anonymous November 27th, 2005 06:14PM  

The song is about heroin usage! Scar tissue is left from the needle every time he injected. Blood loss in the bathroom stall refers to drawing back on the plunger before injecting into the vein. Sharing a lonely view with the birds is a reference to being high.

anonymous January 10th, 2006 10:46PM  

It is about heroin usage, in the book Scar Tissue, written by Anthony Kiedis, it describes him going to hidden spots in certain neighborhoods to satisfy his need for heroin, without revealing himself, being a celebrity. However, the beginning of the song, "sarcastic mr. know it all," is actually about former rhcp member Dave Navarro. In the book, Kiedis says that it's about Navarro saying that sarcasm was his sense of humor. "Under the bridge downtown, is where I drew some blood," is speaking mostly of his heroin use. Also, "With the birds I share this lonely view," is describing most of his life as kind of an outcast.

anonymous July 10th, 2006 05:26PM  

This song is about his past issues with his dad and his drug taking it reflects on all his experinces and also makes refrence to the guitariast at that time who was causeing trouble in the band and couldn't understand his drug taking that is y it starts " scar tissue that I wish you saw a sarcastic mr know it all" this was anthony kedis view of the guitarist. It is also the name of his biography in which the opening line reads "this is my story scar tissue and all" so it is obvious that scar tissue is about the bad events and happenings in peoples lifes and is also about how other people do not understand the behaviour as have not seen there "scar tissue"

anonymous July 21st, 2006 05:21AM  

I've heard several times that it's about how when their guitarist john, left the group to go into drug rehab and the song is a celebration of his returning and becoming a different man i.E heald and hence "scar tissue".

anonymous July 27th, 2006 04:02PM  

I think the song just uses metaphors to express the pain and suffering people go through in life and the things they try to do to make up for it. They do things to try to get people to notice that they were hurt in some way, like hurt themselves, which often does nothing and nobody notices. This is expressed in the first line of the song, "scar tissue that I wish you saw."
when the people around them don't realize or pay attention to the person's pain, they just kind of wallow in their self-pity, or "share it with the birds".

anonymous August 1st, 2006 11:47AM  

I always thought "a sarcastic mister know it all" was someone who thinks he knows all their is to know, like a therapist or a doctor....But he [the 'doctor'] doesn't understand the way or how the guy feels because he is blind to the scar tissue. Scar tissue, as most know, forms as a result or a wound. Mental/emotional wounds cause one to change their outlook on life. Maybe the "sarcastic mister know it all" would understand if he saw the "scar tissue."

mz.Kiedis November 5th, 2006 04:04AM  

This song is about everything. Anthony's past memories with girls, loss, drugs... I think mainly the drugs though.

I also heard it's about birth and re-birth, probably because of John Frusciante's return in the band at that point.

anonymous November 23rd, 2006 04:04AM  

This song is based on anthony's internal conflict that he faces towards the pinnacle of his career. He begins to reflect on his past experiences of impulse, as well as the people he has seen."Push me up against the wall
Young kentucky girl in a push-up bra"refers toagirl he meets on one of his tours and feels her energy and he wishes he could catch a glimpse of what she is "lick your heart and taste your health". However, he knows that just having a little peice of her will not fill his emptiness.the second line is about a lost girl"Southern girl with a scarlet drawl" who he can relate to on some level, from the fact that she keeps losing important elements of her life to live in complete loneliness ("blood loss" and this is what keeps you alive, and she leaves it in a bathroom. And her parents who are figures of "support" and she leaves them as well. The third stanza is anthony trying to emphasize his pain (soft spoken with a broken jaw) and how he doesn't want to keep living his life this way "Step outside but not to brawl " . He sees the way life works and how society interprets certain things "Autumn’s sweet we call it fall". And he is determined to find what he really wants in life, even if it requires strenuous labor (mentally)"I’ll make it to the moon if I have to crawl". .. but for now he still remains depressed. He still lonely , yet the world around him percieves him to have it all and think life is a joke."Scar tissue that I wish you saw Sarcastic mister know it all "

anonymous March 22nd, 2007 09:28PM  

Scar Tissue is referring to the hurt and abuse his life and body took over the years from drug use. At the end of his book which happens to also be titles "Scar Tissue" he states; "I feel better now than I did ten years ago. I might have some scar tissue, but that's all right, I'm still making progress."

