Three Days (Jane's Addiction song)

"Three Days"
Single by Jane's Addiction
from the album Ritual de lo Habitual
Released	August 2, 1990
Format	CD, vinyl
Recorded	1989-1990
Genre	Alternative rock, alternative metal, progressive rock
Length	10:46
Label	Warner Bros.
Writer(s)	Jane's Addiction
Producer(s)	Dave Jerden, Perry Farrell
Jane's Addiction singles chronology
"Stop! (1990) "Three Days" (1990) "Been Caught Stealing" (1990)
Ritual de lo Habitual track listing "Been Caught Stealing" (Track 5) "Three Days" (Track 6) "Then She Did..." (Track 7)

"Three Days" is a ten minute, forty-six second song featured on Jane's Addiction's 1990 album, Ritual de lo Habitual. It is a three-part song that meditates on death and rebirth. The guitar solo by Dave Navarro was ranked as number 100 in Guitar World's "100 best guitar solos" article.^[1]

Lyrical meaning

The song was inspired by Xiola Blue, a former girlfriend of Perry Farrell, who came to Los Angeles for her father's funeral, and spent three days with Farrell and his partner Casey Niccoli, in a "haze of sex and drugs".^[2] Blue was also the muse behind Xiola, a song recorded by Farrell's first band Psi-Com. She died of a heroin overdose in New York City in June, 1987. The song was written prior to her death.^[3]

Alternate versions

A live version of the song appears on the band's 1997 rarities compilation Kettle Whistle. This version appears on the soundtrack of Richard Kelly's 2007 film Southland Tales, which repeatedly quotes the "Shadows of the morning light" section of the lyrics and revolves around the final three days before the end of the world. The original version made an appearance in the 1992 film Singles, a movie about the alternative rock scene in the early 1990s. However, it was not included on the soundtrack.

References

1. http://guitar.about.com/library/bl100greatest.htm
2. janesaddiction.org. "Who is Xiola Blue?". Retrieved 2008-07-07.
3. helicine. "Three Days". JanesAddiction.org. Retrieved 10 March 2011.