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."
wasting your days
chasing some girls
alright, chasing cocaine
through the backrooms of the world
all night
wasting your days
chasing some girls
alright, chasing cocaine
through the backrooms of the world
all night
sounds
smash hits
melody maker
NME
all sound like a dream to me
all sound like a dream to me
all sounds like a dream
sounds
smash hits
melody maker
NME
all sound like a dream to me
all sound like a dream to me
all sounds like a dream
step out of your toga
and into the fog
you are a prince
on the ocean
in a pinch
in the sky
in your eye
step out of your toga
and into the ocean
look, they got your prince
on the fall
in a pinch
in the sky
in your eye
in the sky
in your eye
in a pinch
in the sky
in your eye
i wrote a song for america
who knew?
i wrote a song for america
who knew?
who knew?
chasing some girls
alright, chasing cocaine
through the backrooms of the world
all night
wasting your days
chasing some girls
alright, chasing cocaine
through the backrooms of the world
all night
sounds
smash hits
melody maker
NME
all sound like a dream to me
all sound like a dream to me
all sounds like a dream
sounds
smash hits
melody maker
NME
all sound like a dream to me
all sound like a dream to me
all sounds like a dream
step out of your toga
and into the fog
you are a prince
on the ocean
in a pinch
in the sky
in your eye
step out of your toga
and into the ocean
look, they got your prince
on the fall
in a pinch
in the sky
in your eye
in the sky
in your eye
in a pinch
in the sky
in your eye
i wrote a song for america
who knew?
i wrote a song for america
who knew?
who knew?
Lyrics submitted by laughing_man
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Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
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Wu-Tang Clan
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.
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.
Trouble Breathing
Alkaline Trio
Alkaline Trio
While the obvious connections with suicide or alcoholism could be drawn easily, more subtly this song could be about someone who views the world through a negative lens constantly and how as much as the writer tries to show the beauty in the world, this person refuses to see it. It's one or another between the rope and the bottle. There is no good option for this person. They can't see it. Skiba sings it in a kind of exasperated way like He's tired of hearing this negative view constantly and just allowing that person to continue feeling the way they feel knowing he can't do anything about it. You can hear it when he says maybe you're a vampire.
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.
But seriously, does this have the greatest music video ever? Yes.
what does the video mean to you?
'Kaputt' means 'dead or unfinished' so it could be a dream that he once had but died..?
I agree. the women in the fog, the flying whale, the old man and the small things like the water turning into women all could hint at this being a dream. and he say repeatedly "sounds like a dream to me". but i don't know about the computer. maybe he was dreaming of being with the woman on the computer with those women. then kaputt the dream was broken when it stopped loading and his mom walks in. back to reality. But not for long, he is soon in the desert.
I believe it's "I wrote a Song For America" and not just "song for America" in those last two lines. Anyways, I'm glad to see the lyrics to the newer songs on this fabulous album popping up here.
So, meaning... sounds like Bejar going back to his teen years and fantasizing about being a rock star- doing blow, being in NME, Melody Maker, having hit songs. The bits at the end about "step out of your toga" seems to represent, to me, Rome, so debauchery, hedonism, etc. which is kind of the repeating theme of the lyrics. Bejar seems to like remembering times past in many songs. The lyrics "Listening to Strawberry Wine...it was 1987, it was spring" in Watercolours into the Ocean on Rubies; "circa 1993/it was a good year/it was a very good year" on My Favorite Year. So more of that on Kaputt.
thanks for the corrections. he does sing "i wrote a song.." but it's so fast.. and you're right about him reminiscing here and on the other albums (though he'd probably deny it).. just had a thought.. perhaps the modern condition is that we've been doomed to reminisce..<br /> <br /> btw, you've probably seen the video already.. since when did destroyer have music vids?
vid is incredible. Hopefully the appearance of a Destroyer music video after 15 years of releasing music isn't a sign of impending hiatus!
you can so see the Scott Walker realism influence in this song, I almost sing "tonight we'll sleep with the girls from the streets" when I hear this song. Kudos to Destroyer for making me state that there is good music being made today, you just have to look for it and not listen to the mainstream.
To me this song is all about the transformation into adulthood. The ingenuous of adolescence fueled by music and drugs with women on the mind. Listening and obsessing about music dreaming about becoming a rock star. The "toga" to me represents stepping out of college and into the "fog" or unknown. "Prince on the ocean" is kinda saying you can inherit the vast world of opportunity. The "pinch" the "sky" and the "eye" are the tribulations, prosperity, and indictment of life respectively. The line "look, they got your prince on the fall" is saying that your peers and idols are taking chances and sometimes failing. The world is your oyster but they are plenty of trials and tribulations along the way. "I wrote a song for America" he is giving good advice to young people of America the land of opportunity. "who knew" dude is Canadian. This is all my interpretation of course.
What DOESN'T this song mean to me?
genius
Who doesnt like cocain and girls? and you could never go wrong with a saxophone this song is too perfect