Under the Bridge

i saw anthony on some documentary saying that he was driving along the freeway in L.A once and he was really depressed. He felt like there was no one he could connect with and he was completely alone in the universe, so he started singing to himself, and this is what he sung. The verses at least. The chorus is about how he didn't want to feel that lonely ever again, he wanted to go to the place he loves, which was being in a band, making music, and "making love with beautiful women" :). the under the bridge downtown part is about when he was a drug addict, his only friend in the world was a drug contact called mario, and they lied to a mexican gang or something to be able to pass through this alley to get under a bridge in downtown L.A to use their drugs that they'd just got, and he said he regarded it as a real low point in his life. So there you have it, under the bridge is about being lonely and depressed.

I know the real meaning of the song as it relates to Anthony's drug habit but it has a real meaning to me too. My wife had left me for someone else and filed for divorce. I moved to a place of my own in a city miles away. At that time I had few local friends and was very alone. There was one day when I was gripped with loneliness unlike anything I had ever known. I set about to make sure I never felt like that again. I would spend many hours walking the streets and neighborhoods. I really loved the city. It was beautiful and I almost felt that the city loved me too. It was all I had. I heard this song again recently and boy did it hit home. I felt like that at one time and sometimes still do. Almost exactly except for last verses. i especially love when he says "It's hard to believe there's nobody out there. It's hard to believe that I'm all alone". That was me.

But the city, she loved me and I wasn't alone.

Sound a little crazy even to me sometimes but it sure makes me relate to this song.

Being a guy who was once wealthy beyond his wildest dreams, not only with money but friends and family until the needle found it's way into my life I know precisley what Anthony is singing about. NO one can actually know until they have been reduced to driving around all night either looking for dope or a place to shoot it. At that point you can't think of anyhting else. Hiding in a bathroom stall or in a park or yes even under a bridge. Squeezing ice cubes from a soft drink to drip water into a bottle cap to cook your dope then going on a vein hunt in the dark. Sticking sticking sticking yourself until FINALLY you register. At that point nothign else matters. Then suddenly after you fix, blood still running down your arm from several missed attempts....your high. Then when your mind can think of something else rather than getting off do you start to hate yourself. You think about all the good you have thrown away in your life. Friends...gone, Family...gone. The respect you had spent a lifetime earnig from others....gone. NO one to call, No where to go. No one cares. Your just another F*&#@ junkie. Until youve lived it. Until youve had that stench in your nostrils. UNtil youve curled up some where with blood crusted fingers and cryed yourself to sleep you can never really know. But you can enjoy the song. Peace

He was clean when he wrote this song. His referring to being lonely means he felt alienated by his bandmates, who were still on drugs, and having lost his lover while he still was on drugs. That the city is his only friend means he felt some connection with the city, who saw that he was trying to do better with his life, and watched over him. The "place I love" is with his friends, family, when everything was alright, before the whole mess happened, and he's wishing he could go back to those times. The end, he's listing off all the things he lost while he still was on drugs. I don't think it's about getting high and forgetting all the important things, then realizing all the dumb shit you did. It's about after he got clean, the trouble he had adjusting to his new life, (the lonliness + depression he went through) then about regretting all the things he lost.

Sometimes I feel Like I don't have a partner

One of the concequences from heroin, is depression. He took the drugs, the timely effect faded, and he feels so alone. He feels like no one understands him.

Sometimes I feel Like my only friend Is the city I live in The city of angels

He feels like the city, L.A. (the city of angels) is his only friend. This is the place where he gets his drugs. His heroin is all he has at that moment, so his only friend is the city, where he gets that shit.

Lonely as I am Together we cry

He feels alone, but he's not the only one who cries about it. The other bandmembers are also trying to deal with addictions and they mention that he's going trough hard times. To together they cry, altough he feels fucking lonely.

I drive on her streets 'Cause she's my companion I walk through her hills 'Cause she knows who I am She sees my good deeds And she kisses me windy

He's talking about L.A. again. The city is his only friend. ''She knows who he is'' cause he goes trough the same streets every time, to the same place where he gets his drugs.

I never worry Now that is a lie

He wants to say that he isn't worry, but in his head, he knows it's a big fat lie. He knows he's strongly addicted.

I don't ever want to feel Like I did that day Take me to the place I love Take me all the way

He NEVER wants to feel like he did that lonely day. He wants to go to the place he loves (he tells in an interview, ''the place he loves'' is making music with his friends, and to make out with some pretty women) So he wants to be taken all the way to that lovely place, without his addiction.

I don't ever want to feel Like I did that day Take me to the place I love Take me all the way (yeah yeah)

Repeat of the songtext before this part.

It's hard to believe That there's nobody out there It's hard to believe That I'm all alone

He talks again about his loneliness, and he thinks it's so hard to believe that he is all alone, there is just nobody out there. He feels so alone (it's still that concequence of the drugs whom he is addicted to - heroin.)

At least I have her love The city she loves me

At least he has the city, where he gets his drugs. And when he took it again, he feels happy for a short time. Then again he starts telling about he lonely he feels after the drugs faded...

Lonely as I am Together we cry

Again a repeat, and as I said, he talks about the loneliness.

I don't ever want to feel Like I did that day Take me to the place I love Take me all the way I don't ever want to feel Like I did that day Take me to the place I love Take me all the way (yeah yeah) Ooh no (no no yeah yeah) Love me I say yeah yeah

Chorus :)

Under the bridge downtown Is were I drew some blood Under the bridge downtown I could not get enough

Under the bridge, where he often shoot himself up with heroin, is where he drew some blood (the blood out of his syringes which he just used for shooting up) and he just could not get enough from it...

Under the bridge downtown Forgot about my love Under the bridge downtown I gave my life away (yeah yeah)

This place (under the bridge downtown in L.A.) is where he forgot about everything. He literally gave his life to his drugs. Heroin was controlling him all the time.

Ooh no (no no yeah yeah) Here I stay yeah yeah

Here I stay

Here I stay is about the place he loves. The time which has come in the meantime, in which he makes music with his friends, makes out with pretty girls and in which he is not dealing with his addiction anymore.

listen to the song transition from the opening verses to when the bass sinks in....musical genius

anyone ever read Scar Tissue, his biography? this song is about his addiction to heroine and cocaine. under the bridge = a freeway interpass downtown where he would buy his drugs and shoot up/smoke.

he isolated himself from the one he loved due to drugs. (under the bridge downtown, forgot about my love.)

and during some point his addiction was so bad he didn't have any money. (under the bridge downtown, i couldn't get enough.)

and the ' i gave my life away ' is pretty obvious as to himself sllowing killing himself with drugs/

the main point is = Anthony Kiedis is sexy.

Anthony was travelling through L.A. after finished a drug binge and realised how beautiful his city was. He wrote the song that night and went over to John's and they finished it the next day. The name of the song was inspired from a time Anthony took drugs under a bridge with a Mexican (?) drug lord from the mafia.

A lot of people can relate to feeling isolated or when you lose the friends you used or got used by and you still have the habit.

This song is powerful...... I've been close to tears many times over it, because I can relate to it....... I feel like I'm alone too, and I've seen other people's lives destroyed by drugs, so yeah, this song means alot to me