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."
This town, she is a temptress
A siren with gold eyes,
She'll cut you with her kindness,
She will lead you with her lies
She's been called a glistening devil,
She's good at keeping score
If you make it she's your savior
If you don't she's a whore
The roads to and from her heart are littered with grave souls.
They gave all of their all and all they got in return is empty holes.
Sure we've all heard about Shell, and Chris, Willy, and Bobby Bares.
She'd smiled on Johnny's the Merles any music-wrote billionaires.
Like a beacon she goes seeking seed, her loins so fertile.
To a free man she's a prison, to a caged one she's a fire.
She's the reason there's a Sunday morning coming down.
I saw the light, a boy named Sue,
He stopped loving her today. The pill and 16th avenue.
The rhyming, oh she's a diamond the brown eyed mickey
She was Roy Acuff castle and Elvis parsley's broken dream
Its not all bad its not all dark its not all gloom and crass,
But to mine gold in this silver mine it does take balls of brass.
For she's seem 'em come and seen 'em go, and came herself a time or two.
No matter how satisfied her scream sounds she always wants someone new.
The next him or them or her or all to the rest of them all
Be a star in this lady's town you can fuck or you can fight.
You see, it all comes down to money.
Not romantic art of days gone past, if you forget that rule,
You can bet your backside she will bury it in your ass.
A tramp, a slut, a bitch, a mutt, a thousand pawn shop guitars.
A nasty little needle to a vein that feeds a singers heart.
She lurks in friendly shadows, but she's a junky with a limb.
The agents are her bookie and the labels are her pen
I'll tell you a well-known secret of a place known far and wide
The devil walks among us folks and Nashville is his bride
All the chaos he has caused, and done
His greatest tribute to every guitar-toting' dreamer
The devil don't but me, i shook his hand
And i know that he is real, so devil, you can go screw yourself
And then go straight the hell.
A siren with gold eyes,
She'll cut you with her kindness,
She will lead you with her lies
She's been called a glistening devil,
She's good at keeping score
If you make it she's your savior
If you don't she's a whore
The roads to and from her heart are littered with grave souls.
They gave all of their all and all they got in return is empty holes.
Sure we've all heard about Shell, and Chris, Willy, and Bobby Bares.
She'd smiled on Johnny's the Merles any music-wrote billionaires.
Like a beacon she goes seeking seed, her loins so fertile.
To a free man she's a prison, to a caged one she's a fire.
She's the reason there's a Sunday morning coming down.
I saw the light, a boy named Sue,
He stopped loving her today. The pill and 16th avenue.
The rhyming, oh she's a diamond the brown eyed mickey
She was Roy Acuff castle and Elvis parsley's broken dream
Its not all bad its not all dark its not all gloom and crass,
But to mine gold in this silver mine it does take balls of brass.
For she's seem 'em come and seen 'em go, and came herself a time or two.
No matter how satisfied her scream sounds she always wants someone new.
The next him or them or her or all to the rest of them all
Be a star in this lady's town you can fuck or you can fight.
You see, it all comes down to money.
Not romantic art of days gone past, if you forget that rule,
You can bet your backside she will bury it in your ass.
A tramp, a slut, a bitch, a mutt, a thousand pawn shop guitars.
A nasty little needle to a vein that feeds a singers heart.
She lurks in friendly shadows, but she's a junky with a limb.
The agents are her bookie and the labels are her pen
I'll tell you a well-known secret of a place known far and wide
The devil walks among us folks and Nashville is his bride
All the chaos he has caused, and done
His greatest tribute to every guitar-toting' dreamer
The devil don't but me, i shook his hand
And i know that he is real, so devil, you can go screw yourself
And then go straight the hell.
Lyrics submitted by harderman61
Devil, Devil (Prelude: Princess of Darkness) Lyrics as written by Eric Church Casey Beathard
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Spirit Music Group, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Mountain Song
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