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."
[Ghostface Killah]
Technique is ill son, watch how I spill one
Peace to Biggie Tupac Big L and Big Pun
Havoc on the streets of Staten, snitches
House niggaz children watch as they produce the same pattern
Somebody raped our women, murdered our babies
Hit us with the cracks and guns in the early 80's
FOR THOSE THAT MURDERED ME SHALL STAND BEFORE GOD
TO FALL AT THE HANDS OF FATE, THEN OUT COMES THE ROD
Bring it back, bring it back, bring it back,
bring it back, bring it back.. [*record run backwards*]
What the fuck is goin on? I can't go to sleep
Feds jumpin out they jeeps, I can't go to sleep
Babies with flies on the cheeks, it's hard to go to sleep
Ish bowled two sixes twice, I couldn't go to sleep
Aiyyo we deep in the stairs, we carry (?) guns
(?) got, hit up with the big shit, bam-bam
Stop at the cheeba spot, then pass the leak spot
So past y'all niggaz again, you took a cheap shot
Not knowin FUCKIN WITH ME, you get your meat chopped
YOU THOUGHT WE FELL ON OUR FACE? YOU NEED TO BE STOPPED
CALL ON THE CHARIOTS, CALL ON AN AMBULANCE
YOU BETTER SMILE MY NIGGA, YOU ON CANDID CAM
Gangsta broad, these be the laws, walk with big balls
Nigga motherfuckin eunuch, I even take which was yours
I'm the nigga that made you man
When your rap wasn't doin well, I'm the nigga that gave you a hand!
[Isaac Hayes]
Don't kill your brother, let's love each other
Don't get mad.. cause it ain't that bad
Just be who you are.. you've come so far
It's in your hands, just be a man
Get the jelly out your spine!
Cobwebs, out of your mind
[RZA]
I can't go to sleep, I can't shut my eyes
They shot the father of his moms, killed him seven times
They shot Malcolm in the chest front of his little seeds
Jesse watched, as they shot King on the balcony
They spat at Marcus, Garvey cause he tried to spark us
with the knowledge of ourselves, and our forefathers
Ohh Jacqueline you heard the rifle shots cracklin
Her husband head in her hair, you tried to put it back in
AMERICA'S WATCHIN, BLOOD STAINED INK BLOTCHES
MEDGAR TOOK ONE TO THE SKULL FOR INTERGRATING COLLEGE
WHAT'S THE SCIENCE? SOMEBODY? THIS IS TRICK KNOWLEDGE
THEY TRY TO KEEP US ENSLAVED AND STILL SCRAPE FOR DOLLARS
Walkin through Park Hill, drunk as a +FUCK+
Lookin around like, these +DEVILS+, I'm ready to break this world down
They got me trapped up in a metal gate, just stressed out with hate
And just, give me no time to relax, and use my mind to meditate
What should I do? Grab a blunt or a brew?
Grab a two-two and run out there AND PUT THIS FUCKIN VIOLENCE IN YOU?
I can't go to sleep, I can't shut 'em son.. I..
[Isaac Hayes - overlapping RZA at the end]
Don't like the game, nigga use your head
You should be callin the shots instead
The power is in your hands..
Stop all this cryin, and be a man
Technique is ill son, watch how I spill one
Peace to Biggie Tupac Big L and Big Pun
Havoc on the streets of Staten, snitches
House niggaz children watch as they produce the same pattern
Somebody raped our women, murdered our babies
Hit us with the cracks and guns in the early 80's
FOR THOSE THAT MURDERED ME SHALL STAND BEFORE GOD
TO FALL AT THE HANDS OF FATE, THEN OUT COMES THE ROD
Bring it back, bring it back, bring it back,
bring it back, bring it back.. [*record run backwards*]
What the fuck is goin on? I can't go to sleep
Feds jumpin out they jeeps, I can't go to sleep
Babies with flies on the cheeks, it's hard to go to sleep
Ish bowled two sixes twice, I couldn't go to sleep
Aiyyo we deep in the stairs, we carry (?) guns
(?) got, hit up with the big shit, bam-bam
Stop at the cheeba spot, then pass the leak spot
So past y'all niggaz again, you took a cheap shot
Not knowin FUCKIN WITH ME, you get your meat chopped
YOU THOUGHT WE FELL ON OUR FACE? YOU NEED TO BE STOPPED
CALL ON THE CHARIOTS, CALL ON AN AMBULANCE
YOU BETTER SMILE MY NIGGA, YOU ON CANDID CAM
Gangsta broad, these be the laws, walk with big balls
Nigga motherfuckin eunuch, I even take which was yours
I'm the nigga that made you man
When your rap wasn't doin well, I'm the nigga that gave you a hand!
[Isaac Hayes]
Don't kill your brother, let's love each other
Don't get mad.. cause it ain't that bad
Just be who you are.. you've come so far
It's in your hands, just be a man
Get the jelly out your spine!
Cobwebs, out of your mind
[RZA]
I can't go to sleep, I can't shut my eyes
They shot the father of his moms, killed him seven times
They shot Malcolm in the chest front of his little seeds
Jesse watched, as they shot King on the balcony
They spat at Marcus, Garvey cause he tried to spark us
with the knowledge of ourselves, and our forefathers
Ohh Jacqueline you heard the rifle shots cracklin
Her husband head in her hair, you tried to put it back in
AMERICA'S WATCHIN, BLOOD STAINED INK BLOTCHES
MEDGAR TOOK ONE TO THE SKULL FOR INTERGRATING COLLEGE
WHAT'S THE SCIENCE? SOMEBODY? THIS IS TRICK KNOWLEDGE
THEY TRY TO KEEP US ENSLAVED AND STILL SCRAPE FOR DOLLARS
Walkin through Park Hill, drunk as a +FUCK+
Lookin around like, these +DEVILS+, I'm ready to break this world down
They got me trapped up in a metal gate, just stressed out with hate
And just, give me no time to relax, and use my mind to meditate
What should I do? Grab a blunt or a brew?
Grab a two-two and run out there AND PUT THIS FUCKIN VIOLENCE IN YOU?
I can't go to sleep, I can't shut 'em son.. I..
[Isaac Hayes - overlapping RZA at the end]
Don't like the game, nigga use your head
You should be callin the shots instead
The power is in your hands..
Stop all this cryin, and be a man
Lyrics submitted by spliphstar
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More Featured Meanings
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,
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
Zombie
Cranberries, The
Cranberries, The
"Zombie" is about the ethno-political conflict in Ireland. This is obvious if you know anything of the singer (Dolores O'Riordan)'s Irish heritage and understood the "1916" Easter Rising reference.
"Another head hangs lowly
Child is slowly taken
And the violence caused such silence
Who are we mistaken
-
Another mother's breaking
Heart is taking over"
Laments the Warrington bomb attacks in which two children were fatally injured on March 23rd, 1993. Twelve year old Tim Parry was taken off life support with permission from his mother after five days in the hospital, virtually braindead.
"But you see it's not me
It's not my family"
References how people who are not directly involved with the violence feel about it. They are "zombies" without sympathy who refuse to take action while others suffer.
Indigo
Of Mice & Men
Of Mice & Men
This track is about is about questioning why the sky would choose to be blue if it had the choice to be anything else, “blue also meaning sad,” states frontman Aaron Pauley. “It's about comforting a loved one in a time of loss by telling them you feel blue, too.”
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.