anonymous April 1st, 2007 03:56PM  

This song is about scar tissue of all kinds. Both mentally and physically. Anthony Kiedis said in an interview, that you could interpretate this song exactly how you wanted to. It's about having gone through something, drug abuse, war, relationships, whatever. Whatever that has caused a battle. In the video they're on their way back from a war/battle. "With birds I share this lonely view", is about seeing things from another perspective, and getting more clarity in the silence after the chaos. Besides everything, this song rules! hugs

midnitegreen April 13th, 2007 11:26PM  

All right y'all need to understand this.. this song is about Anthony Kiedis's entire life. At the beginning it is talking about him spending the night with band member flea when they were kids, and how he had sexual relations with flea's sister hence "close your your eyes and ill kiss you.." then it spans out into his entire lifetime. It ain't only about drugs and sex it is about his life and his journeys.

anonymous April 27th, 2007 03:56AM  

Scar Tissue as many people have said is about drugs. On youtube if you look up behind the scenes californication he explains about scar tissue and how in a bathroom stall he injected massive amounts of drugs in to his veins in his arms

anonymous May 19th, 2007 07:55PM  

My interpretation:

This song is about a man who has many emotional and physical problems, and just wants the world to understand him. He especially wants a girl to understand him, that he appears to be in love with.

For example:

"Scar tissue that I wish you saw" Is the pain and suffering that he feels and just wants people to see that so they understand him better.

"Sarcastic mister know it all " This could possibly refer to the people in the world who act like they know everything about someone's life, that obviously don't.

"With the birds I’ll share
This lonely view" Birds are up high, and can see everything. So the birds are symbolic of him wanting to share his life to the world.

"Blood loss in a bathroom stall" Could possibly be cutting from depression or drug use.

"I’ll make it to the moon if I have to crawl" He's in love with a girl and he will do anything that proves he is worthy of her love.

anonymous July 13th, 2007 09:44AM  

This song is not about his issues with his guitarist or his father, or any of that. It's about his depression of his addiction to drugs and how he feels trapped in this endless cycle of shooting up and withdrawals. The line "With the birds I'll share this lonely view" references that he was lonely and scared looking out at the sky and seeing the birds, and how he felt that the birds were the only ones with him at the moment he wrote this song. Anthony also felt bad because he knew that he was hurting his friends, band mates, and family through his addiction, but couldn't get himself to stop, hence the 'scar tissue' of the moment.

shakeninja October 3rd, 2007 05:01AM  

This song is straight up about his addiction to speed balling. he never felt like the people around him helped him to overcome his addiction as well as they could. apparently he always felt that they didn't pay enough attention to realize he was shooting up when he was. The girl he talks about seems like a metaphor. That the southern girl with the drawl was in fact heroin and cocaine. blood loss in a bathroom stall is about the actual physical process of shooting up by the way.

anonymous October 19th, 2007 04:51PM  

In Anthony's autobiography, also named Scar Tissue, there is a mention of a Kentucky girl (his "Kentucky dream") that he saw at a concert and lusted after until he got her.

bwinner January 9th, 2008 08:09PM  

I believe this song is talking about how it's lonely and hard trying to make it to the top. The young Kentucky girl trying to make her way in the world. Leaving her home and setting off to the moon. With birds I'll share this lonely view.

anonymous January 20th, 2008 01:19PM  

I believe in this song he is trying to help someone he knows is going down the same path as him but can do nothing to stop it. "Scar tissue that I wish you saw" means he has no physical proof to show his struggle. "Sarcastic mister know it all" just means when your young you think you know everything. "Close you eyes and I'll kiss you" refers to keeping your eyes closed to the path of destruction, but I'll kiss you and wish you the best, since I can't make you change. "With the birds I'll share this lonely view" means I can see what's to come for you, but once again you can't see it, so he just shares it with the birds. "Soft spoken with a broken jaw, step outside but not to brawl" His broken jaw comes from ignorance, from thinking he knew everything and has since learned, so now he's more soft spoken.

anonymous February 4th, 2008 05:12PM  

I think Anthony is talking about all the hard times he's had with drugs, relationships, friendships and so on, and that he wishes at the time people would have taken notice and saw that he was in a bad way.

The ''sarcastic mr know it all'' is dave navarro. Anthony states that in his book.

anonymous February 19th, 2008 08:11PM  

It's about the morning after a bar fight. "Sarcastic mister know it all" is the guy he fought. "Kentucky girl in a push up bra" is the girl he might have hit on (mr. know it all's girlfriend). The part about the birds his when he's telling about it. The only person that will listen is the birds.