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."
Been beat up and battered around
Been sent up and I've been shot down
You're the best thing that I've ever found
Handle me with care
Reputations changeable
Situations tolerable
Baby, you're adorable
Handle me with care
I'm so tired of being lonely
I still have some love to give
Won't you show me that you really care?
Everybody's got somebody to lean on
Put your body next to mine and dream on
I've been fobbed off and I've been fooled
I've been robbed and ridiculed
In day care centers and night schools
Handle me with care
Been stuck in airports, terrorized
Sent to meetings, hypnotized
Overexposed, commercialized
Handle me with care
I'm so tired of being lonely
I still have some love to give
Won't you show me that you really care?
Everybody's got somebody to lean on
Put your body next to mine and dream on
I've been uptight and made a mess
But I'll clean it up myself, I guess
Oh the sweet smell of success
Handle me with care
Been sent up and I've been shot down
You're the best thing that I've ever found
Handle me with care
Reputations changeable
Situations tolerable
Baby, you're adorable
Handle me with care
I'm so tired of being lonely
I still have some love to give
Won't you show me that you really care?
Everybody's got somebody to lean on
Put your body next to mine and dream on
I've been fobbed off and I've been fooled
I've been robbed and ridiculed
In day care centers and night schools
Handle me with care
Been stuck in airports, terrorized
Sent to meetings, hypnotized
Overexposed, commercialized
Handle me with care
I'm so tired of being lonely
I still have some love to give
Won't you show me that you really care?
Everybody's got somebody to lean on
Put your body next to mine and dream on
I've been uptight and made a mess
But I'll clean it up myself, I guess
Oh the sweet smell of success
Handle me with care
Lyrics submitted by Dorthonion, edited by smallwonderrobot
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
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.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
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.
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.
It's been noted, that this song is about how the artists each felt as they rose to stardom. We, the public, don't see the nasty side.
Yes! It is fucking amazing song!!
RIP Harrison!
@CommieAS ~ And RIP Orbison
How has no one commented on this song? It is fucking amazing, man. I don't see why a band with such great, talented artists didn't last longer.
Well for starters a couple of them died.
Lawlorator, the band probably didn't last longer because Roy Orbison died just after they released their first album.
"Fobbed off" is British slang. It means that you've been lied to. Specifically it usually means that the lie was an excuse to get out of something. Eg "Bob was supposed to be in today but he fobbed off some excuse" ie. He made up some lie and got out of coming in. For this song I think the meaning is obvious, Its part of a list of bad things that have been done to him.
beautiful
Listen to Jenny Lewis and The Watson Twins' cover of this song, it's amazing
its funny how it was just a bet between bob and tom..... The story goes that they bob and harrison were doing some sort of songs together and tom was with orbison and he had left his guitar with harrison. So he called harrison and he and orbison went to see them and tom was like bob your such a great lyric writer write a song for us 4. Then bob said about what and i forget who but someone said just the first thing they saw which was handle with care becuase there was a box in there. Still an amazing song
@chunkymonkey102 It wasn't a "bet". You have a few anecdotal bits sort of correct, but mostly not. All of this is well documented in interviews with Harrison himself. George needed a track to be the "B" side for a promo single release from his album "Cloud 9". He didn't have anything recorded, so he was just going to go into a studio and fool around with some song ideas he already had, and record something. He was talking about this with his friends, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne at dinner and they asked if they could come along and help. He didn't have anywhere to record it and you can't get studio time on 24 hours notice, even if you are George Harrison. But he knew Bob Dylan had a small studio in his home. Calling him up, Dylan said, "sure", he could come over and work on his song. So like magic, the 4 of them were placed at Dylan's that day. The only other strike of lightening was that George was picking up a guitar from Tom Petty he had lent him, and Petty also asked if he could "come along". Dylan asked Harrison what he was going to call the song, and since they were standing in Dylan's garage, George saw a box marked "Handle With Care" and said, "How about that?"<br />
its funny how it was just a bet between bob and tom..... The story goes that they bob and harrison were doing some sort of songs together and tom was with orbison and he had left his guitar with harrison. So he called harrison and he and orbison went to see them and tom was like bob your such a great lyric writer write a song for us 4. Then bob said about what and i forget who but someone said just the first thing they saw which was handle with care becuase there was a box in there. Still an amazing song
really lovely.