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."
Now listen up you know ya come home from working that nine to five and
Lay yourself down on burgundy couch, you know, it never really was
Burgundy. It was red, and you painted with the goddamn sprinkler and
Now you have bits and pieces of burgundy stuck to your but every time
You get off of it. You never tell your family, you never tell your
Family because, you know, ol' Junior, he's got no brains, and what can
You do? What can you do? (And old Junior, you know, got a little crazy
With that P.B.J. that one day ??)
[Chorus]
Grab yourself a can of pork soda
You'll be feeling just fine
Ain't nothin' quite like sittin' 'round the house
Swillin' down them Cans of swine
Ha ha ha! Yes, Dad's an idiot alright!
Well, alright, I'm really starting to worry about you. You had to have
That two-car garage with the large driveway so you could park that
Goddamn boat in it. If it wasn't for the boat (blah blah blah)
[Chorus]
I like Kansas wine
Well, maybe it's something simpler, like your team lost or your
Girlfriend used to be a guy, you know, I don't know. I mean (blah blah blah)
Lay yourself down on burgundy couch, you know, it never really was
Burgundy. It was red, and you painted with the goddamn sprinkler and
Now you have bits and pieces of burgundy stuck to your but every time
You get off of it. You never tell your family, you never tell your
Family because, you know, ol' Junior, he's got no brains, and what can
You do? What can you do? (And old Junior, you know, got a little crazy
With that P.B.J. that one day ??)
[Chorus]
Grab yourself a can of pork soda
You'll be feeling just fine
Ain't nothin' quite like sittin' 'round the house
Swillin' down them Cans of swine
Ha ha ha! Yes, Dad's an idiot alright!
Well, alright, I'm really starting to worry about you. You had to have
That two-car garage with the large driveway so you could park that
Goddamn boat in it. If it wasn't for the boat (blah blah blah)
[Chorus]
I like Kansas wine
Well, maybe it's something simpler, like your team lost or your
Girlfriend used to be a guy, you know, I don't know. I mean (blah blah blah)
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Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
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.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
He says in an interview (ram.org/music/primus/articles/rs_9_93.html) that it's about how people are obssessed with diet and how pork soda is full of cholestoral and calories - very unhealthy. From the lyrics of the album's other songs and this one's you could say that it's about how life is unhealthy (drugs, lifestyle, bullying + morality, exploiting identity, crime, minor unpleasantries, death/suicide etc.) but is fun for it! Things are only good because you have bad things to contrast them to.
Beer's full of cholesterol and stuff too, but it's fun! Whilst a very dangerous drug, it's fine in moderation (unlike most other drugs), so I guess maybe the metaphor is, like dieting - don't worry about things in life too much, just do things in moderation - you can have fun without risking death (or becoming fat)!
Well, I met Les about 4 years ago, at Club Infinity in Buffalo. I went up to talk to him(My dad also wanted a picture with him) about his basses(cause I'm in a Primus cover band sorta thing) and I also asked him what this song was about cause I couldn't understand half of it. He said that this song was about just random things some people have to deal with in their life and about how people drink to solve it. Pork Soda refers to what he said that they called it where he grew up, which I forgo the name of.
I think this song is about a "typical" white trash.
Nope, deffinetly about chromaticabveration you dumbass
Wow! i'm just amazed someone managed to figure out what all that rambling was, i've listened many times and tried to figure it out...
..but fail everytime.
pretty funny that such a chaotic sounding, non-sensical song became the title track for an album though
This is about a drinkin man and his son.
whats a burgundy?
burgundy is a color, redish purple to be exact
It's also a wine, and a region of france (where the wine originates)