RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS UNDER - UNDER THE BRIDGE

UNDER THE BRIDGE

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS

SONGWRITERS: ANTHONY KIEDIS; CHAD SMITH; FLEA & JOHN FRUSCIANTE

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: BLOOD SUGAR SEX MAGIK

LABEL: WARNER BROS

GENRE: ALTERNATIVE ROCK

YEAR: 1992

 

         "Under the Bridge" is a song by American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. It is the eleventh track on the group's fifth studio album, Blood Sugar Sex Magik, and was released as its second single on March 10, 1992. Vocalist Anthony Kiedis wrote the lyrics to express feelings of loneliness and despondency, and to reflect on narcotics and their impact on his life. Kiedis was driving home from rehearsals when Blood Sugar Sex Magik was in pre-production and said he sang the lyrics to himself. Kiedis initially did not feel that "Under the Bridge" would fit into the Chili Peppers' repertoire, and was reluctant to show it to his bandmates until producer Rick Rubin implored him to do so. The rest of the band was receptive to the lyrics and wrote the music.

      The song became a critical and commercial success, peaking at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 behind "Jump" by Kris Kross, and later receiving a platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America. To date, "Under the Bridge" is the band's highest-charting single on the Billboard Hot 100. The single's success was widened with the release of its accompanying video, which was frequently played on music television channels. It won the "Viewer's Choice Award" and "Breakthrough Video" at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards.

      "Under the Bridge" helped the Red Hot Chili Peppers enter the mainstream. David Fricke of Rolling Stone said that the song "unexpectedly drop-kicked the band into the Top 10", while Philip Booth of The Tampa Tribune commented that it was a "pretty, undulating, [and] by-now omnipresent single." The song has become an inspiration to other artists, and remains a seminal component of the alternative rock movement of the early and mid-1990s.

Sometimes I feel like

I don't have a partner

Sometimes I feel like

My only friend

Is the city I live in

The city of angels

Lonely as I am

Together we cry

 

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

And I never worry

Now that is a lie

 

I don't ever wanna feel

Like I did that day

But take me to the place I love

Take me all the way

I don't ever wanna feel

Like I did that day

But take me to the place I love

Take me all the way

 

It's hard to believe that

There's nobody out there

It's hard to believe

That I'm all alone

At least I have her love

The city, she loves me

Lonely as I am

Together we cry

 

I don't ever wanna feel

Like I did that day

But take me to the place I love

Take me all the way

I don't ever wanna feel

Like I did that day

But take me to the place I love

Take me all the way

 

(Under the bridge downtown)

Is where I drew some blood

(Under the bridge downtown)

I could not get enough

(Under the bridge downtown)

Forgot about my love

(Under the bridge downtown)

I gave my life away

 

Yeah, yeah

Oh, no, no, no, no, yeah, yeah

Oh, no, I said oh, yeah, yeah

Here I stay.