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."
Seen a man standin' over a dead dog lyin' by a highway in a ditch
He's lookin' down kinda puzzled, pokin' that dog with a stick
Got his car doors flung open he's standin' out on Highway thirty-one
Like if he stood there long enough that dog'd get up and run
Struck me kinda funny, seem kinda funny, sir, to me
Still, at the end of every hard day people find some reason to believe
Now Mary Lou loved Johnny with a love mean and true
She said "Baby, I'll work for you every day, bring my money home to you"
One day he up and left her and ever since that
She waits down at the end of that dirt road for young Johnny to come back
Struck me kinda funny, funny, yeah, to me
How at the end of every hard-earned day people find some reason to believe
Take a baby to the river, Kyle William they called him
Wash the baby in the water, take away little Kyle's sin
In a whitewash shotgun shack an old man passes away
Take his body to the graveyard and over him they pray
Lord won't you tell us, tell us what does it mean
At the end of every hard-earned day people find some reason to believe
Congregation gathers down by the riverside
Preacher stands with a Bible, groom stands waitin' for his bride
Congregation gone, the sun sets behind a weepin' willow tree
Groom stands alone and watches the river rush on, so effortlessly
Wonderin' where can his baby be
Still, at the end of every hard-earned day people find some reason to believe
He's lookin' down kinda puzzled, pokin' that dog with a stick
Got his car doors flung open he's standin' out on Highway thirty-one
Like if he stood there long enough that dog'd get up and run
Struck me kinda funny, seem kinda funny, sir, to me
Still, at the end of every hard day people find some reason to believe
Now Mary Lou loved Johnny with a love mean and true
She said "Baby, I'll work for you every day, bring my money home to you"
One day he up and left her and ever since that
She waits down at the end of that dirt road for young Johnny to come back
Struck me kinda funny, funny, yeah, to me
How at the end of every hard-earned day people find some reason to believe
Take a baby to the river, Kyle William they called him
Wash the baby in the water, take away little Kyle's sin
In a whitewash shotgun shack an old man passes away
Take his body to the graveyard and over him they pray
Lord won't you tell us, tell us what does it mean
At the end of every hard-earned day people find some reason to believe
Congregation gathers down by the riverside
Preacher stands with a Bible, groom stands waitin' for his bride
Congregation gone, the sun sets behind a weepin' willow tree
Groom stands alone and watches the river rush on, so effortlessly
Wonderin' where can his baby be
Still, at the end of every hard-earned day people find some reason to believe
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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,
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.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
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.
I am surprised that there aren't more comments about this song other than those noting its simplicity. I couldn't disagree more. For over 30 years I've pondered the last verse. The first three verses set up the theme clearly enough: mortality, love, superstition, ritual.
But the last verse breaks the narrative. We have a wedding scene, which combines all four elements of the early verses. But then suddenly he's alone, lamenting some kind of metaphoric loss. His freedom? His youth?
It's like in the 4th verse, Springsteen takes the song and turns it upside down. The "reason to believe" is no longer ironic, but nihilistic. "Struck me kinda funny" no more.
I think "the loss of the groom" is that his bride never showed up for their wedding. Now he lost the love of his life and feel miserable and sad. <br />
i like your takes. and i agree with them in large part. but i'm not sure i find the last verse to be so miffing. to me, the man is lost. his bride to be never showed, which leaves only so many inferences for him to make. but why? and where is she? when i hear that verse, and i put myself in the shoes of that man by the river, it's the not knowing that gets to me. the loss of stability, trust, companionship, of that unnoticed steady footing you gain when in a solid relationship. and then to be by the river while all this happens...the allegorical, to me, is obvious. just like the river keeps on moving, no matter what, so also his reason to believe keeps on keepin on.
@ZFT This song is just about hard stuff in life. Methinks there are few things more personally devastating to a man than his bride failing to show at the wedding. To discover the betrayal of love and trust in this setting hurts the head, the heart and the ego. It's hard enough to call off a wedding off before the event, it's just plain brutal to do a no-show the day of, when people have gathered to celebrate love.