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."
Hey, oh
Sheets of empty canvas
Untouched sheets of clay
Were laid spread out before me
As her body once did
All five horizons
Revolved around her soul
As the earth to the sun
Now the air I tasted and breathed
Has taken a turn
Oh and all I taught her was everything
Oh I know she gave me all that she wore
And now my bitter hands
Chafe beneath the clouds
Of what was everything
Oh the pictures have
All been washed in black
Tattooed everything
I take a walk outside
I'm surrounded by
Some kids at play
I can feel their laughter
So why do I sear
Oh, and twisted thoughts that spin
Round my head
I'm spinning
Oh, I'm spinning
How quick the sun can, drop away
And now my bitter hands
Cradle broken glass
Of what was everything
All the pictures had
All been washed in black
Tattooed everything
All the love gone bad
Turned my world to black
Tattooed all I see
All that I am
All I'll be
Yeah
I know someday you'll have a beautiful life
I know you'll be a star
In somebody else's sky
But why
Why
Why can't it be
Why can't it be mine
Sheets of empty canvas
Untouched sheets of clay
Were laid spread out before me
As her body once did
All five horizons
Revolved around her soul
As the earth to the sun
Now the air I tasted and breathed
Has taken a turn
Oh and all I taught her was everything
Oh I know she gave me all that she wore
And now my bitter hands
Chafe beneath the clouds
Of what was everything
Oh the pictures have
All been washed in black
Tattooed everything
I take a walk outside
I'm surrounded by
Some kids at play
I can feel their laughter
So why do I sear
Oh, and twisted thoughts that spin
Round my head
I'm spinning
Oh, I'm spinning
How quick the sun can, drop away
And now my bitter hands
Cradle broken glass
Of what was everything
All the pictures had
All been washed in black
Tattooed everything
All the love gone bad
Turned my world to black
Tattooed all I see
All that I am
All I'll be
Yeah
I know someday you'll have a beautiful life
I know you'll be a star
In somebody else's sky
But why
Why
Why can't it be
Why can't it be mine
Lyrics submitted by mike, edited by moogs51, dasfixer, edwinceltic
Black Lyrics as written by Eddie Jerome Vedder Stone C. Gossard
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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More Featured Meanings
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
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.
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.
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.
The most honest and raw expression of such excruciating pain and longing that anyone who’s ever lost their greatest love can relate to.
@Jenilla Well said. The "greatest" breakup song of all time, if there is such a thing.
@Jenilla Lmao sorry! I hit add reply before commenting so it looks like my name is my comment. Oops!!<br /> <br /> I actually wanted to say that I completely agree with you. This is such a beautiful but haunting song. There is a live video of Eddie singing it and the passion he expresses when he sings is is breathtaking.
@Jenilla I don't know how to use this but I agree with all the thoughts here. And the first post was 15 years ago. But yes this is cool and I will have to watch a live video because it tears my heartstrings
@adam101541 Would have to say that Boston's "Long Time" is the best "breakup" song. This one's really about a guy who tried everything he could, and she left...<br />
@Adam101541 Excuse me but Heartbreak Hotel and Leader Of The Pack are the greatest breakup songs of all time.
@Jenilla damn 18 years ago??? This site goes back to 2002? Jen and Ang, meow my greatest love but happened more recently, time is relative isn't it my love??? Anywho I was gonna write about how the inspiration for this song is 'methed-out' biker legend about a L. A. tattoo shop owner who lost his GF to a meth O. D. and thus lost his lil mind and hallucinated she left him for another biker dude... <br /> <br /> Y'all need to understand the source of these songs, Eddie was living in L. A. where the band recorded Ten, and he related to Bikers, Surfers, and Newspaper clippings at the time. <br /> <br /> For years me cried privately about my Jen and Ang go missing, relate to this song, me makes easier on myself say dirty bikers have drug problems and thus the story, no?
That is one of the saddest songs i've ever heard.But it reminds me of someone i wish i could forget.
It's 2014 now, March 10-are things still the same for you? I am just losing it over someone where I was the stupid one in the relationship. I am a star in someone else's sky but now I want to be back where I was 30 years ago, but it's too late. Did anything change for you?
@odell0883 effin a man it reminds me of the gf of 20 yrs my high school sweetheart we have 2 kids we broke up and I missed out on a lot of her and my oldest daughter growing up while she was dating some rich dude but she still came to me behind his back and today we are reunited with another little girl we live crazy lives don't we all
@odell0883 Same!
This song had become my anthem to a relationship that I ruined. The later realization that "she was the one and only" had made her loss unbearable for years.
Twenty years we have reconciled as friends. Something I thought impossible.
