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Friday Funk #24 – ‘She’s a Lover’ by Red Hot Chili Peppers
Friday Funk #24 – ‘She’s a Lover’ by Red Hot Chili Peppers
Friday Funk #24 – ‘She’s a Lover’ by Red Hot Chili Peppers
Apologies to any Friday Funkers who tried to access the site and couldn't view this latest article. There were some website optimisation issues. Now all is well, and all is funky.
Red Hot Chili Peppers’ 2022 album Unlimited Love contained some of their funkiest tracks since their 1991 funk rock hayday of Blood Sugar Sex Magik. These new songs were closer to pure funk: ‘Aquatic Mouth Dance’, ‘Poster Child’, ‘She’s a Lover’, and the dreamier, more guitar-focused ‘Let ‘Em Cry’. ‘She’s a Lover’ is built on a minimalistic and brilliantly catchy bassline from Flea.
It’s a great groove, but its sparse instrumentation (much of the album contains ample horns and synthesizers) and repetitive nature calls for slight variations in rhythm and melody. Anthony Kiedis obliges, and moves the song along with rising and falling melodies (“Is it for sale or for lease? / Oh, that’s the easy police”). He also manages to accentuate the track’s laid back cool, with a confident delivery and the one-syllable “I / Oh / I” lines before and after the first chorus.
Among the lyrical highlights are the enjoyably silly lines reminiscent of ’80s Kiedis: “Please, love, can I have a taste? / I just wanna lick your face / Any other day and I would say / You’re Atlantis manta ray”. You know that feeling – when you’re so horny that even licking a manta ray at the Atlantis aquarium is appealing.
These lines were highlighted by megacritic Anthony Fantano as an example of bad writing, but really, how seriously do you have to take yourself to not smile at them?
In idiosyncratic fashion, Kiedis seems to contemplate mindfulness and living in the present moment in the lines immediately before those about licking your face. “Long time to go without ya / Try slow to know about ya / For now is my better / Less time in forever”. The current moment, the ‘now’ is what’s important. There’s less time for living if you’re constantly wondering and worrying about what’s to come.
His bandmate John Frusciante wrote about the same theme on his song ‘Wishing’: “Every time is contained in now / Now is the one time anything happens / Though one moment’s shot in infinity’s rounds / Now is the one time anything happens”.
‘She’s a Lover’’s chorus is one of the catchiest the band have written since Frusciante rejoined in 2019. “Love me, love me / Wake up and hug me”: it’s not Shakespeare, but it’s so warm and joyful, especially with Frusciante’s vocal harmony.
Before those choruses is another great section, the “She’s a lover” bridges. The vocals imitate the staccato bassline, and then we have the release of the more sustained notes (vocals and strummed guitar chords) in the chorus.
The second, extended bridge gave birth to the album title (“She’s a lover / Unlimited love again”). Rubin suggested ‘Unlimited Love’ for the song, and Kiedis interpreted this is a suggestion for the album name. He initially favoured “more Chili Pepper-esque titles” before hearing Flea and Frusciante’s enthusiasm for Unlimited Love.
Confusingly, Kiedis thought, “Now we can’t call the song that, because we don’t want to draw all of the attention to that song,” and although ‘She’s a Lover’ is a fan favourite, the band considered it “more of an album track than a ‘Hey, everybody, look at this song’ track.” Bemusing some fans, the band have only played the song six times during the Chili Peppers’ mammoth world tour.
On many of the new songs Kiedis’ tendency to try and fill every space overshadows some of the music. Here, though, he lets the music breathe. There are a few beats where only bass and drums play, and there’s space for Frusciante’s scratchy guitar at the end of Kiedis’ vocal lines.
While Chad Smith steals the show elsewhere on the album, and particularly when playing those songs live, here he plays more of a subtle role. His main pattern doesn’t try to cram the space left by the bassline, and his fill expertly sets up Frusciante’s guitar solo. The solo plays off Kiedis’ chorus melody, and is more along the lines of 2002’s By the Way’s hummable solos than the guitar hero extravaganza of his previous album with the band, 2006’s Stadium Arcadium.
