Ain't No Right

WRITTEN:
By Perry and Eric in late 1985.

IN THEIR OWN WORDS:
Perry at a live show in L.A. on Valentine's Day '87...
"You know, people say I'm a motherfucker. Some people call me a piece of shit. I don't give two shits what he says, man. They try and tell me, 'You better keep your mouth shut.' But I say that's how things got fucked up in the first place. So the next time somebody says to you, 'That ain't right.' Say, 'Fuck off man, there ain't no right.'"

Perry quote from The Face magazine, 5/91...
"I have to continue to dare myself. If I don't' challenge myself then I don't feel like I'm moving forward. It's like the song I wrote, 'Ain't No Right', where I talk about cutting myself. I did that because I thought about doing it and I was scared. So I cut myself 365 times with a razor. Aesthetically, I thought it would look cool, but, what was more important to me was the thought, 'If I can take this, then what can stop me?'"

Excerpted from Punk and Neo-Tribal Body Art...
Farrell decided to have his chest scarred on order to provide himself with a personal rite of passage and to permanently mark his separation from the dominant society. Until recently, scarification was practiced primarily among dark-skinned peoples to indicate social status, protect against disease, and embellish the body. Inspired and fascinated by non-Western scarification practices, Farrell chose to be scarred without use of an anesthetic, flatly saying, "It's a rite of manhood. I figured it was about time I became a man." He claimed that the endurance of pain and the permanent nature of the scars were important factors in his decision to alter his body in this way. His statements about his thoughts before and during the scarification event indicate its intensity and significance: "I was scared shitless, to tell you the truth, beforehand.... As soon as the first incision came in, man, I fuckin' winced.... It was like this [he pretends to be holding a razor blade and makes short, vertical slices in the air with his hand] chit, chit, chit, chit, chit.... I just took it-- after a while I just took the pain. I mean, I've had pain. It was painful, but, you know, it's painful getting yelled at from a car, too [he shrugs and laughs]. I'm used to it..." His comments about his feelings afterward are revealing as well: "I thought to myself, 'If you can do that, you can do anything you want, and there's the proof.' They're a reminder to me to get up off my ass." In discussing the permanent nature of his scars and the possibility that he might later regret his decision to be scarred, he stated, "No, these are my signs; I'm only going to do more of this type of thing as I get older and become more of an outsider.... If anything, I'll either do something really radical and extreme, and chances are a lot of people will know about it, or I'll just die.... My stance is just getting more and more like, 'God damn it, I'm getting madder and madder and I'm just looking weirder and weirder!'"

LIVE:
* Played frequently throughout Jane's existance, 86-91.

* Played at every show in 1997, 2001, and 2002.

ADDITIONAL INFO:
from Trevor... "whats with the airplane sound on "aint no right" … like were they listening to "west la fadaway" by the dead when they recorded that or what probably, those kooky herione addicts.… and come to mention it … the tom toms are totally missing on aint no right as well … i know why they put out that live version steve said he didn't like what jerden did to his drum sound … what the fuck no tom toms … shit"

- Excerpted from an article in LA Weekly, June '89...
He (Perry) even went so far as to allow a UCLA instructor of tribal customs and ornamentation to slice ''exactly 364'' incisions into the skin of his chest. The complex pattern of scar tissue is only faintly visible today, but it is a reminder that Farrell possesses something more than just a taste for the bizarre.

- Intro...
My sex and my drugs and my rock and roll
All my brain and body need
My sex and my drugs and my rock and roll
Are the only thing that keeps me here-- All right?
So get your fuckin' piss cup out of my fucking face
My sex and my drugs and drugs and my rock and roll are my fuckin' own business
I don't ask your wife about what position she's fuckin' likin'
ahh....

From Rolling Stone, 2/7/91...
Last year, when the band split from manager Gary Kurfirst, he sued, contending that drugs had clouded the band's judgment. Kurfirst's replacement, Lippman Kahane Entertainment, tried to make Farrell take a urine test, causing Farrell to retort -- between two songs on the band's recent album Ritual de lo Habitual -- ''Get your fucking piss cup out of my fucking face.'' And Lippman Kahane, too, was soon gone.

LYRICS:
I am skin and bones, I am pointy nose;
but it motherfuckin' makes me try.
Makes me try, and that ain't no wrong.
I'll tell you why...
There ain't no right!
Ain't no wrong now, ain't no right.
Ain't no wrong now, ain't no right.
Only pleasure and pain.
Motherfuckin' bad wind came, blew down my home.
Now the green grass grows.
Bad wind came, blew down my home.
Goddamn goodness knows!
Where green grass grows there can't be wrong.
And goodness knows, there ain't no right!
Ain't no wrong now, ain't no right.
Ain't no wrong now, ain't no right.
Only pleasure and pain.
Bumped my head, I'm a battering ram.
Goddamn took the pain.
Cut myself, said "So what?"
Motherfuckin' took the pain.
Said "So what?"
I can't be wrong.
I thought so but there ain't no right!
Ain't no wrong now, ain't no right.
Ain't no wrong now, ain't no right.
Only pleasure and pain.


NOTES ON LYRICS:
At one of the earliest Jane's shows (Black Radio 1/10/86), Perry sang the chorus switched... "Ain't no right now, ain't no wrong."

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