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."
recap in taxi no clothes no food take care of the children we'll send for you soon alien you find you feel at home everywhere you'll get by with so much less than anyone decieved entrapment through belief disclosure would decree accusations would be shed instead we stand over the dead the vultures all well fed killer running free outside the window the passing night sky fills with people i know taking me home
Lyrics submitted by PLANES
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Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
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Trouble Breathing
Alkaline Trio
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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.
the last lines "the passing night sky fills with people i know taking me home" dont seem to fit with the song, really. i dunno, i cant find anything from my analysis so suggestions are welcomed. great song, too.
@sean7711 Versus a taxi taking him home from the beginning of the song.
This song, and the lyrics are really dreamlike, can't quite work it out...
This is probably my favorite Fugazi song, even though I do not really know what it means. Despite the fact that I don't understand it, I think I know the lyrics to this song the best.
I love singing this song, Joe Lally should do some more lead vocals.
it's about the experience of illegal immigrants who come to the states to send money home...("alien,you find you feel at home everywhere") "Modotti" is Tina Modotti, the Mexican photographer who was an associate of Frida Kahlo, and Deigo Rivera.
Then it gets confused in a tangle of serious sounding Fugazi words- "accusation", "disclosure", ect - does something violent happen to the immigrant ? We may never know.
The second half of the song is about the promise of the New World compared to the reality of an immigrant's life in America. The last lines are Joe reflecting on how easy he has it compared to them.
I would guess it runs something like this: there's a Mexican immigrant who rides a taxi in the US for the money he needs to keep his family alive (most, if not all of which is still in Mexico). He lives cheap to send back as much as he can. If there's any deception involved here, it's the belief that he can really make it, meaning - get his family up to States and live the big life. If he's disclosed, a judge (or other authority) will decree him illegal and kick him out (this also does away with accusations). "we stand over the dead the vultures all well fed killer running free" is perhaps no longer about him (the taxi driver), but about "us", meaning those who live the good life in a land where aliens induce more fear than killers. The last lines get back to the guy again, remembering his relatives, whom he might not ever see again.<br /> Unless there's some real story behind it.
The song is definitely about immigrants.
The end seems to be about an immigrant being deported because people who were also illegal reported them."The passing night sky fills with people I know taking me home"
It is a critique on the crack down on "illegal" immigration, "instead we stand over the dead," even though the government benefits from them, "the vultures all well fed" and the fact that America is founded on immigration. "Deceived, entrapment through belief"
IMHO, they were either inspired by Radiohaead or vice versa. This song reminds me SO MUCH of subterranean homesick alien off of ok computer.Which is weird enough that I noticed sims between them,BUT THEN.....
Also the album this is from, End Hits and OK computer both have songs called No Surprise or No Surpises in radioheads case. Noticed the similarities between the alien songs first. Thats where "the passing night sky fills with people i know taking me home" comes in in relation to radioheads "I'd wish theyd swoop down in a country lane late at night when I'm driving"
but yeah noticed those two first and then the no surprises thing came about and BOY WAS I ACTUALLY SURPRISED!!!!!!!