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."
I forgot my book
At the fountain stairs
At a chapter on symmetry
Nobody cares
And I had a smoke
While I traced the squares
Put my finger to concrete
Felt the autumn air
When I look around
I can feel it spinning
Feet on the ground
Head on the ceiling
Sun on my shirt
Sweat on my hands
All falling in retrograde
Cancel all my plans
And I had to look
At the marching band
Skip across the pavement
Nobody's there
When I look around
I can feel it spinning
Feet on the ground
Head on the ceiling
At the fountain stairs
At a chapter on symmetry
Nobody cares
And I had a smoke
While I traced the squares
Put my finger to concrete
Felt the autumn air
When I look around
I can feel it spinning
Feet on the ground
Head on the ceiling
Sun on my shirt
Sweat on my hands
All falling in retrograde
Cancel all my plans
And I had to look
At the marching band
Skip across the pavement
Nobody's there
When I look around
I can feel it spinning
Feet on the ground
Head on the ceiling
Lyrics submitted by moonmaster, edited by Lifetide, jmosk, Chromezon, ChrisNitti, SparklOP, prokacper
Helicopter Lyrics as written by Bradford Cox
Lyrics © Hipgnosis Songs Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Jesus these are the lyrics from the liner notes:
Take my hand and pray with me
My final days in company. The devil now has come for me, and helicopters circling the scene.
And i pray for rest. Could you pray for us? We know he loves you the best. We know he loves you the best.
The light's inside my cave. I'm tired of my cave.
Oh these drugs they play on me these terrible ways. They don't pay like they used to pay. I used to make it day to day.
No one cares for me. I keep no company. I have minimal needs. And now they are through with me.
Now they are through with me.
The liner notes explain it perfectly. It tells the story of a young Russian man named Dima who left his home at the age of 14. He moved to the city in hopes of becoming a fashion designer. He had no home and eventually moved into the home of an older man, who took him as his lover. Soon Dima left him and moved into the home of a wealthy older man who provided financial backing for a conglomerate of gay pornographic websites. Dima's documents were changed so that Dima's age was 18, although at this point he was maybe around 16.
He soon began starring in his lover's films as well as working as a nude model. Dima supplemented his income by working as an escort. Soon, a member of the Russian mafia had developed something of a fixation on Dima. One day, Dima left his lover and cut off communication with all his friends, and moved in with the Russian crime leader. Another escort, a friend of Dima, spotted Dima being "forcibly sodomized" by a group of 10-15 men (including the crime leader) in a private sex club. That was the last spotting of Dima.
The escort tried to investigate. He persuaded a prominent gay Russian journalist to write a story, but the journalist was threatened by the organized crime, and stopped.
One day, another crime leader, who was being tried on an unrelated murder charge, confessed that he had seen a young man matching Dima's description be pushed out of a helicopter over a remote forest in Northern Russia. Dima's ex-lover, before dying in 2007, confessed that he had sold Dima as a sex slave in 2005 and believed Dima to have committed suicide in 2006.
fuck me!! god, are you aware of this article? i really wanna read it
article is here<br /> <br /> denniscooper-theweaklings.blogspot.com/2009_01_16_archive.html<br /> <br /> incredibly haunting song when you read the backstory.
Take my hand and pray with me My final days in company The devil now has come for me And helicopters circling the scene
And I pray for rest Could you pray for us We know he loves you the best We know he loves you the best
The lights inside my cave I'm tired of my ‘cades
Oh these drugs they played On me, these terrible ways They don’t pay like they used to pay I used to make it day-to-day
No one cares for me I keep no company I have minimal needs And now they are through with me
Now they are through with me (x8)
such an amazing song, in my top 10 this year
I actually spoke to Bradford Cox directly about this song. Last night he had this webcam chat where you could ask him questions one-on-one via webcam. It was absolutely amazing.
My question regarded how "Helicopter" came about, and he told me that he was reading a story about some specific and tragic event that some German had to endure. He told me that the story resonated with him so much that he actually felt what this person was going through, so he wrote this song and the lyrics as a representation of how it would have been if he had experienced it.
He didn't go into details about what that tragic event was though.
this is what Mojo had to say about the album:<br /> <br /> "Mojo - 4 out of 5<br /> <br /> Fourth album from Atlanta pop-psych quartet.<br /> <br /> The measure of Deerhunter's fuzzed-out beauty is how it trancends the the band's damaged subtext, centering upon volatile frontman (and Marfan syndrome suffer) Bradford Cox. Though lacking the immediate sonic kick of 2008's Microcastle, this prolific collective's latest album has greater intrigue, from opener Earthquake's phased beats and reverberant guitar pools onwards. The fizzing jaunt of Revival suggests Grateful Dead warped by Eno, a key touchstone throughout but especially the pellucid scales of Desire Lines, the album's glorious centrepiece, written by guitarist Lockett Pundt. Cox is a fan of the transgressive author Dennis Cooper, whose account of the shocking death of a teenage gay prostitute in Russia inspired Helicopter and its heartbreaking refrain "Now they are through with me". There's no shortage of US outfits seeking new conduits for the blown mind, but with Halcyon Digest Deerhunter are dealing in an altogether different kind of tension.<br /> Keith Cameron."
I am sorry, yes it was Russian.
I am SOOOOO glad you posted this. The first verse makes so much sense now. Thanks for relaying this brief, but substantial information. Deerhunter is the next Radiohead.
A part of the actual story seems to be in the liner notes of the album if you're looking for it.
I heard "I'm tired of my face." that would be an epic line.
Poor Dima, he was the result of human trafficking. He shouldn't have ran away but you never know what happened in his home. Hopefully God gave him peace finally. Sad story.
"And I pray for rest"
"No (but) he loves you the best"
i think
yeah definitely some missing lines and errors with this one. amazing song though
Such a beautiful song...
Maybe Bradford is talking about his illness (Marfan Syndrome) and how it made him turn to God, as he feels he has no human love in his life. It sounds like he's looking into the future, at death. This song is definitely from his heart. Nothing about it is fabricated, and it expends on his pain and fear. Deerhunter/Atlas Sound never disappoint me.
@maebyfunke I thought so too. I used to relate to this song when I was physically ill.