“Black Summer” by Red Hot Chili Peppers
The term “black summer”, most simply implied, acts as an allegory for the vocalist going through an extended period of depression. And as revealed in the chorus and outro, the thesis sentiment of this piece revolves around his desire for this season to come to an end, even though it doesn’t appear as if its cessation is anywhere in sight.
Meanwhile the verses come off as being meant to delineate exactly what it is that has the vocalist so melancholic in the first place. And to note these lyrics are highly metaphorical, and it is not clear all that’s being said. But what is discernible for instance is that he obviously perceives China as some sort of threat. Furthermore, he also seems to express concern for the environment, i.e. the platypus being on the verge of extinction.
But this is a rock song. And as we have pointed out in the past, rock musicians, even some of the more famous ones, rarely tend to say anything directly in song. So whereas we may have a general gist of what’s going down, logic would dictate that a diehard of the Red Hot Chili Peppers for example would understand this piece better.
But what we do know as general analysts is that the singer is going through a funk, the type of which he has also endured in the past. And as also shown in the chorus, this ‘dark’ feeling also has something to do with a lack of companionship. But either way, the “black summer” is once in season in the vocalist’s life. And now comes the indefinite wait for this dreadful feeling to end.
Facts about “Black Summer”
This track is from Red Hot Chili Peppers’ 2022 album entitled “Unlimited Love”. ,
Released on February 4th, 2022 via Warner Records, “Black Summer” serves as the album’s lead single.
“Unlimited Love” made headlines for being the first album the Chili Peppers have dropped since guitarist John Frusciante, who first joined the band in 1988, rejoined (after leaving in 2009) in 2019. Prior to this, the group’s last studio album was actually 2016’s “The Getaway”.
Multi-genre behind-the-scenes’ man Rick Rubin produced this track. And its writers are the aforementioned Frusciante alongside his Chili Peppers’ bandmates.
Below is the full list of the credited writers for “Black Summer”:
- John Frusciante
- drummer Chad Smith
- bassist Flea
- singer Anthony Kiedis
Nobody can ever dream to creating the sound and energy produced by this one of a kind,once in a lifetime kinda’ band.Any band who has been around this long without running out of fresh material in a world where everything has been done thrice deserves a fxxxxn applause!!!
Yes! I’m
Couldn’t agree more. Wish their ticket prices were a little cheaper
These are NOT the Rolling Stones. They have put out 4 dynamite albums at the same age the Rolling Stones fizzled at. I love the Stones, but the Peppers are the greatest band of all time, and still are. The Grammies should be ashamed for awarding Brandi Carlyle top Alternative song. It was pure trash and Black Summer should have blown it out of the water
Amen brotha. Best band ever! Love them
Ive been a die hard fan of RHCP for many years(20 years or so). Its exciting to see they are still releasing new albums. Great music hands down.
My theory: I think the black summer is the period when the musicians can’t tour because of the pandemic.
That’s what i think too aarni
Correctamundo. But maybe not because they can’t tour. Maybe because like for most of us, having this evil disease around for a >2nd< summer, especially since it didn't have to happen, sucked! People couldn't live normal lives! Plus, seeing the terrible loss of lives and what the pandemic exposed regarding the character of some of the American public or lack thereof was pretty ugly.
I think this band I very smart with a somewhat futuristic and political side. This current obsession with the pandemic is the black summers, but there is much more to this. “It’s been a long time since I made a new friend,” in my opinion means that people are further distanced with new technology. For instance Amazon home delivery, grocery pick up from Walmart, Uber and those other grocery home delivery businesses, even hunting in wisconsin where people don’t even register deer at gas stations where we’d all meet new people to talk about the hunt/kill.
Then, you get into lack of communication, or ability to speak your mind if it doesn’t meet modern liberal ideology. (“Sailing on a censor-ship,” “riding on a headless horse.” This headless horse could mean 2 things. Either you have to get your word out where nothing and no one can see you coming, or nobody will listen to you because they have no mind of their own because they are completely indoctrinated.
The reference to the platypus and Thornberg, I think, is another stab at the liberals jokes of climate change due to man and a disrespectful and unstable young girl who thinks she’s a genius when she is just another bolt in the liberal machine ruining this world into the ground.
The China theories, I think are right, from the other responders. In ancient China, wars were fought with archers because guns weren’t invented yet. Neither was the term biological warfare. China is no beginner to biological warfare using viruses. When they couldn’t breach a kingdom’s walls, they’d catapult diseased body’s over the walls and wait for the people to die. Those People’s weapons were useless to the viruses!
BTW, anyone notice the lead singer, Anthony Kiedis, looks identical to Daniel Day Lewis in Gangs of New York?
You nailed it my brother, peace and love
You said it better than I could
Pls go watch the HBO Documentary “In the Same Breath” extremely enlightening & tragically sad at same time!!
You are an id-ot. You think AK, a Bernie Sanders supporter from Los Angeles is poking fun at climate change?
