Red Hot Chili Peppers – Californication

General CommentI didn't write this, but a kid on he RHCP message board did, and it describes the entire song, he did a lot of research and thinking, and it's awesome, ENJOY

Peace,
Jware


Californication by Jacob Pointon

Californication meaning…

Now for years, everyone has always questioned the meaning behind 3 ballads off the Californication album
: Scar Tissue, Otherside, and Californication. Now my debate is one the meaning behind all three songs, since they are the most popular of fans wanting to know the meaning of. It is rather extensive, so I broke the debate in 3 different parts, one for each song. This one is Californication.

While there is some debate as to whether or not the meaning of Californication lies in the generalizations made about the crazy society evolving out on the west coast of the USA, or a more personal accounting of a pre-marital relationship as ranted about for a verse, I am inclined to believe the former. Californication is a biting social criticism of the culture of excess we have. But the song isn't just about how things are in California. In itself, the descriptions in the song hold California up as a symbol itself for wider problems and issues we have. I found an interview from MTV, and Flea pretty much tells you what it’s about. Who better then the writers themselves to give you the meaning:

It's not a sexual reference. "Californication" is really just the act of the world being affected and saturated by the art and the culture being born and raised in California. Traveling around the world, no matter how far I go, I see the affect that California has on the world. It's about that good and bad, beautiful and ugly.


So let's hop to it. I can't promise I'll touch anything, or even get it "right," but it should be fun to try.

First off we have:
Psychic spies from China
Try to steal your mind’s elation
Little girls from Sweden
Dream of silver screen quotations
And if you want these kinds of dreams
It’s Californication

Here we already have a contrast between internal and external. The first half of the verse "Psychic Spies..." though "elation" represent a general paranoia people have of something beyond their control attempting to mess with their lives. The crackpot theories generally can be found in California.

The rest of the verse, "Little girls from Sweden...” is how external people see something part of California is famous for (movie making) and how they dream of being able to enter into this dream world, totally naive and ignorant of the problems those within deal with.

Last two lines let you know. Right off the bat, he's told you what Californication is.

It’s the edge of the world
And all of western civilization
The sun may rise in the East
At least it settles in the final location
It’s understood that Hollywood
sells Californication

Here he's at first talking about how California is the "edge of the world in all of western civilization." Whether or not you find any deeper meaning in or not, it's a powerful enough line. Perhaps, when you link the term "civilization" with a description of the sun rising and setting, you get a metaphor saying that this is where the sun will set; this is the decline of civilization. This theme is again referenced later in the song.

He ends the verse with the phrase, "It’s understood that Hollywood sells Californication" which is simple and obvious enough. Californication as defined above is a paradox between innocent desire for fame and recognition with a culture of irrational fears. This is what Hollywood sells. Everything out of that place will either be entirely self promoting and wrapped in a gaudy brilliance, or will play off your fears in some most unusual ways.

Pay your surgeon very well
To break the spell of aging
Celebrity skin is this your chin?
Or is that war your waging

Simple enough. Here it's talking about how some people are consumed in a war against age, devoting so much of their time, energy, and life into combating it as to nullify any victory they have. Ultimate futility revealed in the form of a question at the end.

Chorus:
First born unicorn
Hard core soft porn
Dream of Californication
Dream of Californication

First born Unicorn is a nice rhyming phrase that holds a major symbol in it. What that symbol is can be confusing, depending on what your take for the general mythological meaning of a Unicorn is. Some say strength and independence, which would then mean perhaps a glimmer of hope in the song talking about defiance to the force of Californication. Others say a fearful, dreadfully powerful creature. It would then be talking about Californication itself, being a firstborn unicorn, our society's first and most dreadful force to effect change upon our world. Also in mythology, the Unicorn represents virginity, and you’re first born a virgin, and because of hardcore and soft porn, you get ideas of sex, have sex, and lose it.

Phrase Hard Core Soft Porn is obviously a contradictory, and I would guess is meant as a jab for the other major marketing technique/aspect of Californication... They sell as much sex as possible, promote it as much as possible, but are never willing to outright go all the way with it, still attempting to uphold that innocent polished image.

