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."
You and Me and the Mountain
Compared our rolling tongues in the thin air,
And when we finally got to,
We all cursed;
Just as expected there was no one there.
You and Me and the Mountain,
We criticized the oldest skulls
We found in corners everywhere,
You and Me and the Mountain
And all the candles in your windows are all alive
And all the rocks we saw were dashed with young men's spines
And everytime that you would close your eyes,
You had a dream there was a ghost here,
And the ghost knew my name,
And you both knew the power in a name.
So I whispered - I had to come,
But there's no reason, no reason to hold your breath,
When you pass the cemetery.
There's nothing there, you should know there's nothing there,
There's nothing there, you should know there's nothing there.
You and me and the Mountain
We sifted throught the golden curls of your thin hair
When we finally got to
We all cursed,
Just as expected there was no one there.
You and Me and the Mountain
We criticize the oldest skulls
We found in corners everywhere.
You and Me and the Mountain
There were marigolds, marigolds were in your eyes
Each time you would hide, you would hide among the line
There were marigolds, marigolds were in your eyes
And everytime that you would close your eyes
You had a dream there was ghost here
And the ghost knew my name
And we both knew the power of the name
So I whispered - I had to come,
But there's no reason,
No reason to hold your breath,
When you cross the cemetary,
There's nothing there, you should know there's nothing there
There's nothing there, you should know there's nothing there
Compared our rolling tongues in the thin air,
And when we finally got to,
We all cursed;
Just as expected there was no one there.
You and Me and the Mountain,
We criticized the oldest skulls
We found in corners everywhere,
You and Me and the Mountain
And all the candles in your windows are all alive
And all the rocks we saw were dashed with young men's spines
And everytime that you would close your eyes,
You had a dream there was a ghost here,
And the ghost knew my name,
And you both knew the power in a name.
So I whispered - I had to come,
But there's no reason, no reason to hold your breath,
When you pass the cemetery.
There's nothing there, you should know there's nothing there,
There's nothing there, you should know there's nothing there.
You and me and the Mountain
We sifted throught the golden curls of your thin hair
When we finally got to
We all cursed,
Just as expected there was no one there.
You and Me and the Mountain
We criticize the oldest skulls
We found in corners everywhere.
You and Me and the Mountain
There were marigolds, marigolds were in your eyes
Each time you would hide, you would hide among the line
There were marigolds, marigolds were in your eyes
And everytime that you would close your eyes
You had a dream there was ghost here
And the ghost knew my name
And we both knew the power of the name
So I whispered - I had to come,
But there's no reason,
No reason to hold your breath,
When you cross the cemetary,
There's nothing there, you should know there's nothing there
There's nothing there, you should know there's nothing there
Lyrics submitted by nearsightedninja, edited by SongFox
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Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
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,
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
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.
I love this song. It seems to me that it's about a trip to some infamous battlefield. "We criticized the oldest skulls we found in corners everywhere," "And all the rocks we saw were dashed with young men's spines." So his companion is having dreams of ghosts and holding her breath when passing the cemetery. That's why he whispers "I had to come," as in, "I had to come to this place."