We were out with friends for dinner, listening to a great local band. A band that was friends with my band. During a break they asked me to come up a sing a set. We sang Black and I noticed "she" left in a hurry during the song. I closed the set early and hit the streets looking for her. She was across the street, sitting on the kerb, smoking her first cigarette in twenty years. She had always thought of us when she had heard this song and used to fantasize about me "growing up' and realizing what I had thrown away.
We spent that night in a long list of unremarkable settings, saying very little to each other.
We have literally never been apart since that night. She runs her business out of my office, we split time between her house in the city and my ranch in the foothills of the rocky mountains. We will continue this until her youngest finishes school.
Her laugh and her smile are the same. She still sees the man in me I never thought I could be. The world has shifted on it's axis and turns only for us and her boys now. The confidence we have found within each other has benefited everyone around us.
Many songs have clear, intended meanings. Sometimes they also have meanings, equally valid, that only resonate with one or two people. Who is to say they are wrong. I live in a different universe with the only person I was ever meant to be with, in large part because of an impromptu performance of this song.
How can my interpretation be wrong, even if only one other person knows what that is?
simply amazing.... I admire and love your strength to follow your true heart.
Wow, great post and great story. Inspiring. I started an account with this site just to reply to your post, it moved me so much. Good luck to you.
Listen to this one, although it's not quite as profound: Nearly 20 years ago I dated a woman who was one of the great loves of my life. I ruined that and came to understand this song in a new light and began to associate it with her. 2 years ago we miraculously reunited again out of the blue after becoming fiends again and then began discussing marriage.Well... I ruined it this time too.
I am with wilhelm--had to start an account so I could post on this haunting story. Only I was the stupid one. It's 30 years, and it's too effing late to change anything. I wish I could go back to where he was bent over moaning, and take him in my arms and say OK, I'll stay. He was just the best guy ever, and I threw it away.
Loved your story...I signed up just to post. My story didnt end as well.This song reminded me of a h.s.<br /> Boyfriend (he played this cd alot)who was sweet but I didn't have real feelings for back then. We reconnected a few years ago thru a social site,became friends and more..but the timing was wrong and we had too many obstacles between us.<br /> He walked away almost 2 years ago, and for the first time I actually understood the song. How ironic it would be years later, that it was how I felt about him. I hope he is happy and shining wherever he is.....
Nice story, bro. I think I've seen the many movies your post is stealing from, too.<br /> <br />
Amazing Song,<br /> I can really connect to your story. It made ma cry and showed me how I failed. 20 years ago I left her crying and never managed to be reunited with her again. I kept dreaming of her for several years but had also a few relationships that didn´t work well, because of my thoughts.<br /> I still remember her.
@thecrossbone That is a great story!. I can't help but think of the song by Boston--"A Man I'll Never Be" based on one of your comments. How long have you been back together?
@thecrossbone Since late summer 2009.
@thecrossbone wow man powerful story I been with my highschool sweetheart for 20yrs off and on with 2 kids a 16yr old and now a 2 yr old but we broke up when our 1st daughter bryanna Nicole was 2 and this song was my life my daughter and her mother was a star in someone elses sky and my sun disappeared in my sky my life was so black without them man but were together today with gianna marie our 2nd daughter who is 2 now yeah im crazy but me and my kids mother always seemed to fall back together again awesome story you provided hope you and others can relate to me eddie vedder is thee best singer and his band is #1 whats crazy is I sing identical to his voice and carry every tune he can love covering his songs
@thecrossbone I too created an account just to reply to your post. Jesus man, I have the upmost respect for you. I never thought someone could go through so much pain such as the pain I felt when I had to let this girl go ... but you've beaten me haha!<br /> <br /> A lot of people would constantly tell me this girl I was smitten for was a waste of time, that what I was feeling wasn't love, but lust, and that I was "beta" or whatever ... but I'm glad some people still know what true love is :)
@thecrossbone <br /> <br /> F to the uckin' A<br /> <br /> Your story made me happy for you and pine for "the lost one" even though I don't.<br /> Good on ya, bro.
@thecrossbone real as!! To the core!! "Hail Hail to the lucky ones"
@thecrossbone much like the others, I've created an account just to respond to this. I'm inspired. Even if it was a fake story, I'd still be inspired by the tale itself. I've gotta tell her that we're so Black now; I feel like she'd pick up on that immediately. She's a big Pearl Jam fan.
@thecrossbone I lived the real life version of your story and we had a happy ending too! I was on the other end of the one being an idiot and walking away. Luckily we never gave up and we are back together 12 years strong! I comma too comma made an account just post to you! For all the naysayers out there you can have a second chance!
