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."
She caught the melting sky
It burned but still the winter passes by and by
To the other side
The Timeless Parade Of The Winds
Horses Of Grace Given Again And Again
Children Of Generations Cursed And Torn Of Sin
Are we saved by the words of bastard saints
Do we live in fear or faith
Tell me now who's behind the rain
A maze of tangled grace
The symptoms of "for real" are crumbling from embrace
But still we chase the shadows of belief
And new religion clouds our visions of the roots of our souls
Are we ashamed of our own fate
Or play the fool for our own sake
Tell me who's behind the rain
What do we need where do we go
When we get where we don't know
Why should we doubt the virgin white of fallen snow
When faith's our shelter from the cold
Quicksand Jesus I'm so far away without you
Quicksand Jesus I need you
Quicksand Jesus I believe you
Quicksand Jesus I'm so far away
It burned but still the winter passes by and by
To the other side
The Timeless Parade Of The Winds
Horses Of Grace Given Again And Again
Children Of Generations Cursed And Torn Of Sin
Are we saved by the words of bastard saints
Do we live in fear or faith
Tell me now who's behind the rain
A maze of tangled grace
The symptoms of "for real" are crumbling from embrace
But still we chase the shadows of belief
And new religion clouds our visions of the roots of our souls
Are we ashamed of our own fate
Or play the fool for our own sake
Tell me who's behind the rain
What do we need where do we go
When we get where we don't know
Why should we doubt the virgin white of fallen snow
When faith's our shelter from the cold
Quicksand Jesus I'm so far away without you
Quicksand Jesus I need you
Quicksand Jesus I believe you
Quicksand Jesus I'm so far away
Lyrics submitted by thekronic420, edited by AJasperStone
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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.
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.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
The phrase "Quicksand Jesus" is the "Jesus" that people turn to as a last resort when they are already in a deep trouble instead of calling Jesus as their first priority. This always happen to the rich people who have a lot of money to pay good doctors to heal their sickness. But when the doctor says that there's already no hope then they will call Jesus to either blame Jesus for the sickness or ask forgiveness when they are already dying.
The song Quicksand Jesus is such a very deep beautiful song by Skid Row. It features the superb singing prowess of Sebastian "Baz" Bach. The song obviously have a religious meaning and quite hard to explain. Actually the entire song is quite is easy to understand, what took me sometime to comprehend is the phrase "Quicksand Jesus".
To even complicate the meaning of the song, Skid Row made a music video for this song which explains the verses of the song but not the phrase "Quicksand Jesus"
n the video, there was a child who had a seed on her hand and planted it. The girl also found a rosary. The seed grew as a strong and beautiful tree, and the child grew and turns out to be an old grand mother.
As the video near its ending, the grand mother handed over the rosary to a girl(presumably her grand daughter) beside the tree.
In my interpretation, the video completely explains the verses of the song. It's about handing down faith to the next generation. It's about sticking to the true religion that was your parent or grand parents have taught to you. The rosary in the video represents the faith. Not necessary the faith as Roman Catholic but the faith to a true religion and faith to God.
"What do we need where do we go when we get where we don't know Why should we doubt the virgin white of fallen snow When faith's our shelter from the cold"
@Skidem I've wondered the same thing you have about the title of the song. The confusion I had came from trying to understand that quicksand was some kind of title of Jesus. However, once I added a comma, it all came into focus for me. So, the phrase is "Quicksand, Jesus!" I take it to mean the author is stuck and sinking in quicksand, and crying out to Jesus for help.