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

Because he is addressing directly someone in this verse, many people take this as evidence that the song is about a single person who he had a relationship with, perhaps a person who represented this whole culture. I'm still shaky on the grounds, but I think he's just addressing another archetype here, as symbol of the TYPE of person who gets caught up on the whole society, but not an actual person. And seeing how constellations can also determine your fate, he could be saying to this girl to marry him, be the one to take him around the world, and be the one to be his fate. And have you noticed that when young teenage girls get pregnant, they finally wake up and realize they need to get their act and life together. So they start working harder in school, keeping their face in the books, “getting high on information”, so they can make a better living form them and their future family. And who doesn’t want or get a star on the Hollywood Boulevard? A few non Hollywood actors have done so.

Space may be the final frontier
But it’s made in a Hollywood basement
Cobain can you hear the spheres
Singing songs off station to station
And Alderon’s not far away
It’s Californication

In this verse he does three things.
1) He points out the fakeness of our attempts to explore "the final frontier" as we instead do it in a studio as opposed to spending that money to actually do any real exploration. It's also a Star Trek reference, of course, with that phrase. He referenced Hollywood again. He does it one more time in this verse, proving how he is a true geek at heart.
2) a) He directly addresses Cobain, more likely than not Kurt Cobain, the man who kicked off a trend that was consumed, distorted, and then discarded by the force of Californication. He asks if he sees what has happened.
b) Foo Fighters lead singer is the former drummer of Cobain’s Nirvana…..Foo Fighters, not the band, but real foo fighters fly in what looks like alien space crafts; the flying saucer type kind that in early days were called “spheres”……Station to Station is an album by David Bowie, and on that album you’ll find the track “The Man Who Sold The World”. During one of Nirvana’s final performances on MTV Unplugged, they performed that same song. After Cobain’s death and Dave Grohl started the Foo Fighters, they also played “The Man Who Sold The World” at their concerts in memory of Curt Cobain, which then got a lot of air play on the radio, I mean all the time when it first came out. So, do you kind of see the connection? He’s telling Kurt if he can hear how Dave Grohl and his band is still carrying the torch, and how they miss him and still live on his name.
3) And finally, he says, "And Alderon's not far away, It's Californication." This line is actually a Star Wars reference as is apparent in more knowledgeable circles. Sure the spelling is different, but maybe Anthony thought he spelled it right, but I do believe this is what he’s talking about….Planet Alderaan was the pristine home of Princess Leia, the first planet destroyed by the Death Star in the first Star Wars film. This is a major symbol because he is pretty much saying "our perfect world will be destroyed soon, it's Californication" by saying that Alderaan is no far away. Again he's touching upon the destructive nature of this force, a theme I poked earlier on.

Born and raised by those who praise
Control of population everybody’s been there
and I don’t mean on vacation

Everybody's been to this state of control, of being swept up by the force of Californication. As opposed to having gone to California on vacation.

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

Here he's taking the destructive foreshadowing from before, and saying "Yeah, but if you look at it in a certain way, it can be used as a creative energy. You cannot wipe out this force, even if California was wiped off the map." So then, find a way to transform the destructive earthquake of this force into a good vibration. (Also, there's a touch of irony in talking about earthquakes, seeing how California is rocked by them pretty constantly.) The earthquake to a guitar, as much damage as it may cause, to a guitar, is only another vibration... vibration on a guitat makes music. Creation from destruction. Californication is destructive, as he's shown, but again the hope glimmers through; it can be creative.

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

He returns to the waste of energy in the battle against the age, saying that perhaps there is something sick about it. The last line would be by far too ambiguous for me to really throw my opinion on. Are you craving Californication, or are you craving to escape it? We strive to be good people but we always fall back to the ways of evil. We come to the point that that is what we're craving.

• 4 Replies Log in to reply
  
    There was an error.

  @jware39
  +2

  best interpretation ever

  Flagged YT4LYFEon August 29, 2010  

  +2

  Only issue: The Man Who Sold the World is on the album "The Man Who Sold the World". Not Station to Station, although he's on the right track.

