Album: Nothing's Shocking (1987)

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• Jane says, "I'm done with Sergio
  He treat me like a ragdoll"
  She hides the television
  Said, "I don't owe him nothin'
  But if, oh, he come back again, tell him, wait right here for me
  Or try again tomorrow
  
  I'm gonna kick tomorrow
  I'm gonna kick tomorrow"
  
  Jane says, "Have you seen my wig around
  I feel naked without it"
  She knows they all want her to go
  But that's okay, man, she don't like them anyway
  Jane says, "I'm goin' away to Spain when I get my money saved
  Gonna start tomorrow
  
  I'm gonna kick tomorrow
  I'm gonna kick tomorrow"
  
  Well, she get mad, then she start to cry
  She take a swing that she can't hit
  She don't mean no harm, she just don't know (don't know, don't know)
  What else to do about it
  
  Then Jane goes to the store at 8
  She walks up on St Andrews
  She waits and a-gets her dinner there
  She pulls her dinner from her pocket
  Jane says, "I ain't never been in love, I don't know what it is"
  She only knows if someone wants her
  
  "I want them if they want me
  I only know they want me"
  
  She gets mad, and she starts to cry
  She takes a swing, man, she can't hit!
  She don't mean no harm, she just don't know (don't know, don't know)
  What else to do about it
  
  Jane says
  Jane says Writer/s: David Navarro, Eric Adam Avery, Perry Farrell, Stephen Perkins
  Publisher: Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Universal Music Publishing Group
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 21

• Thomas from Martin County, FloridaWHO is the dancer? A mercurial performance - even the candid part at the make up table! What is the name of the dancer in the "Jane Says" video?
• Chloepatra from Hellwait... why did the guy have to pretend he was a gay interior decorator? maybe i missed something but i'm confused
• Travis from Wilmington NcThe whole song is uplifting. Hell, she got to the first step. That's the hardest one. After a bad accident. I was an opioid /Ritalin and Xanax dependent patient. Not a Junkie. Bad relationship and all., Including 7 trafficking offenses. From both before and after rehab. Jane was smarter than most
• Mia from HoustonI relate to this song, which is why I love it. I lived in two different "group" homes with all men, and whenever they brought over their "party favors", I'd be first in line. The main guy, who was always my boyfriend, treated me like ------ [take a wild guess]----, so I did finally save up to leave and live on my own. I'm grateful every morning.
• Lew from ArizonaI think what makes this song great, is you can tell every band member is invested in every note. It is catchy and melodic, and somehow kind of uplifting if you just listen to the instruments. Bottom line is I am glad this song was written in my lifetime - well done.
• Circe801 from Rock Hill, ScJason and Jessica have it. Funny, people always accuse about "thinking every song is about drugs", but with JA and RHCP, some sure are--no question about it. hard not to write about what is/was such a huge part of life. another JA song, "mountain song" refers to 'pinned eyes'.
• Marie from San Francisco, CaI enjoyed reading these comments and learning more about the factual development of the song by Jane's Addiction's Perry Farrel. But I had a very different and personal interpretation of the song, that I believe also applies to the lyrics. In fact, the song--along with a lot of other elements in my life--helped me uncover repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse, and of the behaviors that result in people who don't remember the abuse but act out because of the psychic damage it caused.
  
  As the memory of incest began to rise to the surface in my mind a few years ago, I suddenly thought of this song, which I had always liked though I had never really listened to the lyric. I began to listen to it carefully, and Jane emerged to me as a person who had experienced abuse in childhood and become a woman who had "never been in love," didn't "know what it is," and only knew "they want me. I want them if they want me."
  
  These lines suggested to me a common reaction to early childhood abuse, where a person becomes promiscuous in adulthood, perhaps even exchanging sex for money or other favors (i.e., drugs, now that I now that Jane also stands for heroin addiction). The early experience of pleasing someone a child loves and trusts (say, her father or a trusted family friend or relation) through sexuality completely screws with the child's later development regarding love and sexual relationships.
  
  When Jane says "have you seen my wig around? I feel naked without it. She knows they all want her to go," I read the lines as Jane having done a trick with several partners, lost her wig at the party, and knows as she is looking for it that they have already paid her and want her to leave, which reinforces other lines in the song that suggest Jane has no self-esteem or awareness: "I want them if they want me."
  
  I heard the lines about Sergio as lines about Jane's pimp, and the lines about going to work on St. Andrews as street-walking. When Jane finds her dinner there, takes it from her pocket, I read the lines as Jane doing a trick (from her pocket, i.e., her sexual organs), and getting the money for dinner from that interaction.
  
  For me at this time, the lines about Jane getting mad and taking a swing but "she can't hit," were about the anger that surges in abuse victims that they can't place, so they can't "hit," or find the cause of it, and act out with other symptoms because of this blockage.
  
