bound to face when we substitute purpose for cheap counterfeit
Too busy trying to succeed in life that we forget to live it
You can live in the infinite or give in to the immediate
Gain it all but someday you’ll have to leave it
This world is temporary and it’s heart is selfish
Think to yourself, is this what wealth is
But now, all we see is now and now is not a bad thing but now does bring tomorrow then
Now becomes then
Moments escape, new ones replace them
Don’t want to face the end still searching
Asking what in this world did I ever find worth in
What could be worse than life of wasted years
Nothing lasting, nothing true, nothing dear
I fear losing beauty in pursuit of bigger things
I fear a broken home courtesy of the American dream
Maybe that’s just me with my emotions on my sleeve, but one way or another we all wear what we believe
Born, live, strive, succeed
Gain it all, bye, now it’s time to leave…
But now, we’re wasting now
Lyrics submitted by patsrule333
Time to Leave Lyrics as written by John Reuben Zappin Carl Robert Pendleton
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Capitol CMG Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Mountain Song
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