Crawl back into whatever conservative dung hole you lurked out of.
tend to agree with you on this one
100% Agree. California…your nasty tone is rediculous. Your contention is as well. Do you think Anthony would let people know he was actually sane…and DID NOT SUPPORT THE LEFTS SELF HATRED AND LIES? No. He would not. Anthony is clearly a intelligent person whi thinks for himself. So he knows climate change….Greta….Clause Schwab and the evil evil left are destroying this world! God Bless Us All!
yup
Agreed
I think all bad&good experiences of band members i creates this amazing neverending energy. They are now near 60’s but its hard to belive just looking at them and listen. All what has changed is songs has deeper meaning.
I concur with the above ideas of black summer and add that reference to China is the pandemic and the archer is unable to fight. Because pandemics and other forms of human or economic crisis can be instigated in many ways.
Also the band are very tough as a unit and take their collective strength to keep striving for greatness and relevance!
The “China’s on the dark side of the moon” lyric as well as intimating the general rise of China is also a literal reference to the Chinese Chang’e-4 moon lander that landed on the far side of the moon in Jan 2019 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang%27e_4).
The “platypus” and “Greta” [Thunberg] lines both seem to be references to concerns about climate change and the environment.
As already pointed out, this bleak black period when “It’s been a long time since I made a new friend”, has likely been strongly impacted by the lockdowns resulting from the COVID19 pandemic.
I love the darkness and the light of Black Summer. “Cremation takes a piece of your supply” hit me hard! My favorite band will always be relative. Great to see John back with the RHCP family.
To me (an Aussie) it’s about the black summer in Australia and the not being able to play during covid. It Makes sense with Flea being Aussie. Songfacts.com has some info on it.
No rain=Lazy Rain
California Drought=skies refuse to cry
California Fire loss of homes=cremation takes you supply
Fire all night=night dressed like noon
China Environmental issues=China on darkside of moon.
Austrailian Fires=Secret Life of Roo
Greta Thunber= My greta weighs a ton
How fire spreds=archers on the run
Everyone is effected=No one stands alone behind the sun.
Brazilian Folklore- flaming headless mule= Riding a headless horse
Politicaly nothing happening to help= sail on censorship.
Black Summer=Burned remains after summer
Very interesting!
Yes.
Platypus are few = growing number of endangered animals.
Ya. You are the one getting closest imo.
You nailed it. I immediately thought of the wildfires in California and Australia. I live in a part of the world where sadly wildfires are a constant issue nearly every summer and Kiedis describes the characteristics perfectly (night dressed like noon). “A sailor spoke to soon” refers to the ancient mainers rhyme “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky at morning, sailors take warning”. The first part indicating the sky is red at night which would normally be a blessing (ie. “delight”), but in this case, the sailor spoke too soon (cuz the earth is on fire!).
‘It’s been a long time since I made a new friend’ Kiedis literally said this in an interview a couple of years ago. Nothing to do with the pandemic but seems more to do with the challenge of forming new friendships as we age.
Yes, that’s how I felt when I first heard it. I read somewhere that men stop making new friends after age 26. So sad but seems true.
I see black summer as a long time locked because of covid. Summer is a season to go out, travel, know people and make new friends. But the last 2 summers are black because we are the most part of the time inside our houses and don’t see the sun light. And we are wondering when will these black summers finally have an end.
I interpret the song as a sea shanty which became popular thru young kids and tik tok hard last summer 2021, Weary from the isolation of COVID, Remote learning, social distance, long time since meeting a new friend. Indicates China being where the pandemic started, also the city of LA was on fire cuz of the BLM riots, black summer. Tom Hanks was in Australia when he first announced he had COVID, the moment it became real for us. Nods to Greta toomberg, a young influencer who’s passion is environment save.
I was hoping the article had some inside scoop from the band because it really is a puzzling song. With its cryptic lyrics and rolling beat, and awesome guitar work, it’s a fantastic song. There are so many options of what it could mean, and there’s no telling who is absolutely correct, but the article and most comments seem to interweave between COVID, the environment, and the angst of it all. They are all interesting and I couldn’t disagree with anyone here. Y’all are some deep thinkers.
A talented band can create a song out of any garbled random words that rhyme, don’t read too much into this. It sounds great and means whatever you want it to cause the composers probably don’t really know either.
This.
The lyrics and vocals sound a tad Irish ☘️
Ummm this track is totally about the wildfires and environmental issues! Ok bye.
You see, whatever is happening, and all what was described above is probably a corect example (fires, other topics), simply all trouble from the news are having impact on our mental being, on our feelings. And there is too many of issues these days. And a man struggles to coop with these and feels exhausted to manage. But some positive hint behind I feel, that it’s all about us and our approach our lives. Or at least that’s my hope :-).
I think this is all correct and every one has their own interpretation. I hope all this “blackness” is not that of their mood/psychological state.
This band absolutely f–*ing blows now. What the hell are these lyrics now?? 😂😂😂 sailing on a CENSOR-SHIP?? What???? Dumbest cheesiest bull–it I’ve ever heard!
First, don’t give nasty comments because you are no fan.
2) The Peppers are incredible, Black Summer is perfect, and the world has lots of dark going on! These guys are still killing it!! ????????????????