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."
As the sun comes creeping up the mountain
And the wind blows over from the sea
Hey, we're brought into this land like tiny particles of sand,
Unsure of who we're smarter than, or what we're meant to be
Oh the grains sift coarsely through the hour glass
And collect like their victims in the bowl
The ungodly force of change erodes all sense of earthly gains
While tending to the mundane will terrorize your soul
And it's no! It's no use thinking that you're wrong
The past is old and gone
It's best to move along and find your Avalon
Well, I wish that I could tell you it was easy,
Just take the paved road right to paradise
But the truth is my friend, the pain and suffering never ends
Make amends with medicine, amnesia, and lies
The grains sift coarsely through the hour glass
And they pound like boulders on the brain
All those things you did for fun,
Never hurting anyone,
Careless shadows in the sun, just empty and lame
And it's no, it's no use thinking that you're wrong
The past is old and gone
It's best to move along and find your Avalon
It's no use thinking that you're wrong
The past is dead and gone
It's best to move along and find your Avalon
So now the day races from the twilight
How the fields are enveloped by the shade
And the story that you'll tell,
Inventory of your well,
Crack the shell and find the mortar silted and decayed
And it's no! It's no use thinking that you're wrong
The past is dead and gone
It's best to move along and find your Avalon
It's best to hurry on and find your Avalon
And the wind blows over from the sea
Hey, we're brought into this land like tiny particles of sand,
Unsure of who we're smarter than, or what we're meant to be
Oh the grains sift coarsely through the hour glass
And collect like their victims in the bowl
The ungodly force of change erodes all sense of earthly gains
While tending to the mundane will terrorize your soul
And it's no! It's no use thinking that you're wrong
The past is old and gone
It's best to move along and find your Avalon
Well, I wish that I could tell you it was easy,
Just take the paved road right to paradise
But the truth is my friend, the pain and suffering never ends
Make amends with medicine, amnesia, and lies
The grains sift coarsely through the hour glass
And they pound like boulders on the brain
All those things you did for fun,
Never hurting anyone,
Careless shadows in the sun, just empty and lame
And it's no, it's no use thinking that you're wrong
The past is old and gone
It's best to move along and find your Avalon
It's no use thinking that you're wrong
The past is dead and gone
It's best to move along and find your Avalon
So now the day races from the twilight
How the fields are enveloped by the shade
And the story that you'll tell,
Inventory of your well,
Crack the shell and find the mortar silted and decayed
And it's no! It's no use thinking that you're wrong
The past is dead and gone
It's best to move along and find your Avalon
It's best to hurry on and find your Avalon
Lyrics submitted by BatteryLegion
Avalon Lyrics as written by Greg Graffin Brett W. Gurewitz
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
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.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
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.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
Amazing song, very inspiring. Especially the "and it's No!" part. IMO: Avalon is a mataphor for your personal high achievement in life (Arthur's Excalibur was forged there and made him king) and also a paradise place to rest at the end (Arthur buried there). But the right to rest there has to be earned first. You have to find your Excalibur first (your own purpose in life). And although you might never find it, you should keep looking ("move along"). In spite of all the times you were wrong ("the past is old and gone"). And instead of taking a deceiving "paved road to paradise", which doesn't exist because "the suffering never ends". This paradise doesn't exist, unless you create it for yourself by simply searching for this high point of your life, the Avalon.
And the "hourglass" and "little particles of sand" metaphors for our lives - both give me chills =)