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."
Tap the primal circuit, the current lets you know you’re alive.
Make this crushing power ceaseless, you could capture the world.
When embracing the electric kingdom, know that it could all come crashing down.
With unseen surges coming closer, I fight to defend my denied throne.
I took selected analysis.
That day I never felt more addicted.
Barely surviving the shock, soon I found myself in a cruel
revolving door.
You said failure, I said you’re turning to cruel sources, to discredit all I did.
You've put so much of yourself in these cruel sources.
They've set you on fire, now I'm left defending my honor from cruel sources.
Change up the trend for the hell of it...then you'll see I never did
support it carving away at the block, I became the light I'd
so long been searching for...
You said savior, I said, you're turning to an electric current fuels the lust again, like a feral god I’ve stepped far outside the lines but I feel no shame.
I stole the scales and I cleared my name.
Now try, try to pry them from my dead hands.
Make this crushing power ceaseless, you could capture the world.
When embracing the electric kingdom, know that it could all come crashing down.
With unseen surges coming closer, I fight to defend my denied throne.
I took selected analysis.
That day I never felt more addicted.
Barely surviving the shock, soon I found myself in a cruel
revolving door.
You said failure, I said you’re turning to cruel sources, to discredit all I did.
You've put so much of yourself in these cruel sources.
They've set you on fire, now I'm left defending my honor from cruel sources.
Change up the trend for the hell of it...then you'll see I never did
support it carving away at the block, I became the light I'd
so long been searching for...
You said savior, I said, you're turning to an electric current fuels the lust again, like a feral god I’ve stepped far outside the lines but I feel no shame.
I stole the scales and I cleared my name.
Now try, try to pry them from my dead hands.
Lyrics submitted by TheDevilWearsPrada
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Favourite song off the album right now. Lovin' it!
No freaking idea what it's about though.