‘She’s a Lover’ is one of the new songs where the band most compliment each other and, as producer Rick Rubin simply put it, is, “So much fun to listen to."
Apologies to any Friday Funkers who tried to access the site and couldn't view this latest article. There were some website optimisation issues. Now all is well, and all is funky.
Red Hot Chili Peppers’ 2022 album Unlimited Love contained some of their funkiest tracks since their 1991 funk rock hayday of Blood Sugar Sex Magik. These new songs were closer to pure funk: ‘Aquatic Mouth Dance’, ‘Poster Child’, ‘She’s a Lover’, and the dreamier, more guitar-focused ‘Let ‘Em Cry’. ‘She’s a Lover’ is built on a minimalistic and brilliantly catchy bassline from Flea.
It’s a great groove, but its sparse instrumentation (much of the album contains ample horns and synthesizers) and repetitive nature calls for slight variations in rhythm and melody. Anthony Kiedis obliges, and moves the song along with rising and falling melodies (“Is it for sale or for lease? / Oh, that’s the easy police”). He also manages to accentuate the track’s laid back cool, with a confident delivery and the one-syllable “I / Oh / I” lines before and after the first chorus.
Among the lyrical highlights are the enjoyably silly lines reminiscent of ’80s Kiedis: “Please, love, can I have a taste? / I just wanna lick your face / Any other day and I would say / You’re Atlantis manta ray”. You know that feeling – when you’re so horny that even licking a manta ray at the Atlantis aquarium is appealing.
These lines were highlighted by megacritic Anthony Fantano as an example of bad writing, but really, how seriously do you have to take yourself to not smile at them?
In idiosyncratic fashion, Kiedis seems to contemplate mindfulness and living in the present moment in the lines immediately before those about licking your face. “Long time to go without ya / Try slow to know about ya / For now is my better / Less time in forever”. The current moment, the ‘now’ is what’s important. There’s less time for living if you’re constantly wondering and worrying about what’s to come.
His bandmate John Frusciante wrote about the same theme on his song ‘Wishing’: “Every time is contained in now / Now is the one time anything happens / Though one moment’s shot in infinity’s rounds / Now is the one time anything happens”.
‘She’s a Lover’’s chorus is one of the catchiest the band have written since Frusciante rejoined in 2019. “Love me, love me / Wake up and hug me”: it’s not Shakespeare, but it’s so warm and joyful, especially with Frusciante’s vocal harmony.
Before those choruses is another great section, the “She’s a lover” bridges. The vocals imitate the staccato bassline, and then we have the release of the more sustained notes (vocals and strummed guitar chords) in the chorus.
The second, extended bridge gave birth to the album title (“She’s a lover / Unlimited love again”). Rubin suggested ‘Unlimited Love’ for the song, and Kiedis interpreted this is a suggestion for the album name. He initially favoured “more Chili Pepper-esque titles” before hearing Flea and Frusciante’s enthusiasm for Unlimited Love.
Confusingly, Kiedis thought, “Now we can’t call the song that, because we don’t want to draw all of the attention to that song,” and although ‘She’s a Lover’ is a fan favourite, the band considered it “more of an album track than a ‘Hey, everybody, look at this song’ track.” Bemusing some fans, the band have only played the song six times during the Chili Peppers’ mammoth world tour.
On many of the new songs Kiedis’ tendency to try and fill every space overshadows some of the music. Here, though, he lets the music breathe. There are a few beats where only bass and drums play, and there’s space for Frusciante’s scratchy guitar at the end of Kiedis’ vocal lines.
While Chad Smith steals the show elsewhere on the album, and particularly when playing those songs live, here he plays more of a subtle role. His main pattern doesn’t try to cram the space left by the bassline, and his fill expertly sets up Frusciante’s guitar solo. The solo plays off Kiedis’ chorus melody, and is more along the lines of 2002’s By the Way’s hummable solos than the guitar hero extravaganza of his previous album with the band, 2006’s Stadium Arcadium.
