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."
Before the veil was lifted
And brought to light the facts
The whole deception was complete
The sons of fathers buried
Their unconnecting tracks
Beneath the layers of deceit
Another place and time we'd have known
We would have seen the last of the lonely
A beast of burden heard in the tangle of the wire
It's gone like it was never there
The great colossus rises and crackles under fire
The static charge is in the air
In other realms of reality
My imitation heart will defend me
To make secure what you believe
And surely as the day ends the night
It becomes a feast set for parasites
Another place and time we'd have known
We would have seen the lost and alone
In other realms of reality
My unrepentant heart will defend me
Again somehow
Not here, not now
Safer on the waves
Too dark upon the shore
Pressure builds again
More ragged than before
When the will dissolves
It changes everyone
Something worse than us is waiting in the wings
Can't prepare for this
Can't think of everything
Is it obvious what is and isn't done?
The province of the king
The wilderness of stolen things
The untold legacy
Inertia keeps it out of reach
Till I bring bad tidings
The phone rings
There's no-one there
You always said it's the one you needed
You should try to not be defeated
It's what you wanted, a supernova
But now it's landed, don't think it over
It's no invasion at all
You understand this, it's no solution
Still under sentence of execution
No-one like you can create confusion
Embrace the negative
With absolution your final positive reward
And I will follow you down
To where the silence is lost and found
Beyond the light that shines only inside
The province of the king
It comes to all of us
Until at last there's no-one else
And if that's what it always does
Then saviour, save yourself
How am I amazed?
How is it still concealed?
I cannot count the many ways
Because there's nothing real
What ransom do you bring
Before the wireless king?
And brought to light the facts
The whole deception was complete
The sons of fathers buried
Their unconnecting tracks
Beneath the layers of deceit
Another place and time we'd have known
We would have seen the last of the lonely
A beast of burden heard in the tangle of the wire
It's gone like it was never there
The great colossus rises and crackles under fire
The static charge is in the air
In other realms of reality
My imitation heart will defend me
To make secure what you believe
And surely as the day ends the night
It becomes a feast set for parasites
Another place and time we'd have known
We would have seen the lost and alone
In other realms of reality
My unrepentant heart will defend me
Again somehow
Not here, not now
Safer on the waves
Too dark upon the shore
Pressure builds again
More ragged than before
When the will dissolves
It changes everyone
Something worse than us is waiting in the wings
Can't prepare for this
Can't think of everything
Is it obvious what is and isn't done?
The province of the king
The wilderness of stolen things
The untold legacy
Inertia keeps it out of reach
Till I bring bad tidings
The phone rings
There's no-one there
You always said it's the one you needed
You should try to not be defeated
It's what you wanted, a supernova
But now it's landed, don't think it over
It's no invasion at all
You understand this, it's no solution
Still under sentence of execution
No-one like you can create confusion
Embrace the negative
With absolution your final positive reward
And I will follow you down
To where the silence is lost and found
Beyond the light that shines only inside
The province of the king
It comes to all of us
Until at last there's no-one else
And if that's what it always does
Then saviour, save yourself
How am I amazed?
How is it still concealed?
I cannot count the many ways
Because there's nothing real
What ransom do you bring
Before the wireless king?
Lyrics submitted by NickBush24
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