BACKGROUND:
Xiola's real first name was Lisa (last name withheld for family's privacy). She and Perry were involved on and off for a couple years circa '83/'84. Their relationship has been described by others as 'friends with benefits'.
She moved away from L.A. around the time Psi-Com was picking up, but came back for her father's funeral in early '86. This was the last time Perry saw her. It seems Xiola, Perry, and Casey spent these three days with lots of sex and drugs... the inspiration for the song. Many fans believe "Three Days" is about her death, but in fact it was written before she died.. which was in June 1987 of an overdose.

WRITTEN:
First conceived by Jane's in early 1986. Actually, Eric had come up with the beginning bassline earlier (mid '85) before forming Jane's with Perry. The song was worked on more throughout 1986. Then pretty much finished by 1987, but extended / slowed down a bit in '89 during the rehearsals for Ritual. It was recorded on the first take, with overdubs added later.

IN THEIR OWN WORDS:
Perry, on-stage 3/29/87, introducing the song...
"What could beat two days of sex and drugs and violent movies? Three days of sex, drugs, and violent movies."

Casey Niccoli in an article in Details, 11/97...
"Xiola was Perry's lover before he met me. She was very young, very intelligent, and very beautiful. I became friends with her. She died of an overdose at nineteen. So we kind of put her on a pedestal."

Casey Niccoli, 99...
"XI was a very interesting girl, very ahead of her time an amazing artist. No not amazing but brilliant. Everything about her was brilliant. She had a spark about her that I've really never seen in anyone even to this day. She was about 14 when she met Perry and he was maybe 22-24? They dated off and on for a little while but she was kinda too young and immature and eventually he hooked up with me, we fell madly in love and Xi and he remained friends. She died of a drug overdose alone in her New York apt. Her friends found her when she didn't show up at school. SHE was only 19 YEARS OLD. THAT WAS A REALLY SAD TIME FOR PERRY. HE TOOK IT PRETTY HARD."

"I'm really not sure where xiola's art ended up. the work that i saw was a combination of collage, mixed media, large canvas oils, kinda experiemental (i think her best work never got a chance to blossom) Her writing was brilliant and extremely visual. she was art. her family had alot of money and i remember when she died her mother told Perry that she was going to open up a wing at a gallery in Michigan (where her mom lives) and call it the Xiola Blue wing where her art would be featured. I'm not sure if it ever happened. this was in like '88-89?"

Dave Jerden (the co-producer of Ritual), Details, 11/97...
"Mostly the guys would come in and lay their parts down themselves. There was one song in particular where the record company came down to watch. The whole band came in and played ''Three Days'' from beginning to end. That was the last time they played together in the studio, and the only time on that record. It was a magic moment."

Stephen Perkins interview in Modern Drummer, 3/93...
SP: Jane's only did thirty songs in six years. And all the Jane's tunes were written at the same time, which made things even worse.
MP: But then you run into the danger of all your songs sounding the same. Over a couple of years, your style is bound to change.
SP: That's true, but each song with us (Porno For Pyros) sounds so different. That's the way it was with Jane's. You couldn't tell they were written at the same time, but they were. "Three Day," which is a ten-minute tune, might have been written on the same day as "Had A Dad," a three-minute song on a different album. But we definitely want all the songs to sound different.

From a 1991 issue of Guitar Player...
Dave, you do wonderful things with overdubs.
You think so? I generally go into the studio not knowing what I'm going to do, though I know the basic song. I throw down a bunch of stuff. If it works, great; if not, scratch it. We do the basic tracks, all four of us live, then I do a rhythm part to double or match the basic. After that if I hear a space that can use something, I put it in. If I don't like it, I try something else. But I don't spend too much time--the solo on "Three Days" was a first take, the rough track. Anyone the least bit creative could spend forever in the studio, and I don't want to take our budget out the window. We pay a lot of attention to tones and sounds. When I introduce a sound, I like to give your ear something new--not to underplay the previous sound, I used to be more into solo's, but now I'm more interested in the song. Not every song needs a solo. "Then She Did..." is my favorite track on the latest album. What Perry's singing about is beautiful and I didn't want to step on anything.

