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."
(Looky looky yonder)
(Looky looky yonder)
(Looky looky yonder)
(Looky looky yonder)
(Where the sun done gone)
He was searching
Blindly night and day
This life, there must be more
Breaking beauty
Just to stay awake
His heart was like a stone
Ooh, ooh his heart was like a stone
And on the last day
He walked out in the sun
He only just discovered the sun
On the last day
And on the last day
When all his work was done
He only just discovered the sun
On the last day
Ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh
All this rapture
Right here all along
In scraps he tore away
All this color
In his final breath
Exhaled the dark and gray
Ooh, ooh
Exhaled the dark and gray
And on the last day
He walked out in the sun
He only just discovered the sun
On the last day
And on the last day
When all his work was done
He only just discovered the sun
On the last day
(Looky looky yonder)
(Looky looky yonder)
(Looky looky yonder)
(Looky looky yonder)
(Where the sun done gone)
(Looky looky yonder)
(Looky looky yonder)
(Looky looky yonder)
(Where the sun done gone)
He was searching
Blindly night and day
This life, there must be more
Breaking beauty
Just to stay awake
His heart was like a stone
Ooh, ooh his heart was like a stone
And on the last day
He walked out in the sun
He only just discovered the sun
On the last day
And on the last day
When all his work was done
He only just discovered the sun
On the last day
Ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh
All this rapture
Right here all along
In scraps he tore away
All this color
In his final breath
Exhaled the dark and gray
Ooh, ooh
Exhaled the dark and gray
And on the last day
He walked out in the sun
He only just discovered the sun
On the last day
And on the last day
When all his work was done
He only just discovered the sun
On the last day
(Looky looky yonder)
(Looky looky yonder)
(Looky looky yonder)
(Looky looky yonder)
(Where the sun done gone)
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings, edited by embiggenator, alijorani, LandLubber
The Last Day Lyrics as written by Richard Melville Hall Holly Hafermann
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
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."
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,
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.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
There's no hint in the song that it's about a lover. It's about someone who was alive but not living, he missed all the rapture in life and only in his last day he discovered the joy of living.
I think it is a song about someone who finally found the happiness in living in his final moments alive. Someone who worked all their life, trying to find more to their life... Perhaps thinking working for something, accomplishing something would give him some sense of purpose or satisfaction. But the happiness he seeks is actually present in the little, obvious things that he's been ignoring.
It is bittersweet. He does find that happiness, but he only has a little bit of time to enjoy it.
This song, I think, is about a lover who's interest was dark and insensitive, something she believed to herself she could change. She tried to open out his sentimental side, and tried her best, but he was blind to the lessons she was trying to show him. She would have thought there was a "breaking beauty" within him, but so far, was bypassed within his mind, and was "just to stay awake". But only after he made a powerfully negative response which made her give up and turn away, "when all his work was done", he saw that he had missed an opportunity, and had changed his attitude "he walked out in the sun", but only when it was too late. And she contemplated over how soulless he was the whole time, which was something she felt stupid for having not seen, as it was "right here all along". And any further responses she would get from him "exhaled the dark and grey".
Also, the lyrics above have some mistakes.
This song is about liberation.