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."
My first love was an arsonist
Black eyes, deep set and avarice
Red lips built like a tomb
You'll never get out of this (some day I'll see to this)
And moonlight I found would bow
To her slender hand stretched out
Fingers inside your heart and your mind
You'll never get out of this (some day I'll see to this)
Boy
And I'll tell you when it's over
I'll tell you when you can leave
I'll tell you when you cried long enough
Til your blood fills my cup
And my footsteps, they hung in your hallways enough
For you to be truly haunted (baby, by me)
My first love was a murderer
Before I ever got to her
Tongue so sharp and serpentine
Waltz to remember her (I'll call you later)
And I heard a curse being born
Forming each finger and forming each thorn
Til I became like a stone
Things never got better (but I'll call you later)
And practicing lies to drip like red wine off her lips
And I'll tell you when it's over
I'll tell you when you can leave
I'll tell you when you cried long enough
Til your blood fills my cup
My footsteps, they hung in your hallways enough
For you to be truly haunted
And I'll tell you when it's over
I'll tell you when you can leave
I'll tell you when you cried long enough
Til your blood fills my cup
My footsteps, they hung in your hallways enough
For you to be truly haunted
(When your blood starts counting losses)
When your blood counts its losses
(When your blood starts counting losses)
When your blood counts its losses
(When your blood starts counting losses)
When your blood counts its losses
Sirens they come and the sirens they leave
Sirens they come and the sirens they leave
Sirens they come and the sirens they leave
Sirens they come and the sirens they leave
Black eyes, deep set and avarice
Red lips built like a tomb
You'll never get out of this (some day I'll see to this)
And moonlight I found would bow
To her slender hand stretched out
Fingers inside your heart and your mind
You'll never get out of this (some day I'll see to this)
Boy
And I'll tell you when it's over
I'll tell you when you can leave
I'll tell you when you cried long enough
Til your blood fills my cup
And my footsteps, they hung in your hallways enough
For you to be truly haunted (baby, by me)
My first love was a murderer
Before I ever got to her
Tongue so sharp and serpentine
Waltz to remember her (I'll call you later)
And I heard a curse being born
Forming each finger and forming each thorn
Til I became like a stone
Things never got better (but I'll call you later)
And practicing lies to drip like red wine off her lips
And I'll tell you when it's over
I'll tell you when you can leave
I'll tell you when you cried long enough
Til your blood fills my cup
My footsteps, they hung in your hallways enough
For you to be truly haunted
And I'll tell you when it's over
I'll tell you when you can leave
I'll tell you when you cried long enough
Til your blood fills my cup
My footsteps, they hung in your hallways enough
For you to be truly haunted
(When your blood starts counting losses)
When your blood counts its losses
(When your blood starts counting losses)
When your blood counts its losses
(When your blood starts counting losses)
When your blood counts its losses
Sirens they come and the sirens they leave
Sirens they come and the sirens they leave
Sirens they come and the sirens they leave
Sirens they come and the sirens they leave
Lyrics submitted by xheartbreakerx
Blood Loss Lyrics as written by Brian Fallon
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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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,
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.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
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.
This song talks about a past love (or ghost of a past love) that refuses to let go of him.
Sirens, in Greek mythology, were (and I'll copy and paste from Wikipedia because it explains better than I care to) "... three dangerous bird-women, portrayed as seductresses who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island." As noted in the song "Go Tell Everybody" on this album, 'sirens' represent his past loves. They draw him in and keep his heart and mind a mess any time he tries to move on.
"Blood Loss" gives us a more intimate picture of what these 'sirens' do to him. They seem to have complete control of him and sap him of all that he is until he has "cried long enough" and his "blood fills [their] cup." He can't simply move on, for they toy with his emotions every time he strays too far from them.
Now, the part at the end ("Sirens they come and sirens they leave") can mean one of two things: 1) Every single love that comes in to his life sooner or later becomes a 'siren', whether one replaces another or they just get added to the rest or 2) the 'sirens' show up only when he is on his way to living life without them to draw him back in and then leave when they got what they wanted, starting the cycle over again. Personally, I think #2 fits better with the rest of the song. The 'sirens' show up and lead him to believe that they want to rekindle their past love and then leave him shipwrecked.
For me, this song hits pretty close to home. I had a 'siren' of my own destroy multiple potential relationships after she left me out to dry to begin with. It always seemed that I was on my way to moving on and having a life without her when she would swoop back in and convince me that she was back to be with me. Then, right as I had committed to her return enough that I let go of a potential relationship with another woman, she would disappear and leave me to pick up the pieces. Until you take control of it and not allow the 'siren' to have that power, it is an incredibly helpless feeling. Feels a lot like this:
And I'll tell you when it's over I'll tell you when you can leave I'll tell you when you cried long enough Til your blood fills my cup My footsteps, they hung in your hallways enough For you to be truly haunted
I love this song, I think its the best on the album. I think its about someone who really hurt him and how he's saying that though she left, he will haunt her, that she will miss him so much and there will be nothing she can do about it.
I love this, I feel like it's a revenge song. The "Murderer"/"arsonist" seems like a classic femme fatale figure and the chorus is just about wanting her to suffer because of what she put him through. I love Brian's lyrics the imagery in this song is superb. :)
Is it just me, or could the chorus be coming from the point of view of the "arsonist/murderer"? I always viewed it as being his response to her, but it's really more in keeping with the picture he's trying to paint of her, that she's just a vindictive and harmful personality who gets under his skin in the worst way. I kind of like the vibe of this song both ways.
You would:)