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."
Late in the afternoon
Most every summer Sunday
Most every holiday with nothing
Much at all to do
As three o'clock came round
We knew where she'd be found
Sitting in the back seat with her
Wrinkled yellow photographs.
Into the car we'd pile, off to the edge of town
It was a cemetery Sunday drive
Turned upside down.
But times were different then
And she'd remember when
And tell us stories
That we'd both heard many times before.
In unmarked graves they say
The children silent lay
The church a haven
For the families come from far away.
Into the car we'd pile, off to the edge of town
It was a cemetery Sunday drive
Turned upside down.
If only to remember one day
The line of tiny crosses that were washed away.
The seasons change their colors
You might wake up accepting things
Are really gone.
It's not so strange not to abandon hope
Of finding markings for her first three daughters
And a son.
Into the car we'd pile, off to the edge of town
It was a cemetery Sunday drive
Turned upside down.
Think of the children.
Most every summer Sunday
Most every holiday with nothing
Much at all to do
As three o'clock came round
We knew where she'd be found
Sitting in the back seat with her
Wrinkled yellow photographs.
Into the car we'd pile, off to the edge of town
It was a cemetery Sunday drive
Turned upside down.
But times were different then
And she'd remember when
And tell us stories
That we'd both heard many times before.
In unmarked graves they say
The children silent lay
The church a haven
For the families come from far away.
Into the car we'd pile, off to the edge of town
It was a cemetery Sunday drive
Turned upside down.
If only to remember one day
The line of tiny crosses that were washed away.
The seasons change their colors
You might wake up accepting things
Are really gone.
It's not so strange not to abandon hope
Of finding markings for her first three daughters
And a son.
Into the car we'd pile, off to the edge of town
It was a cemetery Sunday drive
Turned upside down.
Think of the children.
Lyrics submitted by wildflowerfever
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