Lyric discussion by agjk8 

Cover art for 21st Century lyrics by Red Hot Chili Peppers

Now with that being said, I'd like to throw in my own interpretation.

All the creatures on the beaches/Making waves in a motion picture - people don't care about nature these days. All those living creatures are just another thing bothering them. It leads to cutting trees and killing animals for furs, food and all different reasons, which is unnecessary.

Won't you keep this in between us/Search and seizure wake up Venus - we want to be rulers of literally everything, even of what seems like impossible to rule. "Won't you keep this in between us" may be a reference to politicians who usually don't care about what society says or thinks, they do what they want to do keeping it a secret.

The dollar bill will mentally ill bill/Mom and dad take your don't be sad pill - money is what keeps us alive, what keeps us going. We work not because we like doing what we do, but because we want more money. And it's a vicious cycle - the more money we have, the more money we want to earn. It leads to mental diseases, that's why we hear so much about people gaining depression and other conditions to be treated. It also says about addictions.

Turn the screw and twist my language/Don't forsake me I'm contagious - it's sad, but there may be two or three people that I know who actually use proper language, don't use slang, weird, shorten wordings and care about punctuation. "Don't forsake me I'm contagious" is a calling of sick person who doesn't want to be left, but they will be, because nobody really wants to have to struggle with sick people. Sick people usually have less friends than healthy ones - people just don't seem to care.

It's my favorite combination/Coming down with the favored nations - I don't know if I'm correct, because I'm not a native speaker, but I've heard that "coming down" also means "wreaking havoc", which makes me think of favored nations as the strong ones destroying the small ones, just because they can do that.

Deep rotation mutilation/Learn to give and take dictation - I think it's about the kind of rotation reffering to the job position, about some soldier to be exact. Mutilation and taking dictations - soldiers need to take dictations and even kill others if they're told to. That's the rotation - they're told to do new things so they can "enhance" their skills.

Oh, oh oh, oh oh, like Cain and Abel/Oh, oh oh, oh oh gonna run this table - nowadays it's all about winning and reaching our goals. People are ready to do things like Cain did, they'd even kill their own brothers just to win.

Read me your scripture and I will twist it - Scripture is something holy, something that can't be changed because it's full of God's words. These days people feel like they're on the same level as God, which means that even things impossible to change can be changed by them, nothing stays holy anymore.

Show me your wrist and I'll kiss it, kiss it - people feel pressure, they keep comparing themselves to others and it makes them feel like they suck. That's why they destroy themselves - with drugs, with alcohol, any kinds of addiction. In this case, it's about cutting.

Simple soldier hand it over/Stop and read what you just wrote her - soldiers who actually fight for peace (such a paradox, huh?) are treated like shit by people who are higher in the hierarchy, that's why it says "simple soldier". They're also under control, there's no privacy these days, and privacy is a human right, which means that human rights stop existing.

Strangulation altercation/Oral sex and bird migration - The first line may be about people killing their loved ones because of simple, stupid fights. The oral sex part is about people wanting to feel pleasure but not have to struggle with any consequences. When you have oral sex, you do get a pleasure out of it, but girls can't get pregnant, guys don't have to wear condoms - it's safe and fun. Also, I've heard a lot of people (especially teenagers) talking about oral sex not being a kind of sex, and some girls do that to stay virgins longer (another paradox...). Bird migration - it may be about those bird flus, but I thought about it more in terms of the animals trying to escape this world because of people trying to kill them, or just to run away from this human insanity. Bird also symbolizes peace, and since birds are migrating, that means peace is very rare these days.

Just thought I'd let you know what I thought about that song. I didn't explain the chorus, because it's pretty obvious.

My Interpretation