Californication (song)

September 26, 2023

Californication
by The Red Hot Chili Peppers

Lyrics:

Psychic spies from China try to steal your mind’s elation
And little girls from Sweden dream of silver-screen quotation
And if you want these kind of dreams
It’s Californication

It’s the edge of the world, end all of western civilization
The Sun may rise in the East, at least it’s settled in the final location
It’s understood that Hollywood sells Californication

Pay your surgeon very well to break the spell of aging
Celebrity skin, is this your chin, or is that war you’re waging?
Firstborn unicorn
Hardcore soft-porn

Dream of Californication
Dream of Californication
Dream of Californication
Dream of Californication

Marry me, girl, be my fairy to the world, be my very own constellation
A teenage bride with a baby inside, gettin’ high on information
And buy me a star on the boulevard
It’s Californication

Space may be the final frontier, but it’s made in a Hollywood basement
And Cobain, can you hear the spheres, singing songs off station to station?
And Alderaan’s not far away
It’s Californication

Born and raised by those who praise control of population
Well, everybody’s been there, and I don’t mean on vacation
Firstborn unicorn
Hardcore soft-porn

Dream of Californication
Dream of Californication
Dream of Californication
Dream of Californication

Destruction leads to a very rough road, but it also breeds creation
And earthquakes are to a girl’s guitar, they’re just another good vibration
And tidal waves couldn’t save the world from Californication

Pay your surgeon very well to break the spell of aging
Sicker than the rest, there is no test, but this is what you’re craving
Firstborn unicorn
Hardcore soft-porn

Dream of Californication
Dream of Californication
Dream of Californication
Dream of Californication

Written by: Chad Smith, John Frusciante, Anthony Kiedis, Michael Balzary
Album: Californication
Released: 1999

““Californication” is a song about the underbelly of American society.
There’s deceit, plasticity, and desperation under the gilded face of the American Dream.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers saw that California represented these extremes
— both the elaborate gilded nature of it all and the darkness underneath.
In essence, it’s a song about the rot that lies just underneath the surface.
Putting pen to paper, The RHCP presents this message through a string of clever allusions
and metaphors about the Dream of Californication.”
(American Songwritter)

I have heard this song many, many times over the years – but never really paid attention to the lyrics, until now, when someone on Facebook asked if anyone had actually paid attention to the lyrics. I heard the song on Pandora just a week or so ago, and the lyrics did catch me – but I was busy doing something, so I temporarily forgot about it.

Woman believes she’s discovered ‘hidden meaning’ in Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Californication lyrics 24 years on: unilad.com… “One woman is sure that when the 1999 song by the Red Hot Chili Peppers first dropped, it contained hidden messages within the lyrics which are spookily relevant today. Taking to her TikTok page @thatconspiracygirll, she played the song for her followers accompanied by images of the modern world as she nodded along to the beat.” . . . there is a Tik Tok video embedded in the article, which is interesting – but I think that’s all there is to it. There is some truth, some intriguing lyrics, but like what I quoted above from American Songwritter, RHCP saw the rot and deceit, and wrote a song about it.

(internet image)

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