This song is a tribute to lost friends, namely River Phoenix, a close friend of RHCP guitarist John Frusciante and bass player Flea. It's also rumored that there is a reference to Kurt Cobain.
RHCP bass player Flea wrote many of the lyrics to this song. For the One Hot Minute album, he said he was thinking less as a bass player and more as a songwriter - he explained that his playing on the album was original, but not what he considered complex. Flea was at The Viper Room the night of October 30, 1993 when Phoenix overdosed on drugs and collapsed outside on the sidewalk. Flea rode with him in the ambulance, but Phoenix didn't survive.
Flea came up with the bass part on a beach in Hawaii when he was playing his acoustic bass guitar.
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