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."
I'm dusting off the ash from us
This war is finally over
But you want me trapped
Back in the past
You think I'll sink and suffer
But blah blah blah-di-blah
Tell your friends I'm lost
If I don't have you
I'll get on with life
Never thinking twice
Then you'll see the truth
I don't work like that
I just bounce back
From the heartbreak
When we fell apart
I hit restart
Made it okay
(It's like whoa) Who's that
(Like whoa) Who's that
(Like whoa) It's me
(Like whoa) I'm back
Now I'm moving up
While you're still stuck
In the old days
I'm bouncing back again
Dressed to the nines
Must be a crime
Rebirth never looked so good
On the strip tonight
You're off my mind
Got lost in west Hollywood
But blah blah blah-di-blah
Tell your friends I'm lost
If I don't have you
I'll get on with life
Never thinking twice
Then you'll see the truth
I don't work like that
I just bounce back
From the heartbreak
When we fell apart
I hit restart
Made it okay
(It's like whoa) Who's that
(Like whoa) Who's that
(Like whoa) It's me
(Like whoa) I'm back
Now I'm moving up
While you're still stuck
In the old days
I'm bouncing back again
(Bounce)
Bouncing back
I'm bouncing back again
Bouncing back
I'm bouncing back again
I don't work like that
I just bounce back
From the heartbreak (I just bounce back)
When we fell apart
I hit restart
Made it okay (Made it okay)
(It's like whoa) Who's that
(Like whoa) Who's that
(Like whoa) It's me
(Like whoa) I'm back
Now I'm moving up
While you're still stuck
In the old days
I'm bouncing back again
I'm bouncing back again
I'm bouncing back again
This war is finally over
But you want me trapped
Back in the past
You think I'll sink and suffer
But blah blah blah-di-blah
Tell your friends I'm lost
If I don't have you
I'll get on with life
Never thinking twice
Then you'll see the truth
I don't work like that
I just bounce back
From the heartbreak
When we fell apart
I hit restart
Made it okay
(It's like whoa) Who's that
(Like whoa) Who's that
(Like whoa) It's me
(Like whoa) I'm back
Now I'm moving up
While you're still stuck
In the old days
I'm bouncing back again
Dressed to the nines
Must be a crime
Rebirth never looked so good
On the strip tonight
You're off my mind
Got lost in west Hollywood
But blah blah blah-di-blah
Tell your friends I'm lost
If I don't have you
I'll get on with life
Never thinking twice
Then you'll see the truth
I don't work like that
I just bounce back
From the heartbreak
When we fell apart
I hit restart
Made it okay
(It's like whoa) Who's that
(Like whoa) Who's that
(Like whoa) It's me
(Like whoa) I'm back
Now I'm moving up
While you're still stuck
In the old days
I'm bouncing back again
(Bounce)
Bouncing back
I'm bouncing back again
Bouncing back
I'm bouncing back again
I don't work like that
I just bounce back
From the heartbreak (I just bounce back)
When we fell apart
I hit restart
Made it okay (Made it okay)
(It's like whoa) Who's that
(Like whoa) Who's that
(Like whoa) It's me
(Like whoa) I'm back
Now I'm moving up
While you're still stuck
In the old days
I'm bouncing back again
I'm bouncing back again
I'm bouncing back again
Lyrics submitted by ioannemos
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
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.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
Trouble Breathing
Alkaline Trio
Alkaline Trio
While the obvious connections with suicide or alcoholism could be drawn easily, more subtly this song could be about someone who views the world through a negative lens constantly and how as much as the writer tries to show the beauty in the world, this person refuses to see it. It's one or another between the rope and the bottle. There is no good option for this person. They can't see it. Skiba sings it in a kind of exasperated way like He's tired of hearing this negative view constantly and just allowing that person to continue feeling the way they feel knowing he can't do anything about it. You can hear it when he says maybe you're a vampire.
Zombie
Cranberries, The
Cranberries, The
"Zombie" is about the ethno-political conflict in Ireland. This is obvious if you know anything of the singer (Dolores O'Riordan)'s Irish heritage and understood the "1916" Easter Rising reference.
"Another head hangs lowly
Child is slowly taken
And the violence caused such silence
Who are we mistaken
-
Another mother's breaking
Heart is taking over"
Laments the Warrington bomb attacks in which two children were fatally injured on March 23rd, 1993. Twelve year old Tim Parry was taken off life support with permission from his mother after five days in the hospital, virtually braindead.
"But you see it's not me
It's not my family"
References how people who are not directly involved with the violence feel about it. They are "zombies" without sympathy who refuse to take action while others suffer.