Musical Ink: Red Hot Chili Peppers "Otherside"

sing us poetic songs,
mesmerizing us with your lyrics,
let us trace the length of your melody,
locating the musical ink....





Red Hot Chili Peppers ---- Otherside


For a group whose lyrics always tend to spill out poetry, comes this stirring rendition, first published on 1999's Californication.  I love the power of word repetition, as demonstrated by this song.


the lyrics:

Otherside

How long, how long will I slide
Separate my side
I don't, I don't believe it's bad
Slittin' my throat it's all I ever

I heard your voice through a photograph
I thought it up and brought up the past
Once you've know, you can never go back
I've got to take it on the other side

Centuries are what it meant to me
A cemetery where I marry the sea
Stranger things could never change my mind
I've got to take it on the other side

Take it on the other side
Take it on the other side
Take it on
Take it on

How long, how long will I slide
Separate my side
I don't, I don't believe it's bad
Slittin' my throat it's all I ever

Pour my life into a paper cup
The ashtrays full and I'm spillin' my guts
She wants to know am I still a slut?
I've got to take it on the other side

The scarlet starlet and she's in my bed
A candidate for a soul mate bled
Push the trigger and pull the thread
I've got to take it on the other side

Take it on the other side
Take it on
Take it on

How long, how long will I slide
Separate my side
I don't, I don't believe it's bad
Slittin' my throat it's all I ever

Turn me on take me for a hard ride
Burn me out leave me on the other side
I yell and tell it that it's not a friend
I tear it down, I tear it down and then it's born again

How long, how long will I slide
Separate my side
I don't, I don't believe it's bad
Slittin' my throat it's all I ever

I don't, I don't believe it's bad
Slittin' my throat it's all I ever

--------

I don't believe it's bad, at all.

Marcus Jamison, the Rare Poet