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."
You sleep better when you're
You eat better when you're
You sing better when you're
You need me more when you're straight
Is this the weekend?
Is that your girlfriend?
She's green and innocent
You smoke her like she's incense
She's smilin'
I'll wait 'til summer's over
I'll love you through October
I'll give you everything
I'll trade you anything for her
Stay straight for me
Stay straight for me
Stay straight for me
Stay straight for me
You eat better when you're
You sing better when you're
You need me more when you're straight
Is this the weekend?
Is that your girlfriend?
She's green and innocent
You smoke her like she's incense
She's smilin'
I'll wait 'til summer's over
I'll love you through October
I'll give you everything
I'll trade you anything for her
Stay straight for me
Stay straight for me
Stay straight for me
Stay straight for me
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Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
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,
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.
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.
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.
This is one of the first few Veruca Salt songs I heard! I love Veruca Salt. Anyway... I think this song is about a guy who uses a lot of drugs and he's not really spending time with his girl because of it so it's like he's dating the drugs and not her.
I agree with HappySoul. I think the song is about being in love with a person who is preoccupied with their addictions. "i'll wait 'til summer's over i'll love you through october i'll give you everything i'll trade you anything for her"
These lines show her devotion towards her lover. She is letting him know she'll be there forever, but would give anything to trade places with the drugs in his life. She wants to be his preoccupation
In a live version I have of this she says "this song is about a really sexy girl. Or dude, or whatever you wanna call it."
I like magickmidget's interpretation :D
I think it's about a girl who is bisexual, but more romantically lesbian. When she's with a guy, she doesn't get so twisted up inside over him. When she's with a girl, though, the drama of the relationship spills over into the operations of the whole band. So, Louise's bandmate has got herself a new, young girlfriend, and Louise wants her to find a boyfriend instead.
I'm pretty sympathetic to the interpretation that this is about drugs, too. Particularly, the lyrics, "I'll wait till summer's over/ I'll love you through October" seem to lend themselves to that interpretation. Louise will put up with his or her drug use until the end of the tour season, but if he or she doesn't get straight after that, then Louise will have to reconsider the relationship. It might be a little of both interpretations working in there.
This could be about a guy who has a tendency to lie (not be straight), he is on tour (you sing better) chasing the green almighty dollar & smoking weed, but when he doesn't come clean about stuff he isn't being straight. The summer tour will be over, the work they will do together for a movie album will be done in October 1996. Just the facts.
The song is about a pothead ignoring his girlfriend. Period. Louise laid it out in concert footage from 1995 to the audience.\nMake it whatever you want in your head when you listen, but that\'s exactly what the song is about in reality. Probably a personal song for Louise and/or Nina.\nCoombrains interpret every song lyric to be about their favorite porn for some reason.