@thecrossbone better late than never but this has to be the greatest true love story. Cheers to true love and being with the one you love. I have to say I hope it wouldn't take that long for me if there ever was a true love I actually had
@thecrossbone <br /> I can't believe this. Over and over things like this happen to me. And for some time I've wanted it to stop, but it follows me everywhere I go. I had the "be all to end all" (his terminology) and that is literally what happened. I lost a relationship years ago because it was the wrong timing and the wrong logistics. I have a very instinctual feeling about him and it won't leave me. I've remarried twice. Failed. Moved around the country, nothing changed. Remodeled seven homes, couldn't wear myself out enough to forget... and every time I turn on the radio it's his song... Or I go somewhere and on a sign it's his name or I see 11:11 every day and all the time... The last three nights I've left work at different times and all three nights when I've got in the car, Black was on the radio. I had never listened to the lyrics but I knew tonight that I needed to because something was telling me to listen closely. I turned it up loud and listened and didn't really understand it. So I knew when I got home I needed to look it up and it brought me to this site... to this post that is four years old. My story is just like all of yours and it was exactly 20 years ago that I saw him. I've done everything imaginable to make peace with it, and I have. I love him still, and I am happy to just be happy to have known him. I have a good life that I've made, I'm a happy person. But it follows me... and I get on here and many of you are saying twenty years... crazy... <br /> And oh how I love Eddie Vedder. And oh yeah, I started an account too just to reply. Crossbone, I'm completely taken by your story and I know it's the truth.. I hope all is well with you and yours to this moment. Best to you and all the others that have posted.
@thecrossbone that's such a wonderful story to apply to BLACK. And yet my cynical mind wonders if it can be real - not that I don't trust that it is, but when battered by love's cruel outcomes as the song's writers have, you can become dismissive. <br /> <br /> Why does love always spring eternal? I think that's what the song is really about. It will spring eternal - but sadly sometimes in somebody else's sky...
@thecrossbone * Wow. That was a beautiful piece of literature. I created an account simply to reply to you to say that what you wrote was incredible, beautifully written and absolutely inspiring. I was in high school when Pearl Jam released Ten and while many of my friends were backing the more popular tracks, this song, like many of the other people on here, holds a significant meaning to me and events that happened at that time in my life... So much so that I still think of it today, I think of her and all of the things that I should have done to keep her and didn't. It makes me happy to read something like this though, to know that every story surrounding this song wasn't tragic. I am genuinely happy for you. Thank you for sharing such a beautiful piece of writing with us.
@thecrossbone Beautiful!!!!
@thecrossbone I have shed countless tears to this song. It reminds me of when I was younger and being in love was so much more intense! Who knows, maybe I’m dead inside lol. At any rate thank you for sharing. Brought back some memories of love lost… if we couldn’t lose it it wouldn’t be so valuable…
@thecrossbone love this story!<br /> Powerful love
@thecrossbone We, the readers of your comment, need an update, please... you shared your true love story. Please tell us all that happily ever after was the ending.
This is the greatest song ever written, period. It is the most emotional gut wrenching form of self expression I have ever heard. Greatest band, greatest album, greatest song.
@hamjam well.....like....that's just your opinion man...
@hamjamthe Beatles were the best band ever, and that's demonstratable.<br /> Pearl Jam isn't even a pimple on the butt of Paul McCartney John Lennon and George Harrison
@hamjam I salute you. And those who love The Beatles are a bit jaded. Because somtimes it matters what generation you grew up in. I know people who believe that The Rolling Stones, or Metallica, or The Who, or Nirvana, or Led Zeppline, (I could go on for days) were the best. If Pearl Jam was the best to you. Then rock on. I once had an old boss once say to me, "Pearl Jam is this generations 'Beatles'".
The part I love most in the song is where he says: "I know someday you'll have a beautiful life, I hope you'll be a star, in somebody else's sky, but why, why, can't be mine" it captures the the whole song in no more than a couple of lines. Eddie Vedder may just be the best writer of lyrics and music of our time!
i agree
@Joevanderscher <br /> Sorry to be a bother, but Eddie never written the song "Black". The song was written way before he started singing for Pearl Jam.
@Joevanderscher when this song first came out, I couldn't actually understand what he said there - when I finally realized what he was singing, it crystallized the entire song. It all made sense, and made it powerful. It's an amazing moment to see it live.
@princejarethh. Eddie did write the lyrics, Stone wrote the music. Sorry to be a bother
@Joevanderscher thats my favorite line as well
@Joevanderscher Hey, it`s right what "PrinceJareth" said. The lyric for the song was written in 1988, by me, Martin Vikene. Back then my name was Morten Taraldsvik. I lived at Borgen/Sandbakken, near Sarpsborg, Norway.
"i know someday you'll have a beautiful life, i know you'll be a star in somebody else's sky, but, why, why, why can't it be oh can't it be mine" one of the best set of lyrics ever written about love. So damn true. this song is amazing.