‘She’s a Lover’ is one of the new songs where the band most compliment each other and, as producer Rick Rubin simply put it, is, “So much fun to listen to."
Apologies to any Friday Funkers who tried to access the site and couldn't view this latest article. There were some website optimisation issues. Now all is well, and all is funky.
Red Hot Chili Peppers’ 2022 album Unlimited Love contained some of their funkiest tracks since their 1991 funk rock hayday of Blood Sugar Sex Magik. These new songs were closer to pure funk: ‘Aquatic Mouth Dance’, ‘Poster Child’, ‘She’s a Lover’, and the dreamier, more guitar-focused ‘Let ‘Em Cry’. ‘She’s a Lover’ is built on a minimalistic and brilliantly catchy bassline from Flea.
It’s a great groove, but its sparse instrumentation (much of the album contains ample horns and synthesizers) and repetitive nature calls for slight variations in rhythm and melody. Anthony Kiedis obliges, and moves the song along with rising and falling melodies (“Is it for sale or for lease? / Oh, that’s the easy police”). He also manages to accentuate the track’s laid back cool, with a confident delivery and the one-syllable “I / Oh / I” lines before and after the first chorus.
Among the lyrical highlights are the enjoyably silly lines reminiscent of ’80s Kiedis: “Please, love, can I have a taste? / I just wanna lick your face / Any other day and I would say / You’re Atlantis manta ray”. You know that feeling – when you’re so horny that even licking a manta ray at the Atlantis aquarium is appealing.
These lines were highlighted by megacritic Anthony Fantano as an example of bad writing, but really, how seriously do you have to take yourself to not smile at them?
In idiosyncratic fashion, Kiedis seems to contemplate mindfulness and living in the present moment in the lines immediately before those about licking your face. “Long time to go without ya / Try slow to know about ya / For now is my better / Less time in forever”. The current moment, the ‘now’ is what’s important. There’s less time for living if you’re constantly wondering and worrying about what’s to come.
His bandmate John Frusciante wrote about the same theme on his song ‘Wishing’: “Every time is contained in now / Now is the one time anything happens / Though one moment’s shot in infinity’s rounds / Now is the one time anything happens”.
‘She’s a Lover’’s chorus is one of the catchiest the band have written since Frusciante rejoined in 2019. “Love me, love me / Wake up and hug me”: it’s not Shakespeare, but it’s so warm and joyful, especially with Frusciante’s vocal harmony.
Before those choruses is another great section, the “She’s a lover” bridges. The vocals imitate the staccato bassline, and then we have the release of the more sustained notes (vocals and strummed guitar chords) in the chorus.
The second, extended bridge gave birth to the album title (“She’s a lover / Unlimited love again”). Rubin suggested ‘Unlimited Love’ for the song, and Kiedis interpreted this is a suggestion for the album name. He initially favoured “more Chili Pepper-esque titles” before hearing Flea and Frusciante’s enthusiasm for Unlimited Love.
Confusingly, Kiedis thought, “Now we can’t call the song that, because we don’t want to draw all of the attention to that song,” and although ‘She’s a Lover’ is a fan favourite, the band considered it “more of an album track than a ‘Hey, everybody, look at this song’ track.” Bemusing some fans, the band have only played the song six times during the Chili Peppers’ mammoth world tour.
On many of the new songs Kiedis’ tendency to try and fill every space overshadows some of the music. Here, though, he lets the music breathe. There are a few beats where only bass and drums play, and there’s space for Frusciante’s scratchy guitar at the end of Kiedis’ vocal lines.
While Chad Smith steals the show elsewhere on the album, and particularly when playing those songs live, here he plays more of a subtle role. His main pattern doesn’t try to cram the space left by the bassline, and his fill expertly sets up Frusciante’s guitar solo. The solo plays off Kiedis’ chorus melody, and is more along the lines of 2002’s By the Way’s hummable solos than the guitar hero extravaganza of his previous album with the band, 2006’s Stadium Arcadium.
‘She’s a Lover’ is one of the new songs where the band most compliment each other and, as producer Rick Rubin simply put it, is, “So much fun to listen to."