LIVE:
* Played occassionally in 1987. Not played during the Nothing's Shocking tour ('88-'89). Then played at nearly every Ritual and Lollapalooza show ('90-'91). Perry would play 2nd guitar during the song.. the only time he'd ever play guitar on stage.

* 1997, 2001, 2002: played at almost every show.

ADDITIONAL INFO:
* When Dave was in the Red Hot Chili Peppers ('94-'97) they often ended the song "Warped" by teasing with a little of "Three Days". Dave explained: The "Warped/ Three Days" thing just kind of happened one night live. We liked how it worked so we usually break into it, but just for a moment or two.

* "Three Days" is briefly played in the film Singles, though it doesn't appear on the soundtrack.

* Warner Bros. made a remixed edit of "Three Days" for radio.. but the band hated it and wouldn't let them release it.

* From Sunny... "I was listening to Chocolate City tonight on 89.9 KRCW, and they played this phat song by DJ Frane. I decided to check out the his album @cdnow.com and the first song you can sample is called Boatman. Its got Jane's Addiction "Three Days" sampled in the background, its pretty cool. so check it out if you're interested.. DJ Frane, Fantastic Boat Ride @ www.cdnow.com."

* Intro Poem
For years, Jane's fans have wondered what Perry is saying in the first part of "Three Days" after the music kicks in. Unfortunately, the full text of the poem has not been revealed. The good news is a certain fan allegedly got a copy of a rare poetry tape of Perry's that includes the "Three Days" poem. The bad news is this fan is more concerned with profiting off his good fortune than sharing it. He won't trade it to anyone, or even type the poem out for other fans to read. He's planning on putting the poetry tape on CD to sell, but he seems to be dragging his feet with it.. it's already been a few years and it could several more before he goes through with his plans, so us fans might be waiting for a while longer until we find out the the rest of the poem. But at least it seems to be in sight.
Here is what's known now...

At this moment
You should be with us
Feeling like we do
Like you love to
But never will again
I miss you, my dear Xiola
I prepared the room tonight with Christmas lights
A city of candles
Fresh sheets
We are all filled with dense clouds that have/help us sink into the mattress
I need to touch your skin

Eli Z. Robillard adds the following:
... At this point the voices diverge, the left channel starts with, "As the cash is sitting there. . . I wonder if you. . ." "We're all filled with dense clouds that have sunk deep into the mattress. I need to touch skin." (Again the voices diverge.) Left channel says "touch your skin" just before Perry's intro.
There's more time to hear the right: "to keep me from. . ." "Your skin is waiting. . ." And then Perry starts up.
I'm pretty sure of all this. The best way to hear it actually is to set the headphones on mono, turn down the bass, and crank up the volume. You'll hear what I mean -- the voices are actually on both tracks, but this provides the best way to balance them. It's actually easier to hear both voices this way.

Emily Halderman had still more ideas on the lyrics:
"We are all filled with dense clouds that have us sink into the mattress. I need to touch your skin."
After that, these lines seem to be repeated a few times. Here are the rest of the isolated words and snips of sentences that I found (in the order I heard them)
"...an alien....", "....friends as easily as I do...."
"pushing constructors... the audience is a plaything. one night I met a poet."

Some other ideas: "...famous...", "...pushing instructors / instruct us...", "We're all just the audiences of a plaything", "one night I met a boy", "...fingers..."