@LiveUrLife Hey, thanks for the compliment. I wrote the lyric back in 1988. My name is Martin Vikene (Morten).
this song is about a bad breakup and him wanting her back no matter what, even tough he knows that she will be a "star" in someone elses sky.
Hey . . . ooh . . . Sheets of empty canvas, untouched sheets of clay Were laid spread out before me as her body once did All five horizons revolved around her soul As the earth to the sun Now the air I tasted and breathed has taken a turn Ooh, and all I taught her was everything Ooh, I know she gave me all that she wore And now my bitter hands chafe beneath the clouds Of what was everything? Oh, the pictures have all been washed in black, tattooed everything
I take a walk outside, I'm surrounded by some kids at play I can feel their laughter, so why do I sear Oh, and twisted thoughts that spin round my head I'm spinning, oh, I'm spinning
How quick the sun can drop away And now my bitter hands cradle broken glass Of what was everything All the pictures have all been washed in black, tattooed everything All the love gone bad turned my world to black Tattooed all I see, all that I am, all I'll be . . . yeah
Uh huh . . . uh huh . . . ooh . . . I know someday you'll have a beautiful life, I know you'll be a star In somebody else's sky, but why Why, why can't it be, why can't it be mine?
this one is just obvious, he knows that she will still be happy without him, and will make someone's life brighter, and he asks why it can't be his.
i know the interpretation kinda killed the feeling of the song, but i just wanted to make it clear to everyone what it is saying.
it might not be what i wrote, but i think it makes more sense than those abortion theories :p
btw, one of my fav. songs of all time, cried so many tears to this masterpiece :')
I agree; beautiful lyrics. Vedder is so raw, so open in his writing; truly an awe inspiring artist. He shares his life, his feelings with the world which is so beautiful.
@Ikilikuz but what are the 5 horizons ?<br /> I only.know 1.
@Ikilikuz perhaps this?<br /> All five horizons revolved around her soul" - Possible religious reference, five is a pretty important number to many religions (like a pentagram). It could also refer to her being sprawled out (two legs+two arms+1 head=5).<br /> Thx to Songfacts.com
@Ikilikuz AGREED 100% Beautiful lyrics and you nailed interpreting :)
It's pretty obvious what this song is about... I agree that it's by far one of Pearl Jam's BEST songs... The last two lines.. AMAZING...
Max - I've been a PJ fan for over 20 years and have attended dozens of their shows. NO ONE knows what this song is about. So to casually say it is "obvious" is not quite accurate. Some say it is about suicide. Some say abortion. Some say a lost love. Even Eddie Vedder has said that the song could have many meanings.<br /> <br /> I am curious to hea what lyrics make you so certain that you know what the song is about.
This i definitely about loss. Be it loss of your love, loss of your loved child by aborting it. That might lead to suicide. Yeah, the story behind it might be something else. What's important is what it means to you. At least that's what i think..<br />
@maxpower114 It is mainly about a break-up, I would say.
i actually cried once while listening to this song...its so powerful...my favourite pearl jam song!
oh ive been there before my friend. beautiful song tho, eddie poured his soul into it
The first time I heard this I was lovestruck by it - i listened to it with someone who became very influential in my life. When I saw PJ for the second time last year and this played, I cried. I cried for the love of the song, and the love and the loss of a close friendship with the person who played it to me. It was the first song I heard by my all time fav artists
that's the same way i felt. the first time i heard this it just captured me. i don't think i'll ever get tired of it. in the last verse where he sang "I know someday you'll be a sun in somebody else's sky, but why can't it be mine that part was just filled withso much passion. You can't fake it. <3 Eddie Vedder
@fiendishloki Just a comment. I, Martin Vikene (Morten) wrote the lyric back in 1988, but well sung by Eddie Vedder.
ts about a guy who is crazy in love with this girl and he is with her and everything is dandy and perfect and they love each other very much and this guy pree much worships the ground she walks on.
"Hey . . . ooh . . . Sheets of empty canvas, untouched sheets of clay Were laid spread out before me as her body once did All five horizons revolved around her soul As the earth to the sun"
The empty sheets of canvas and clay are his future when they met and how they could shape it together and decide what happens. He is the earth she is the sun. After a while though they are separated (seemingly by her actions, not his). he becomes depressed and he can't enjoy life without her. his "earth" has no "sun" anymore and is dark and dull. Hes thinking back on everything they did together and he realizes how fragile it all was.
"How quick the sun can drop away And now my bitter hands cradle broken glass Of what was everything"
He is pretty much tortured by thinking about her now and needs her to be in his life but he knows she never will be. he knows shes gonna make some guy the happiest guy in the world but it tortures him to think about how that could have been him and how he lost what was once in his hands.
"I know someday you'll have a beautiful life, I know you'll be a sun In somebody else's sky, but why Why, why can't it be, why can't it be mine?"
at least thats what i got from it
agree