Red Hot Chili Peppers – This Is the Place

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  General Comment:By the Way is their greatest album to date! Lyric-wise is phenomenal and the depth of these songs musically is over the top. The song are played with such passion that I haven't been able to find on another rhcp album. I know a lot would argue that Stadium Arcadium is the best one, but I beg to differ. Yes Stadium Arcadium is obviously a masterpiece but it has something missing which is the great lyrics that were featured on By the Way. Now, I'm With You, I believe that is grand on the scale that is so much bigger than anything they ever done. Musically, the album takes you over a wide range of different musical stylings and the way it is composed and arranged would make anyone's heart melt. But call me old fashion, (not really, I'm only 18), By the Way is still one of the greatest piece of music I ever heard.

  Flag kheartson September 01, 2012   Link

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  Song Meaning:"On the day my best friend died
  I could not get my copper clean"
  Copper as in brillo pad inside crack pipe...
  I smoke crack too

  Flag 2Coldon September 19, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:This song is about going to a place where you can escape reality (Anthony may have had a specific place in mind but it fits for many) by getting high and hiding from it. Its talking about that little bit of self hatred we all have when we do it and how it grows and festers and because this big angry mental beast that can only be sedated by the euphoria that we've grown so acustom to. At one point he's talking about life, love, and the chance of true happiness evaporating in front of him and he's to far gone to do anything about it. But none the less if you look at this album as whole, put all the song meanings in there regular order, he's telling the story of the death of a regretful junkie.

  Flag dedewbie13on August 20, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:yes, having also read the book, literally the "place" could be refering to his fathers house in LA, it could also refer to under that brige where everyone used to go and cop there drugs including anth. but metaphoricaly the place could be the state of mind youd get into with the drugs. "time gets fast but everything gets slow" probly means that he would do his upper weather it was speed or coke, then hed weigh it out with his downers weather it be alcahol or weed. "the devils plead to take from you what they need" the devils are the addicts who would give "you" (the dealer) any excuse or lie (plead) to take what they need (the drugs). "can i isolate your gene, can i kiss your dopamine" he felt that getting drunk was appealing cos he watched his dad and his mates do it all the time, dopamine is a chemical released in your brain when your happy usually during sex or taking drugs so thats how gud he thought it was at the time. but even though the song is so upbeat, he focuses on the negatives of using, in lines like "i dont wana do just like my daddy did." he probably also felt like love was an emotion that surpased the feeling of getting high. "the masterpiece of DNA" can draw u away from taking drugs. "on the day my best friend died i could not get my copper clean" his copper is his veins and he couldnt stop injecting that china white on the day hillel died.

  Flag TinTin37on October 06, 2009   Link

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  Song Meaning:Ok, after reading Scar Tissue (Anthony Kiedis' autobiography) the lyrics become so clear and so perfect. This is a very emotional song with a lot of meaning if you know where to look.
  
  "This is the place" refers to his Dad's house in California. "This is the place where all the junkies go" is talking about how all the junkies would go to his dad's house cause he was a really big drug dealer on sunset boulevard back in the day. It is about the place where he was exposed to all these new experiences - good and bad. He was introduced into the life of drugs, sex and music here. "I don't want to do it like my daddy did / I don't want to give it to my baby's kid" is talking about when his father gave him drugs. At age 12 his father gave him a joint and soon after introduced him to more serious stuff. Eventually (although by accident) he gets Heroin from his father. I believe it is talking more about just drugs here but actually about drug addiction - as this has been a large force in Anthony's life.
  
  A perfect piece of DNA is most likely referring to a beautiful girl. And "This is the place where are the devils plead / there case from you to take what they need" is again referring to his Dad's drug dealing. "On the day my best friend died / I could not get my copper clean" is talking about the death of his best friend Hillel Slovak (who was the former RHCP guitarist). "I didn't stop using the rest of the night" (222, Kiedis). was Anthony describing the events after Hillel's death in Scar tissue.
  
  I just want to make a special point in that "I don't want to give it to my baby's kid" is not about STI's but is about drugs/drug addiction. It isn't his "stepfather" that got him into drugs it was is biological father. Also it is about so much at once not just drugs, not just sex.

  Flag overthebridgeon January 23, 2009   Link

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  General Comment:"I don't want to do it
  Like my daddy did
  I don't want to give it
  To my baby's kid"
  
  Anthony's father was a junkie

  Flag leathefrenchyon January 02, 2009   Link

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  General Comment:can i pet your wolverine?

  Flag loves.2.sploogeon December 02, 2008   Link

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  General Comment:Polak is right, actually. Just read Scar Tissue and a lot of their songs will be explained to you. Plus your insight into AK's life will help you interpret the rest of them.

  Flag miniwheat2539on October 19, 2008   Link

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  General Comment:You know, I've read everyone's comments and I can understand what the song means... But for some reason, every time I hear this song, I think that it's about a transexual! I mean, something of that sort. Hear me out! First off, it has this really creepy funk to it that kinda sounds dirty, and it's about the place where trashy people and junkies go. Maybe the misfits of society. This tranny thing is singing the song, right? Okay... Vaseline, we all know what that's good for. And as far as giving it to a kid, that could be AIDS or any other sexually transmitted disease. Well, as far as the parts about DNA go, I think the tranny or whatever he is (maybe born with other parts) is kinda jealous of normal people. But in the end, he still has normal desires (gasoline, wolverine). At any rate, if you still don't believe my interpretation... How do you explain the part about a misfit "born with all of it"? If you were the "fucking ultimate of love" I assume you'd have both sets of working parts huh? All of that "inside the atom split" could be pretty complicated. A big "mash of DNA."
  Well, that's my view on the song. I think it's more of a humorous thing, but I like looking at things that way. Anyways, don't kill me for having such crazy ideas about the lyrics haha

  Flag sweetfatality7on April 01, 2008   Link

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  General Comment:I saw you out there yesterday....a perfect piece of DNA....
  
  This song is about Kiedis love for a perfect woman with a 'perfect piece of DNA'
  
  The song is really self attacking too...he calls himself a missfit, born with 'all of it' a mash of DNA.
  
  The part about not wanting to give it to my babies kid, is possibly that he doesn't want to pass faulty genes (or predisposition to addiction) to his kids (or even his grandchilderen). He also has Hep C (which is transmitted by contaminated blood - probably needle sharing or tatoo) but it can't be passed by sex. He has finally sorted these demons out in his head....he has a beautiful kid! and he said that he finally saw the 'error in his character' when he realised its time to settle for one girl and stop seaching for something more perfect.
  
  But I love this song, even if i don't get exactly what he is saying, I'm sure it has more meaning to him and anyone who listens to the tune properly!

  Flag Erren1234on February 03, 2008   Link

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