About Anthony Kiedis
The band's lead singer, released his autobiography, Scar Tissue, in 2004. He clarified some of the lyrics in the book: "Sarcastic Mr. Know-it-all" is Dave Navarro, whom Anthony refers to as "the King of sarcasm." "With the birds, I'll share this lonely perspective," Anthony claims, was inspired by birds he spotted when singing outside of Flea's house, and the line also refers to how he felt like an outsider looking in. Anthony was introduced to marijuana at the age of 12, but he initially got high at the age of four. He and his father were strolling down the street when his father blew cannabis smoke in his face.
Lyrics
Scar tissue that I wish you saw
Sarcastic mister know-it-all
Close your eyes and I'll kiss you, 'cause
With the birds I'll share
With the birds I'll share this lonely viewin'
With the birds I'll share this lonely viewin'
Push me up against the wall
Young Kentucky girl in a push-up bra
Fallin' all over myself
To lick your heart and taste your health 'cause
With the birds I'll share this lonely viewin'
With the birds I'll share this lonely viewin'
With the birds I'll share this lonely view
Blood loss in a bathroom stall
A southern girl with a scarlet drawl
I wave goodbye to ma and pa
'Cause with the birds I'll share
With the birds I'll share this lonely viewin'
With the birds I'll share this lonely viewin'
Soft spoken with a broken jaw
Step outside but not to brawl and
Autumn's sweet, we call it fall
I'll make it to the moon if I have to crawl and
With the birds I'll share this lonely viewin'
With the birds I'll share this lonely viewin'
With the birds I'll share this lonely view
Scar tissue that I wish you saw
Sarcastic mister know-it-all
Close your eyes and I'll kiss you, 'cause
With the birds I'll share
With the birds I'll share this lonely viewin'
With the birds I'll share this lonely viewin'
With the birds I'll share this lonely view
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While behind Narcotic Challenges of Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Scar Tissue"
The Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Scar Tissue" video opens with the band, a depraved band of Mad Max-ian misfits, blistering beneath the Mojave sun, bleeding, bruised, and damaged, speeding down the desert highway in a beat-up, dusty 1967 Pontiac Catalina open-top convertible. The Red Hot Chili Peppers' 1999 album Californication contains several more melodic songs, including "Scar Tissue," one of them. However, the song's deeper meaning more closely resembles the post-apocalyptic imagery of the video, which was directed by Stéphane Sednaoui, and is lyrically filled with darker metaphors of drug addiction and the struggles before one can come out on the other side, sober.
In RHCP's "Scar Tissue,"
Frusciante's melodic guitar introduction sets the song's contemplative mood. The lyrics' larger context reflects on the struggles that most people carry about and make an effort to conceal but that nevertheless stand out like scars.
Scar tissue that I wish you saw
Sarcastic mister know-it-all
Close your eyes and I’ll kiss you, ’cause
With the birds I’ll share
Despite the fact that drug addiction is not explicitly mentioned in the song, in the case of the band, their "scar tissue" resulted from substance abuse and the other degenerative activities that went hand in hand with heroin and other addictions, from shooting up in bathroom stalls and risky sexual behaviour to the ultimate loss of innocence—Blood loss in a bathroom stall / A southern girl with a scarlet drawl / I wave goodbye to ma and pa.
The song "Scar Tissue" explicitly addressed both the band members' individual experiences with drug and alcohol abuse as well as singer Anthony Kiedis' own battle with heroin addiction, which is detailed in his novel Scar Tissue. The chorus, "With the birds I'll share this lonely viewin'," reads as a metaphor for the relapses addicts frequently have prior to sobriety and the moments of loneliness that appear during the process.
According to Kiedis' memoir, when he was developing the Californication song "Scar Tissue," "it comes dusting down from outer space when you open up the top of your mind." "Rick Rubin, the producer of 'Californication,' and I had been discussing sarcasm a lot. According to a hypothesis Rick had read, this type of comedy is extremely harmful and saps its supporters' spirits. We pledged to try to be hilarious without resorting to sarcasm because we had a reputation for being sarcastic dicks. I suppose Dave Navarro, who was the king of sarcasm and was quicker and smarter than the ordinary bear, also sprang to mind.
All those concepts were floating around until John began playing this guitar riff, and I knew right away what the song was about, Kiedis continued. It had a lighthearted, "I'm so glad I'm still alive" feeling. With that music playing in the background, I raced outside with my portable tape recorder and began singing the song's chorus in its entirety. I'll never forget getting a dose of Jonathan Livingston Seagull when gazing up at the sky over the garage and out toward Griffith Park with the birds soaring overhead. I truly felt like an outsider forever, taking on the perspective of those birds.
Soft spoken with a broken jaw
Step outside but not to brawl and
Autumn’s sweet, we call it fall
I’ll make it to the moon if I have to crawl and
With the birds I’ll share this lonely viewin’
With the birds I’ll share this lonely viewin’
With the birds I’ll share this lonely view