1001 Songs Challenge #734: Three Days (1990)

On 11 February 2019 I set myself the challenging of reading 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die by Robert Dimery (ed.) and following the book’s advice to the letter. I’ve previously read 1001 Films… and started 1001 Albums… but felt 1001 Songs… would be a sensible place to start for what I have in mind here.

My challenge is to read about one song per day and listen to it (YouTube and Spotify, I need you tonight!) before sharing my own thoughts. Some songs I will love, others I’ll hate, and I’m sure there will be those that leave me perplexed but listen to them I shall.

I’ll also try, and most likely fail, to pinpoint the best song from the 1001 on offer but I’m nothing if not foolhardy. Instead of one song, I’m predicting I’ll have about 100 favourites by the end and may have to resort to a Top 10 so far to maintain any semblance of sanity.

So long as I post everyday (including Christmas) then this challenge should come to an end on Wednesday 8 November 2021. Staying with the Barney Stinson theme I am hoping that the whole experience will prove to be…

Jane’s Addiction – Three Days (1990)

We’re leaving the UK after a very brief stay and heading back to the US today, dear reader. We find ourselves in Los Angeles in California and in the company of Jane’s Addiction. They were formed in 1985 and specialised in alternative rock, metal and psychedelia. We join the group in 1990 with the release of their second album, Ritual de lo habitual. 1001 Songs have gone with the track – Three Days. 

Three Days is an epic track clocking in at 10 minutes and was inspired by a young woman named Xiola Blue who was a former girlfriend of the band’s singer, Perry Farrell. The “three days” of the title refers to three days that Blue and Farrell spent together in Los Angeles after she had attended her father’s funeral. These three days were spent in a combination of drugs and sex. Xiola sadly died in 1987 from a drug overdose but the song was completed before her passing. The track reflects on those three days and laments Xiola no longer being part of the world, which must have been a later addition prior to recording. 

Beginning with a spoken dialogue, Three Days takes its time with a long intro dominated by bass before the vocals, light and distant, come in. Dialogue continues in the background and as time passes the track gradually gets heavier until we are swept away in the frenzy of the music. A long track it may be but it doesn’t feel like it. The group disbanded in 1991 but have reunited multiple times since and are currently performing.

Favourite songs so far:

The Animals – House of the Rising Sun (1964)

Simon & Garfunkel – The Sounds of Silence (1965)

The Beatles – A Day in the Life (1967)

The Doors – The End (1967)

Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here (1975)

Meat Loaf – Bat Out of Hell (1977)

Queen – Don’t Stop Me Now (1978)

Ultravox – Vienna (1980)

The Smiths – How Soon Is Now? (1984)

Tracy Chapman – Fast Car (1988)