  Flagged Coaleron February 26, 2014  

  +2

  @jware39 This is very, very, VERY GOOD! Awesome interpretation and background explanation! I totally agree! When I went to this page this evening, I didn't expect to find such a gem!
  I like to add my thouhgts:
  First of all:
  0) Could you provide a link to the original posting? That would be nice. I would like to speak to the author of this interpretation.
  1) "First born unicorn"
  Little naive kids dream of unicorns, a symbol for purity, innocence, virginity. Unicorns do not exists. But its unicorns what California sells. And Hollywood was its first born unicorn. The use of this unicorn symbol represents (your interpretation of ) the line "Little girls from Sweden dream of silver screen quotations". Both symbols mean the same leading to "if you want these kinds of dreams it’s Californication". Unicorns = (Dreams of) Californication.
  2) "Marry me girl be my fairy to the world" Unicorn = fairy tale = Californication. He speaks to those "little girls from Sweden" (being naive on Hollywood). If it were that easy and fairly tale-like as you think it is, why not buy me a star on the boulevard then. As easy as that. It disfigures the naivete/symplicity of that thinking, while simultaneously to some degree wishing for it (If it was that easy, he would marry her as his own fairy tale). Of course, that girl's own reality isnt a fairy tale with unicorns, since she is about to be a teenage mother, fishing for attention on facebook, while dreaming of unicorns and California. It's bitter sarcastic in the end.
  3) What you say about the final frontier, Cobain, the sphere and that whole paragraph is just plain genius! Really! Chapeau! And thanks for sharing! I'd like to point out a little bit more the contrast between "And Alderon’s not far away, it’s Californication" and the famous "in a galaxy far far away". No, this Star Wars galaxy is not far far away, it's a Hollywood basement, too.
  4) "Born and raised by those who praise" Although it might not be meant as a reference, this reminds me of a quotation in Fight Club "We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't."
  5) "Destruction leads to a very rough road, but it also breeds creation." The walk of fame never seemed to me glamourous, frankly rather run down. Touristic shops at every corner, selling cheap drinks, cheap food and cheap souvenirs with Super Mans in run down costumes trying to make some dollars (the days of plenty are over). Think of the screen writers strike and how some studios leave or do not settle initially in Hollywood. But: In the end thats what LA always was right? Thats the whole essence of LA. That it invents itself constantly over and over again. Its a sprawl, renewing itself constantly.
  6) "And tidal waves couldn’t save the world from Californication." So true: Check "gentrification" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…). It's the terminal station of everything that once was great. (Don't get me wrong, I do not try to make a political point here. Just trying to point out that authenticity will eventually attract non-authentic people seeking authenticity). "Tidal waved couldn't save the world from Californication = gentrification
  7) "The last line would be by far too ambiguous for me to really throw my opinion on. Are you craving Californication, or are you craving to escape it? We strive to be good people but we always fall back to the ways of evil. We come to the point that that is what we're craving"
  Wow!
  8) Thanks again! Really great. I greatly appreciate!
  

  Flagged phreak123on November 12, 2015  

  +1

  @jware39 Hi dears first of all thank you very much for bringing this from that other tread/person cos is a lot of information that I could not have put together alone, you see now I have learned a lot from "Californication" but I also think you missed some meanings pretty obvious too, so I want to briefly re analize the song thanking the parts I learned from you and agree and pointing some things in a different view, watch this:
  
  The psichic spies fromm China are a very crackpot thought, so I agree is part of your culture, so as you are part of the culture of the world such to have people in Sweden quotating your "silver screen", "And if you want these kinds of dreams
  It’s Californication"
  Paragraphs 2 and 3 I just agree until the chorus , moreover the first born unicorn metaphor I think the "hard core, soft porn" not just is a beautifull rhyme, I think they are talking about themselves, and about californians at some level, the song turns personal here and with the next paragraph.
  When he says "marry me girl ..." I think is just an honest, descriptive expression of desire, but then "a teenage bride, with a baby inside getting high on information" can be read as a pregnant girl or a naive girl getting high (on information) what to me repersent the kind of relationships that the authors had, the ending phrase "buy me a star on the boulevar" represents the major difficulty for a relationship with any RHCP member since due to their fame they are somehow destined to be some kind of "sugar daddy", they can´t relate to normal people anymore, resuming this paragraph starts with expression of desire, description of previous or actual relationships , and the burden that is californication itself sometimes.
  Next paragraph I just have to thank you, particularly by the Cobain (and Alderon) part that was criptic to me.
  Now I got one for you , I think I really gotcha
  
