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."
from the depth of the pacific
to the height of everest
and still the world is smoother
than a shiny ball-bearing
so i take a few steps back
and put on a wider lens
and it changes your skin,
your sex, and what your wearing
distance shows your *silhouette*
to be a lot like mine
like a sphere is a sphere
and all of us here
have been here all the time
yeah, we've been here all the time*
you brought me to church
cinder blocks, flourescent light
you brought me to church
at seven o'clock on a sunday night
and the band was rockin'
and the floors were scrubbed clean
and everybody had a tambourine
so i took a deep breath and became
the white girl with the hair
and you sat right beside me
while everybody stared
and through the open window
i think the singing went outside
and floated up to tell
all the stars not to hide
'cuz by the time church let out
the sky was much clearer
and the moon was so beautiful
that the ocean held up a mirror
as we walked home we spoke slowly
we spoke slow
and we spoke lowly
like it was taking more time
than usual to choose
the words to go
with your squeaky sandal shoes
like time is not a thing
thats ours to lose
from the depthsof the pacific
to the height of everest
to the height of everest
and still the world is smoother
than a shiny ball-bearing
so i take a few steps back
and put on a wider lens
and it changes your skin,
your sex, and what your wearing
distance shows your *silhouette*
to be a lot like mine
like a sphere is a sphere
and all of us here
have been here all the time
yeah, we've been here all the time*
you brought me to church
cinder blocks, flourescent light
you brought me to church
at seven o'clock on a sunday night
and the band was rockin'
and the floors were scrubbed clean
and everybody had a tambourine
so i took a deep breath and became
the white girl with the hair
and you sat right beside me
while everybody stared
and through the open window
i think the singing went outside
and floated up to tell
all the stars not to hide
'cuz by the time church let out
the sky was much clearer
and the moon was so beautiful
that the ocean held up a mirror
as we walked home we spoke slowly
we spoke slow
and we spoke lowly
like it was taking more time
than usual to choose
the words to go
with your squeaky sandal shoes
like time is not a thing
thats ours to lose
from the depthsof the pacific
to the height of everest
Lyrics submitted by aur0ra
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Mountain Song
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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 refreshed feeling spiritually you feel after a meditation, or when you begin to explore new opossibilities on why lif is what it is... philosophical mood i supose
this is one of my favorite examples of Ani DiFranco's poetic super-powers.
so i take a few steps back and put on a wider lens and it changes your skin, your sex, and what your wearing Wow, she captured the essence of solidarity perfectly. as someone who has devoted a large chunk of his adult life to furthuring human rights causes, this song reminds me why i care. as different as we think we are in the slurry of the day-to-day, "still the world is smoother/ than a shiny ball-bearing".
I have a live version of this song where she prefaces it by saying "This song comes from a place of, just a moment, when you're just okay with everything, just okay with everybody and everything, it's all worth it."
And I think that's pretty much spot on, from the goddess herself.
I adore that version, she just sets the scene so beautifully! I think it's the Atlanta concert? Awesome :)
i'm especially affected by the way she sings that little part at about 2:50, starting with "and through the open window" where her voice does this little crescendo thing and is just soaring at that level for the next few lines. more volume, more urgency, i guess i would describe it? anyway those 20 seconds are my little piece of paradise in this song.
btw IWantWindToBlow, thanks for the sharing the tidbit.
I've always seen the song as a change of perspective, as it starts out "from the depth of the pacific, to the height of everest" and then ends as "from the height of the pacific, to the depths of everest".
And it's cool to hear what she's said about the song, since when, in my experience, I'm content, I have better "eyes" to see things how they are, which is usually not how they're conventionally seen.
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