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."
Biko Biko
Wafa wafela sizwe Biko Biko
Biko Biko
Wafa wafela sizwe Biko Biko Biko Biko
September '77
Port Elizabeth weather fine
It was business as usual
In police room 619
Oh Biko (Biko Biko) Biko because
Oh Biko (Biko Biko Biko)
Oh Biko (Biko Biko) because
Oh Biko (Biko Biko Biko)
Yihla moja yihla moja
The man is dead the man is dead
When I try to sleep at night
I can only dream in red
The outside world is black and white
With only one colour dead
Oh Biko (Biko Biko) Biko because
Oh Biko (Biko Biko Biko)
Oh Biko (Biko Biko) because
Oh Biko (Biko Biko Biko)
Yihla moja yihla moja
The man is dead the man is dead
You can blow out a candle
But you can't blow out a fire
Once the flame begins to catch
The wind will blow it higher
Oh Biko (Biko Biko) Biko because
Oh Biko (Biko Biko Biko)
Oh Biko (Biko Biko) because
Oh Biko (Biko Biko Biko)
Yihla moja yihla moja
The man is dead the man is dead
Yihla moja yihla moja
The man is dead the man is dead
Yihla moja yihla moja
The man is dead the man is dead
Wafa wafela sizwe Biko Biko
Biko Biko
Wafa wafela sizwe Biko Biko Biko Biko
September '77
Port Elizabeth weather fine
It was business as usual
In police room 619
Oh Biko (Biko Biko) Biko because
Oh Biko (Biko Biko Biko)
Oh Biko (Biko Biko) because
Oh Biko (Biko Biko Biko)
Yihla moja yihla moja
The man is dead the man is dead
When I try to sleep at night
I can only dream in red
The outside world is black and white
With only one colour dead
Oh Biko (Biko Biko) Biko because
Oh Biko (Biko Biko Biko)
Oh Biko (Biko Biko) because
Oh Biko (Biko Biko Biko)
Yihla moja yihla moja
The man is dead the man is dead
You can blow out a candle
But you can't blow out a fire
Once the flame begins to catch
The wind will blow it higher
Oh Biko (Biko Biko) Biko because
Oh Biko (Biko Biko Biko)
Oh Biko (Biko Biko) because
Oh Biko (Biko Biko Biko)
Yihla moja yihla moja
The man is dead the man is dead
Yihla moja yihla moja
The man is dead the man is dead
Yihla moja yihla moja
The man is dead the man is dead
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Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
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.
Steve Biko wasn't just a 'anti-apartheid movement', he was one of the key leaders of the South African Student's Movement, which represented a serious threat to the ruling white system because it promoted black consciousness in a time when few even knew what that meant. Steve ranks way up there along with Gandhi and MLK. The book by Donald Woods is a good place to start learning.
At some point, I became obsessed with the beautiful paean titled Ngosi Sikelel' iAfrika, and I found the following explanation of "Yihla Moya": This is actually not Afrikaans but Xhosa. This phrase can also be found in the song Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika that is now part of the national anthem of South Africa. The Xhosa phrase "yihla moya" (in Zulu it is: "woza moya")means "come spirit" in English.
Peter Gabriel has always fearlessly used his music for social and political commentary. This song is an incredible homage to a true hero whom I admire even more than MLK because Biko's passion for his cause was visceral. The horrible sin for which they brutally took his life was spreading knowledge and self-love.
Peter Gabriel was the brilliant gem to emerge from Genesis.
Yihla moya means "ascend/arise spirit" in isiXhosa, referring to Biko's spirit going up to heaven, not the Holy Spirit coming down.
This song is about the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. Biko was a member of the movement who was murdered by the government. There was a movie entitled Biko in the early 80's.
"not exactally [sic] Stairway to Heaven"
And I think we can all be grateful for that.
Inspired, important, incomparable.
OzzWoz, I think the movie you are thinking about is actually called "Cry Freedom", with Denzel Washington as Biko and Kevin Kline as Donald Woods.
There was a video for the song Biko that contained scenes from this film and had a very short run when it was released. I've not seen it since.
RedRaven--oddly enough, I received Gabriel's "Play" DVD for Christmas. "Biko" is on it along with many more of his videos. I agree it's a very cool set!
Great song, too many more people don't know his story. MLK is more famous simply because his family and the NAACP keeps promoting his legacy, but I always admired Biko more.
Stephen Bantu Biko was born in Qonce (in English, known as King Williams Town) in what was then called the Ciskei Bantustan, one of the few tiny tiny areas of South Africa where black people were allowed to own land.
Without going into a lot of details, his memory has been heavily appropriated by the mainstream anti-apartheid movement because it suited their cause, but Biko was not a fan of the ANC and did not agree with many of their strategies or policies.
Biko was picked up by the police on his way back to Qonce after visiting Cape Town to speak with Neville Alexander, another famous anti-apartheid activitist and Robben Island detainee.
He is the father of the Black Conciousness Movement and his most influential work is a collection of his essays entitled "I Write What I Like" in which he pulls no punches in calling out race and power and how that power is abused. He most famously said "The greatest weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed." His words still ring true today: that until black people can convince themselves of their equality psychologically, they will forever be shackled to the inferior image of themselves handed to them by their white masters. Economic and political freedom may come, but it will not be true freedom until the black man has psychological freedom for himself.
Young South Africans are looking again to Biko's words in the 21st century as they find themselves disillusioned with where the ANC has brought them.
Watch this video clip of an interview with Biko: his frustration with the interviewer is palpable as they clearly are not understanding. In his utopia, in his vision, minorities would not have to be concerned for their rights or their cultures... because there wouldn't be such a thing as 'minority'.
youtube.com/watch
A beautiful vision indeed.
i saw it last night!--reason being that new dvd with all his videos on it, very cool for any gabriel fan...
I was born the day he died. Yihla moja