  "Born and raised by those who praise
  Control of population everybody’s been there
  and I don’t mean on vacation"
  
  Who are those who "praise control of population"?
  It´s YOUR GOBERNMENT , it´s you the United States Of America where you where born and that raised you the way you are now ^^
  "everybody´s been there, and I don´t mean on vacation" reffers to the mass surveillance of your gobernment that thanks to Snowden we know today that virtually no one escapes from, and "don´t mean on vacation" is forever the metadata they collect, they can draw perfiles of anyone gathering all the information that you ever put on internet, this as contrast of the starting line is no crackpot theory, is plain truth.
  
  With this I say goodbye to you, love you all , greets fromm Uruguay ;)

  Flag daniel1074on November 25, 2019  

General CommentI think it is pretty obvious.

The song is about everything that is wrong with hollywood.
Everything is fake, everyone is made by plastic surgery.
And Hollywood is changing the ideals of little girls from "unicorns" to "hardcore softporn"

The song is also sceptical about hollywood being so nationalistic about the USA.

Sorry for bad english.

• 1 Reply Log in to reply
  
    There was an error.

  @Jonah95
  0

  @Jonah95 No no, is not and obvious song at all ^^

  Flag daniel1074on November 25, 2019  

General Commentif you dont know what the lyrics mean you dont deservve to know how to play the song on ur guitar

• 1 Reply Log in to reply
  
    There was an error.

  @fortis
  +2

  @fortis haha really? john has said numerous times that he often didn't know what the lyrics meant and that he usually only knew the lyrics of the parts he was singing. does that mean you think he didn't deserve to play the songs on guitar? haha...

  Flag adam108752on May 13, 2015  

General CommentThis song is amongst the most well written songs I have ever come across. It combines the fantasy dreams that are associated with California to our internal desires and dreams.

Psychic spies of china try to steal your minds elation
(products made in China that create a synthetic and temporary high)
little girls from sweden dream of silver screen flotation
(referring to the pornography business in hollywood, and swedish pornstars)
If you have these kind of dreams its californication

The end of the world and all of western civilization
(looking on a map, california is the most western placed state and place)
The sun may rise in the east, but it settles in the final location (the west)
if you want these kind of dreams its californication

Pay your surgeon very well to break the spell of aging
(plastic surgery reference to stay young)
Celelbrity win is this your win or is this war your waging
(how much are you willing to put on the line)
First born unicorn (you can be unique)
Hardcore softcore porn (the reality)

More of the references include, the conspiracy of the first moon landing being staged in a basement, being slaves to the concept of self-fulfillment and more. A great reference for anyone who is looking for more should read Anthony Keidis's book "Scar Tissue"

Peace and Love!

• 1 Reply Log in to reply
  
    There was an error.

  @doronee11
  +1

  "silver screen FLOTATION?"
  
  That's a new one.

  Flag formeaton August 25, 2012  

General Comment.

• 4 Replies Log in to reply
  
    There was an error.

  @beefchip
  0

  This song talks about society and the world today, also about how screwed up Hollywood is. Actors and people are paying their surgeons well to get plastic surgery just so they can look beautiful and be accepted in today's though society. "Destruction leads to a very rough road but it also breeds creation," means even though there is a lot of bad things that happen it eventually pass and good things will be created. Basically this song in all is describing society, and about life. How life can be bad, but at the some time good.

  Flag bpchamp_woohooleeon December 15, 2008  

  0

  i agree with everything you said but i haven't seen anybody comment on one of the lines towrad the end of the song "Sicker then the rest, There is no test."
  
  

  Flag diabloIIIon February 06, 2010  

  0

  this line popped out the most to me because both of my grandfathers died from cancer and i had an uncle die from aids. around the time the song was mad they were still having problems finding a cure for cancer and aids is a huge problem today and there is no cure. "Sicker than the rest, there is no test."

