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."
Oh, we close our eyes
The perfect life
Life is all we need
You open up when you had me in your hands
Slipping far away, with the world at your command
You sing me to sleep, and they you hit me away
It's a perfect life, a perfect life
I only want to be here when you're by my side
Oh I believe now, I'll love you 'til I die
You will sing me to sleep, you will hit me awake
in the perfect life, the perfect life
Oh, we close our eyes
The perfect life
Life is all we need
Oh, we close our eyes
The perfect life
Life is all we need
Little mickey steps everywhere
Knives in his pockets and bullets in his hair,
He has nothing to live for, nothing else to say
He's locking out the doors
To keep the older wolves away
Spoons and foil are all he needs.
A bed and some china
A lighter and some speed
It will sing you to sleep, it will hit you awake
In the perfect life, a perfect life.
Oh, we close our eyes
The perfect life
Life is all we need
Oh, we close our eyes
The perfect life
Life is all we need
Oh, we close our eyes
The perfect life
Life is all we need
Oh, we close our eyes
The perfect life
Life is all we need
The perfect life
The perfect life
The perfect life
The perfect life
The perfect life
All we need
The perfect life
Life is all we need
You open up when you had me in your hands
Slipping far away, with the world at your command
You sing me to sleep, and they you hit me away
It's a perfect life, a perfect life
I only want to be here when you're by my side
Oh I believe now, I'll love you 'til I die
You will sing me to sleep, you will hit me awake
in the perfect life, the perfect life
Oh, we close our eyes
The perfect life
Life is all we need
Oh, we close our eyes
The perfect life
Life is all we need
Little mickey steps everywhere
Knives in his pockets and bullets in his hair,
He has nothing to live for, nothing else to say
He's locking out the doors
To keep the older wolves away
Spoons and foil are all he needs.
A bed and some china
A lighter and some speed
It will sing you to sleep, it will hit you awake
In the perfect life, a perfect life.
Oh, we close our eyes
The perfect life
Life is all we need
Oh, we close our eyes
The perfect life
Life is all we need
Oh, we close our eyes
The perfect life
Life is all we need
Oh, we close our eyes
The perfect life
Life is all we need
The perfect life
The perfect life
The perfect life
The perfect life
The perfect life
All we need
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings, edited by WaxWings
The Perfect Life Lyrics as written by Richard Melville Hall
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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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.
Just A Little Lovin'
Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
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.
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.
The song has a definite connection with drugs and getting high, just like the first commentator aptly stated. I also think it has an overtone of falling in love (with a person) but leaves an ambiguity. I think there is an (unstated) duality in the song. At first it seems that it is a romantic song-this is based on the melody and song structure. Its played with major chords with a gospel feeling...very uplifting. Then the lyrics go off into the drug references-but the song still stays with a rising major chord sequences. Very interesting.
This song is all about drugs. The pleasure that it give and that makes the consumer "high", out of himself, or "sleeping" in this case: "it will sing you to sleep". And its side effects after the wakening ("it will hit you awake"). There are other signs like the "spoons and foil" (used to consume heroin), "some china" (china: slang for synthetic heroin), the lighter (this is obvious) and the "speed" (slang for amphetamine). Poor little Mike.
It's not necessarily about drugs. There is mention of it, but the song is generally about living in a world of joy, where you don't have to question the fact that you can only be truly happy once you have a perfect life. He's putting into perspective what makes his life perfect, this could be drugs, as suggested by WaxWings, it could be a lover, or the feeling of success, anything that makes you happy in life for certain is perfect in this case.
I interpreted the song as actually being about how everyone has their hopes and their dreams imagining
@Halopend Sorta cut myself off there by accident. Anyway, basically its about escapism and how human and relatable that is. It's a bittersweet song that feels very uplifting on the surface but underneath it is this actually depressing tale of the human longing for something unachievable and how we feel "incomplete" without it.<br /> <br /> Thats why it repeats over/over about how we "close our eyes". It means dreaming/imaging the perfect life and saying "all we need" is about how we'll feel complete till we've reached that goal.<br />
The song is about turning your back on, or giving up on life in favor of using heroin.
To me this song is about the fake happiness that drugs bring to your life. Wayne Coyne (Flaming Lips Singer) & Moby both seen there fair share of friends and peers fall to " the perfect life" of substance abuse. When your high your life is perfect. All need is tin and foil, bed and china, lighter and speed doesn't sound like the perfect life, to me. Sounds like when locking the doors to keep the older wolves and away. Is two-fold; maybe it's older drug dealers pushing the drugs or maybe older person who been down that path and wants to help but the guy doesn't want the advice. Its one of my favorites by Moby.
In writing a song and putting music out into the world, I’m really open to the idea that people can interpret music however they so choose. I have my own interpretation of things but just ’cause I’m the person who wrote the song doesn’t mean my interpretation is the right one. That song “The Perfect Life” is, and I’m hesitant to say this because it sounds a bit more melodramatic than I mean it, sort of written as a very dysfunctional love song to illegal drug use. Not in a very specific literal way, because I’ve been sober now for a while, but I guess it’s like an homage to the behavior and thoughts that come around completely dysfunctional drug addiction\n\nFrom an interview with moby