Warren wanted a Beach Boys thing for this one, and Carl Wilson and Billy Hinsche came in, with Carl arranging the vocal parts. The other harmony vocalists (credited as the "Gentlemen Boys") were Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther, Zevon's longtime backers Waddy Wachtel and Jorge Calderon, and Linda Rondstadt/Stone Poneys guitarist Kenny Edwards.
It came from nowhere
On the 38 Geary
A girl with a backpack of shrapnel and wire
Through spiderweb windows
Of blood stained glass
A pagoda's shadow and a cruel sunny sky
Oh the flash then the silence
Shouldn't there be screaming praying crying
Oh anything at all
Tell me where are the sirens
Fire's getting closer but I've got to stay calm
It's just the radio darling,
Just the radio and your runaway imagination
Just the radio darling
We can turn away to another station
Outside they're handing out
Fate to the wounded
Little tags in black red yellow, and green
It's now my twenty-fifth hour
With a scalpel in hand
If I stop moving I will sleep on my feet
And the rumors are seething
Gunfire at freeway exits, bridges mid-barricades
I can feel the fog creeping
God where is the morphine, the sweet lidocaine
It's just the radio
Sing me a love song dear
What good has the news ever done me
Come on it'll never happen here, oh no
We are not some third world country
This is not some third world country
I'm sorry Mama
I held on for as long as I could
I'm sorry Papa
There was nothing more I could do
It's just the radio
On the 38 Geary
A girl with a backpack of shrapnel and wire
Through spiderweb windows
Of blood stained glass
A pagoda's shadow and a cruel sunny sky
Oh the flash then the silence
Shouldn't there be screaming praying crying
Oh anything at all
Tell me where are the sirens
Fire's getting closer but I've got to stay calm
It's just the radio darling,
Just the radio and your runaway imagination
Just the radio darling
We can turn away to another station
Outside they're handing out
Fate to the wounded
Little tags in black red yellow, and green
It's now my twenty-fifth hour
With a scalpel in hand
If I stop moving I will sleep on my feet
And the rumors are seething
Gunfire at freeway exits, bridges mid-barricades
I can feel the fog creeping
God where is the morphine, the sweet lidocaine
It's just the radio
Sing me a love song dear
What good has the news ever done me
Come on it'll never happen here, oh no
We are not some third world country
This is not some third world country
I'm sorry Mama
I held on for as long as I could
I'm sorry Papa
There was nothing more I could do
It's just the radio
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Both as a standalone and as part of the DSOTS album, you can take this lyric as read. As a matter of public record, Jourgensen's drug intake was legendary even in the 1980s. By the late 90s, in his own words, he was grappling with massive addiction issues and had lost almost everything: friends, spouse, money and had nearly died more than once. "Dark Side of the Spoon" is a both funny & sad title for an album made by a musical genius who was losing the plot; and this song is a message to his fans & friends saying he knows it. It's painful to listen to so I'm glad the "Keith Richards of industrial metals" wised up and cleaned up. Well done sir.
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In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
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I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
Mountain Song
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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.
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"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."
This seems to be a "what if" scenario involving a suicide bombing in San Francisco. The verses seem to describe this horrific incident and its aftermath actually occurring, while the chorus is sort of a "la la la, I'm not listening" response from far away. The implication seems to be that tragedies like this are much easier for us to ignore when they don't happen on American soil. We can just turn off the news and act like it's just a plot twist in a favorite TV show.
Also, this is such a minute detail, but it's interesting to me that she starts a verse with the phrase "Outside they're handing out..." in this song as well as the song "City Hall". Both songs take place in San Francisco, but the situations they describe are polar opposites. "City Hall" describes newly married gay couples eating donuts and pizza pie and celebrating their mass nuptials. "Radio" describes fate being handed out to the wounded - the triage nurse has to decide who lives and who is too far gone to save.
Ok, I like your interpretation, but I don't quite see why you think it happens in San Fransisco.<br /> <br /> I think its important to ask what country the "radio" is in to. I assume the USA, though there's no text to really support that theory. But IF it IS the US, then the suicide bombing COULD NOT have happened in San Fransisco because of the following lyrics:<br /> <br /> come on it'll never happen here, oh no<br /> we are not some third world country<br /> this is not some third world country<br /> <br /> <br /> It is implied by these lyrics that this type of bombing will never happen in the country the "radio" is in. San Fransisco is part of the US, so if the radio WAS in the US...well, I already said that.<br /> <br /> Like I said, I may have missed something. So what makes you say it happened in San Fransisco?
Ok, I missed the 38 Geary part. You're right, it was San Fransisco.
I would actually argue that the radio being in the US makes the song all the more poignant. For a disaster of this magnitude to happen in one part of the country, and for the rest of the country to turn their heads and ignore it because they can't believe that such a thing would happen in a developed country, would be both heartbreaking and enraging. Such a reaction is unsettling to think about, particularly since the song sort of forces listeners to wonder how they would react, themselves.<br /> <br /> Of course, the radio might be in some other country entirely. There's no telling, really. But still.