  Flag diabloIIIon February 06, 2010  

  0

  This song doesnt talk of the deterioration of society but rather the spread of western society mainly in california hence 'Californication' and 'Hollywood' california is the most diverse state in the U.S. and probably the most Diverse area in the world most of it is due to the gold rush but even now ppl of different races rush here to make something of themselves or live the california life and spread it bacc home. to the teen life of growing pregnancy rates hell im 15 and might have gotten my girlfriend pregnant. or living the california celebrity life of fake boobs plastic surgery. i mean think about it the best states in the us are as followed California, New York, Florida and California is a far better state then New York so soon (if not already) the term is gonna change from "The American Dream" to "The Californian Dream"

  Flag OseanMehon July 25, 2010  

General Commentwhats not to understand about the lyrics? they make sense... californication is the 'deteriation of society' so to speak... plastic surgery, teen pregnancy... and so on....

• 3 Replies Log in to reply
  
    There was an error.

  @gizelle369
  0

  I couldn't agree more.

  Flag ClassicRockKidon January 28, 2009  

  0

  exactly.

  Flag thecobbsteron December 29, 2010  

  0

  I think he's trying to say he loves California, This seems more an attack on Hollywood.
  "And Alderaan’s not far away"
  "buy me a star on the boulevard"

  Flagged GuyApolloon March 19, 2012  

General CommentTo clarify, Alderaan is the name of a planet in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Remember the one that got blown up by the Death Star? I think it was where Leia was brought up. And yes, I agree with everyone else on the meaning ofthe song, the Peppers are telling everyone what hollywood is really like, and that despite the expensive special effects, ie.plastic surgery and Space: The Final Frontier, all the fascinating beauty is just cosmetic, covering up the greed, vanity, drug lust and hunger for power.

• 1 Reply Log in to reply
  
    There was an error.

  @Lem
  0

  @Lem I always assumed that the line "Alderaan's not far away" was a reference to the famed "a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away..." Star Wars intro (the equivalent of "Space: the final frontier" in Star Trek).

  Flag GwiberWyrddon June 26, 2018  

General CommentNirvana toured with RHCP in their early years, and i think that Kiedis mentions Kurt Cobain and "songs off station to station" to represent how any meaning or emotion or passion or relevence in Nirvana's songs has been bastardized by the way they've kind of been commercialised against their will.
Just a thought...

• 1 Reply Log in to reply
  
    There was an error.

  @GodHatesACoward
  0

  @GodHatesACoward Even more sadly, Nirvana is not the only band that had this happen to them.
  
  In the alternative music scene, commercialisation has always been viewed as the ultimate evil: indeed, this attitude seems to me to be the only thing that all the otherwise extremely varied music that has been identified as "alternative" has in common. (Whatever it means, it certainly isn't a musical genre! I heard somewhere that the label originated in the States to describe the college radio and related scenes.) When I was at university, commercialism was what everyone (well, all the cool people anyway

  Flag GwiberWyrddon June 26, 2018  

General Commentwhile I'm reading this lyric, there are some commercials like "universal Hollywood studio" and "laser surgery institution" on page !!! maybe "your comments cant save songmeanings from Californication"

• 1 Reply Log in to reply
  
    There was an error.

  @Paymaan
  0

  @Paymaan Hey, it even scans! (although admittedly, the stress pattern is a little awkward in the word "songmeanings")
  
  (Perhaps someone should write a parody of "Californication" about the commercialisation of the internet... ?)

  Flag GwiberWyrddon June 26, 2018  

General CommentI think that this song is telling the effects that california has on people "Little girls from Sweden
Dream of silver screen quotations" The girls aren't whores or prosts they are little girls that dream of being on the big screen, and what people will do to make as far as they can in california. It also says in the song "Destruction leads to a very rough road
But it also breeds creation" that it may be bad but good things come out of california

i aslo belives that hes singing that california is a good place to be "The sun may rise in the east
At least it settles in a final location" saying that the world ends in california wich has to mean that california is a good place to be, im no analysis but thats how i interpet it and i can be wrong and prob are but thats what its tellin me

• No Replies Log in to reply
  
    There was an error.

  @crazyzbac