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."
Into mass graves we've shoveled lives
A massive pipeline for the lies
A past so vast with genocide
And ignorance we hid behind
You say that we are done with this
Turn blind eyes and still dismiss
Chalk this up as something passed
And still create a lower caste
Lies
Lies
Lies
Lies
The way you live shows no remorese
For the day
The day we killed crazy horse
Innocence with glassy eyes
Kill the nation, steal their pride
On broken backs we build empires
Twisting spines for the steeple spires
How many people can you kill?
Look at your twenty dollar bill
Do you see third world poverty
Inside the lines of of your country?
And now to treaties we are loyal
But tear them up when we smell oil
Lies
Lies
Lies
Lies
The way you live shows no remorese
For the day
The day we killed crazy horse
Innocence with glassy eyes
Kill the nation, steal their pride
The way you live shows no remorese
For the day
The day we killed crazy horse
Innocence with glassy eyes
Kill the nation, steal their pride
"I can still see the butchered women and children
lying heaped and scattered all along the crooked gulch.
And I can see that something else died there in the bloody mud,
and was buried in the blizzard.
A people’s dream died there.
It was a beautiful dream."
The way you live shows no remorese
For the day
The day we killed crazy horse
Innocence with glassy eyes
Kill the nation, steal their pride
The way you live shows no remorese
For the day
The day we killed crazy horse
Innocence with glassy eyes
Kill the nation, steal their pride
A massive pipeline for the lies
A past so vast with genocide
And ignorance we hid behind
You say that we are done with this
Turn blind eyes and still dismiss
Chalk this up as something passed
And still create a lower caste
Lies
Lies
Lies
Lies
The way you live shows no remorese
For the day
The day we killed crazy horse
Innocence with glassy eyes
Kill the nation, steal their pride
On broken backs we build empires
Twisting spines for the steeple spires
How many people can you kill?
Look at your twenty dollar bill
Do you see third world poverty
Inside the lines of of your country?
And now to treaties we are loyal
But tear them up when we smell oil
Lies
Lies
Lies
Lies
The way you live shows no remorese
For the day
The day we killed crazy horse
Innocence with glassy eyes
Kill the nation, steal their pride
The way you live shows no remorese
For the day
The day we killed crazy horse
Innocence with glassy eyes
Kill the nation, steal their pride
"I can still see the butchered women and children
lying heaped and scattered all along the crooked gulch.
And I can see that something else died there in the bloody mud,
and was buried in the blizzard.
A people’s dream died there.
It was a beautiful dream."
The way you live shows no remorese
For the day
The day we killed crazy horse
Innocence with glassy eyes
Kill the nation, steal their pride
The way you live shows no remorese
For the day
The day we killed crazy horse
Innocence with glassy eyes
Kill the nation, steal their pride
Lyrics submitted by DesignedToHide, edited by zehnra
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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.
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“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.
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“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.
another song about the mis-treating of native americans. America as a country thought nothing of killing and shoving them away to further our progress. even now as a modern nation we rarely give anything to native americans. Not many peoalive even remember what happened, and even less have any respect for what they've been through.
i think this song isn't just about the treatment of native americans, but our treatment of poorer countries in general, hence the line "and now to treaties we are loyal, but tear them up when we smell oil" we go into countries where we're not wanted, and when countries cry out to us (tibet, and for many years the jews in germany before we got involved) we ignore them
i don't really see the third world countries connections as much...if you study the history of indians there were many times when treaties were disregarded when they discovered oil on the land that they had given them
Great song bout a dark part of our country's past. In the 18th and 19th centuries the native americans were forced from their lands and many died. Now the ones remaining live on small reservations here and there, but most people don't pay much attention to them or what happened to their ancestors. A great song, upbeat and a little angry sounding.
It's crazy to think our two presidential candidates were making eachother out to be complete scumbags last year for not fighting in Vietnam; and years ago Anderw Jackson, became President despite being a brutal indian killing machine. Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee really is a wild book.
"Look at your twenty dollar bill"
Jackson is on the 20$ bill. He was responsible for killing off Native Americans.
Why does he deserve to be on the bill?
hmmm, makes me glad I live in England. Then again, we weren't much better. Although I think controlling 3/4 with strategy is better than controlling a fraction of it with brute force. :P that one about treaties with oil etc. oh so scarily true. Maybe thats why they want to confiscate "WOMD", because WOMDs are full of oil?
I think the line about oil is talking about how America promised the Sioux indians the black hills in oklahoma would be theirs forever until we figured out there was oil there.