| Red Hot Chili Peppers – Scar Tissue Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I see where you can get that. And I won't say you're wrong, but maybe you should look at it in this light... The chorus and bridge talk about "With the birds I'll share this lonely view." Which in itself could mean just about anything. There are lots of situations in which a person can feel lonely. What this song is really about is rape and abortion. And this is the side that nobody wants to talk about... hence the phrase "With the birds I'll share this lonely view." But take the other lyrics into account, and you have confirmation that this is, in fact, what it's about. "Push me up against the wall, young Kentucky girl in a push up bra." A very visual and literal image of a young girl being raped. "Fallin' all over myself, to lick your heart to taste your health." Imagine a young girl fawning for an older boy (or man?) and ready to do any and everything because she thinks she's in love. She's young and doesn't know what love truly is. So she associates it with sex as most young kids do. Which is totally false, but an endearing way of thinking about "love". I was there as a teenager, so I can relate to that. "Blood loss in a bathroom stall Sounthern girl with a scarlet drawl Wave goodbye to ma and pa" So why would a young girl lose blood? She's healthy. She's in her physical prime and (presumably) healthy. Unless she got pregnant by this older boy/man who took advantage of her. And now she's having a miscarriage or self-imposed abortion. The bloody mess that still nobody wants to talk about because it's such an ugly and inconvenient thing to discuss. She's from Kentucky (Souther girl). That much we already know. And as almost all true southerners, she has a Southern drawl... but why scarlet? Because if you've ever read The Scarlet Letter (a book by Nathaniel Hawthorne), you'll know that it was about an adultress woman. Back in those days, someone convicted of adultery was given a Scarlet "A" for adultery to let everybody know they were guilty of that crime. Now, pre-marital sex is seen as no less a "sin" as adultery. Hence the "scarlet drawl". And the line "Wave goodbye to ma and pa" is a reference to lost innocence. We rely on our parents for everything until we're "grown" enough to handle it on our own. Until we're no longer "innocent". And her act was anything but innocent. And she paid the price. Once again, it's a lonely view for her. The scar tissue should be self-explanatory at this point in a literal sense (scar tissue from being raped/having sex) as well as in a figurative sense (emotional scar tissue). Scar tissue is something that doesn't go away but reminds the person of whatever it was that caused that scar tissue to persist. A truly poetic song and definitely one of the better ones lyrically. Just think rape/sex as a young girl, the consequences of it and how it left scar tissue and caused her to wave goodbye to her innocence. That's what the song is about. Please don't make me explain the "blood loss in a bathroom stall" because it's too gruesome and heart-wrenching but I think you get the point. |
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