LYRICS:
Three days was the morning.
My focus three days old.
My head, it landed
to the sounds of cricket bows...
I am proud man anyway...
Covered now by three days...
Three ways was the morning.
Three lovers, in three ways.
We knew when she landed,
three days she'd stay.
I am a proud man anyway...
Covered now by three days...
We saw shadows of the morning light
the shadows of the evening sun
till the shadows and the light were one.
Shadows of the morning light
the shadows of the evening sun
till the shadows and the light were one...
True hunting is over.
No herds to follow.
Without game, men prey on each other.
The family weakens by the bite we swallow...
True leaders gone, of land and people.
We choose no kin but adopted strangers.
The family weakens by the length we travel...
All of us with wings...
All of us with wings...
All of us with wings!
All of us with wings!
All of us with wings!
All of us with wings!
Erotic Jesus lays with his Marys.
Loves his Marys.
Bits of puzzle, fitting each other.
All now with wings!
"Oh my Marys! Never wonder...
Night is shelter for nudity's shiver..."
All now with wings...


FAN INTERPRETATIONS:
submitted by Chase...
"Three days was the morning. My focus three days old. My head, it landed to the sounds of cricket bows... I am proud man anyway... Covered now by three days... Three ways was the morning. Three lovers, in three ways."
--On the first day after their three days of sex and drugs, he woke up to the sounds of cricket bows and he is proud of what he has done over those three days though he knows he will have to live with it for the rest of his life..
"We knew when she landed, three days she'd stay. I am a proud man anyway... Covered now by three days... We saw shadows of the morning light, the shadows of the evening sun, till the shadows and the light were one. Shadows of the morning light, the shadows of the evening sun, till the shadows and the light were one.."
--Perry and Casey knew that when Xiola came off the plane they would have 3 days of sex and drugs. After they started doing the drugs, they started seeing things, and then they started to have sex when the effects of the drugs wore off...or when the shadows and the lights were one...
"True hunting is over. No herds to follow. Without game, men prey on each other. The family weakens by the bite we swallow... True leaders gone, of land and people. We choose no kin but adopted strangers. The family weakens by the length we travel..."
--There are no rules to follow, and if things go bad they could end up hating each other. They basically make their own rules. He may think that his relationship with Casey may weaken the more he has sex with both her and Xiola..
"All of us with wings... All of us with wings... All of us with wings! All of us with wings! All of us with wings! All of us with wings!"
--They feel a very heavenly feeling...and he wishes they could all goto heaven...
"Erotic Jesus lays with his Marys. Loves his Marys. Bits of puzzle, fitting each other. All now with wings!"
--He feels like Jesus, surrounded by his Marys (Casey and Xiola) and he loves them. He thinks the three of them are perfect together and wishes they could go to heaven feeling the way they do..
"'Oh my Marys! Never wonder... Night is shelter for nudity's shiver...'All now with wings..."
--He says to Casey and Xiola that they should not wonder about what the next day will hold, because the night is all they have, and it is their shelter.
Again, he wishes they could all have wings and go up to heaven..

the following submitted by Melinda..
True hunting is over. No herds to follow.
(Men were made to hunt & gather, but now, thanks to technology, we no longer have to "work" for food)

Without game, men prey on each other.
(So, in order to relieve the natural agression that we would take out on animals through hunting, we instead take shit out on other people)

The family weakens by the bite we swallow...
(which in turn is passed on to our own families... like if you get yelled at at work or school, you come home grouchy & the family suffers... or if you take crap from someone without sticking up for yourself, you unconsciously teach your kids that it's ok to take crap from people)

True leaders gone, of land and people.
(We used to have leaders who actually cared about what was best for the people, but now our politicians only care about money and power)

We choose no kin but adopted strangers.
(We usually care more about friends we barely know than about our own blood relatives. I personally think it's because our relatives take their problems out on us, and we take our problems out on them)

The family weakens by the lengths we travel...
(...and when we act aggressively towards our "loved ones" they tend to do the same to us, and we are weakened as a tribe. People go out of their way to please "friends" but often neglect family. We also tend to put more effort into our careers and not much effort into making sure our own family is happy.)