  I realize now the actual creative impetus of the song, but I thought the other interpretation was really interesting, especially as it helped me so much in realizing what had happened in my life. I did not become a prostitute, but I did experience the emotion of "wanting (men) if they wanted me," as well as the anger, frustration, and lack of self-awareness the character Jane exhibits in this lyric.
• Phoenix from Denver, CoI went and saw them at fiddler's green, this last summer. And They played this as the last song.... It was great... The other thing is this song not only about what Jane had Said, but thing, her Perry Farrel, were drug Adicts, and this song not only talk's about the first thing, but she used to tell everybody that she was going to seek help. Never followed her word but, That's what Jane Says.
• Jason from Norwell, MaThe part where it says, "She gets mad And she starts to cry. Takes a swing but she can't hit!"... when you shoot heroin a slang term is doing a hit. So I'm pretty sure takes a swing but she can't hit means that she's trying to shoot up but she can't find a vein.
• Aaron from Philadelphia, PaWow this is strikingly similar to "Over the Hills and Far Away" by Led Zeppelin, the chords, progression changes, and the rhythm. I never heard of this song until today on the radio. And I thought it was "Over the Hills..." just distorted... Songs are always better when they're about real people.
• Nancy from Philadelphia, PaI think that yeah this is a great song and people can take different things from it! but the part that hits me hardest is the part where he says she swings but she can't hit, shes gonna kick tomorrow guess you justhave to have been there
• Jcooltrane from Philadelphia, Pathe part that gets me is, "jane says i ain't never been in love. i don't know what it is." very sad.
• Vynsint from St. Louis, MoI freaking LOVE this song, especially the live version. Those guys kick ass.
• Eric from Tampa, FlAt 58 years old I think 'Jane Says' is the very best song I have ever heard in my life. I have a Bose stereo set up in my garage and I spend most Friday and Saturday nights listening to it. I always start and end the evening with 'Jane Says' and frequently play it over and over. I'm seriously considering putting in my will that it be played at my funeral, no joke.
• Ozzi from Brookhaven, Pai actually have never heard any of Jane's addictions music until this one, and i really like it. Although it does remind me of a Led Zeppelin riff. In the song over the hills and far away, the part right before it kicks in and the electric guitar comes in, when he's saying, 'so much.' its just repeated the whole time. Good song though.
• Jessica from Chattanooga, TnJane says
  I'm done with sergio
  //hes her drug dealer
  
  He treats me like a ragdoll
  She hides
  The television
  Says "i don't owe him nothing,
  //she owes him 4 herion
  
  But if he comes back again
  Tell him to wait right here for me or,
  Try again tomorrow"
  //she wants him to weight so she can by more
  
  "I'm gonna kick tomorrow..."
  "I'm gonna kick tomorrow..."
  // shell quit tomrow
  
  Jane says
  "Have you seen my wig around?
  I feel naked without it"
  She knows
  They all want her to go
  //janes addiction got there name they was all staying in a house and there was a herion addict living there so everythime something went wrong like the tv came up missing they would blame it on janes addiction
  
  But that's ok man
  She don't like them anyway
  Jane says
  "I'm going away to spain when i get my money saved
  I'm gonna start tomorrow"
  //she says shell start tomrow but dont shes to busy by herion and says shell stop that tomrow
  
  "I'm gonna kick tomorrow..."
  "I'm gonna kick tomorrow..."
  
  She gets mad
  And she starts to cry
  Takes a swing but she can't hit!
  She don't mean no harm
  She just don't know...
  What else to do about it
  
  Jane goes
  To the store at eight
  She walks up on st. andrews
  //LA and a bunch of druys hang out there
  
  She waits
  And gets her dinner there
  She pulls her dinner
  From her pocket
  //her dinner is herion
  
  Jane says
  "I've never been in love - no"
  She don't know what it is
  She only knows if someone wants her
  
  "I only want 'em if they want me,..."
  "I only know they want me..."
  // when ur on herion ur emotions are f*cked up and shes never felt love b/c of it
  Jane says...
  Jane says?
• Dan from Sydney, Australiabest song ever. i cud never get sick of it...
• Grace from Fairfax Station, VaI love this song so much! It's like a sad song disguised as a not-so-sad song.
• Ashley from Moncton, CanadaThis is an awesome song. I love Jane's Addiction.
• Ray from Portland, OrThere is an earlier version of this song on an indie label called Triple-X.
• Tony from Woogowoogaa, AustraliaSergio [Amrinones] now works for a major record label in Australia in A&R. Sergio claims Farrel wrote him into the song after the pair had a falling out over the ownership of a curling wand.

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