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Red Hot Chili Peppers - Otherside Song Meanings

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OK. Other side can be interpreted in many ways. (1) suicide, (2) communicating with the dead, and (3) a battle with drug use. The red hot chilli peppers probably meant for it to be interpreted as the battle with drug use. Lead singer Anthony Keidis (not sure of spelling), had a long addiction to heroin and even lost a friend from a drug overdose. the friend was the bands former guitar player. "I yell...and tell it that its not my friend...i tear it down...i tear it down ...and then its born again." could possibly be in reference to keidis's relapses. He'd detox, go to rehabs and then go right back into the drugs.
another possibility is that this song (awesome if in my opinion !!) could be about communication with the dead. "I heard ur voice through a photograph...i thought it up and brought up the past...once you know you can never go back, i gotta take it on the other side..." many phsycics use photographs of the deceased to communicate with them and call the spirit. Psychics are used to communicate with the dead or missing. The "otherside" is often interpreted as the other side of living. take it on the other side...get me? my uncle was murdered and his body buried in clay pit pond in staten island. if uve ever been there youd know what a maze it is. my mother hired a phsycic in 1999 to and thats about when this song came out. very erie.
in my opinion, i dont think this song is about suicide, but i searched "SongFacts.com" and someone suggested that since keidis sings "slit my throat, its all i ever had" the song is about suicide. I always tend to look deeper but, hey its just my humble opinion.

Submitted by: vicky@sonderby.us
Added: 2005-07-25 20:08:43     Rating:

I'm just contributing to the other entry. I believe that The Red Hot Chili Peppers are using the idea/story or part of it in their music video, with the nurse and stuff, perry Farells idea. It says in the article/interview that the peppers were interested in Farrels project and in the title it states "Flea, Frusciante Contributing to Farrell's Next Big Concept.

To fully underdstand you need to see the video and read the article. You can view the article here: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1501007/20050429/story.jhtml

Anyway, I think the main charectar goes to heaven and maybe, I'm not sure, can communicate to whomever is communicating with him. He must have gone to heaven from an overdose? And maybe he's battling to stay alive while in the hospital, to keep that link from reality to wherever he is, supposively near death. The wings- He MUST be dying from an overdose because he sort of knows what's going on but he's still going back and forth to different places. Mostly in his own world, I guess. His body is probably doing the best the best job it can to fight the drugs and that could also be contributing to the whole battle factor.

It makes sense that the guy in the story is having these overdoses because many like three of Anthony Kiedis's closest friends have died from drug overdoses, as you'd probably know. Examples- Hillel Slovak, River Phoenix, and Kurt Cobain. That's like, not just Anthony Kierdis's friends, the whole band's. That would have a large effect on them, hopefully.

The main Character has broken wings at the end, so he's not flying high anymore. I think he dies. Who KNOWS? Oh yeah, the Red hot chili peppers. They should explain. I'm confusing myself :) okay just go and visit that article. Confuse yourselves.

Submitted by: illumanati76
Added: 2005-10-31 20:56:27     Rating:

The Otherside as a lot to do with feeling powerless. "Slitting my Throat is all I ever had," is a line defining his musical talents as being his only expanse. It's more-or-less a suicidal-oriented song, explaining how empty he feels because everything important around him is in self-destruct mode.

"How long will I Slide?" focusing of Kiedis's drug addiction throughout the nineteens, and metaphorically, telling the listener that he's cheated death so many times, that his reprieve is running low. I honestly think, before suicide, it's a song of symbolism - seeing the "Otherside," as the only escape to avenge his sadness.

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2006-03-28 17:05:42     Rating:

What I have heard was that it was about how even though his drug addiction was the most miserable part of his life, it was completely worth it and he would never trade anything for that experience. It was a very influential part of his life.

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2006-05-27 19:31:05     Rating:

I think its has everything to do with heroine. Relapsing. "I heard your voice through a photograph/I thought it up and brought up the past" could be relating to the former guitar player, which made him think of herione. I think all the "she"s are refering to the drug as a person. "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." just screams relapse.

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2006-06-21 09:17:36     Rating:

You're all wrong. This song is about Anthony's acceptance of Flea's homosexuality.

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2006-06-21 14:34:41     Rating:

Alright, all I was gonna say, at first, was whoever said Otherside was about Anthony's exception of Flea's homosexuality has something seriously wrong with their brain. First of all, Flea isn't gay! And even if he was, how could it be about that? But now I'll say something about the song, it's how Anthony is feeling he needs to stop what's going on with his problems by either ending his life or going cold turkey.

Submitted by: charkxl
Added: 2006-06-30 13:59:13     Rating:

OMG!! Flea is not gay!!

I don't know where you get this crap from, if you had known anything about the band you will know that Flea is happily married and has a kid and that the only border-line gay relationship Flea has is most likely the deep friendship he has with Anthony. These two guys grew up together and did practically anything together..so even if it did happen, there would be no need for Anthony to go through 'the dealing of Flea's homosexuality' because Anthony pretty much knows Flea inside-out.

Anyway, I reckon this song is about drug addiction, and the melancholy that comes with it. In case you didn't know, Anthony Kiedis has struggled with drug addiction his entire life.

Hillel Slovak, one of the first guitarists for RHCP died of an overdose. He was a very close friend of Anthony's and this song references these experiences of loss and how it has effected him deeply, yet he can't dig himself out of the hole he's dug for himself, he's come to accept that he is an addict and he wil be for the rest of his life 'Once you know you can never go back
I’ve got to take it on the otherside '. 'Otherside' aka death.

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2006-07-02 16:01:40     Rating:

I think this song is about suicide. I thought I could really relate to this song when I spent 59 days in a mental hospital for being intensly suicidal. Many times depressed people are said to slide downhill, and my preferred method of suicide was slitting my throat. Drinking bleach and overdosing failed. This song really relates to my depression. I could be wrong but I just thought I'd throw that out there.

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2006-10-12 13:51:55     Rating:

I always joke with my friends about this song be about the signer/the band being gay. "separate my sides" being his umm..Behind, and repeatedly saying he wants to "take it on the other side"...Again referring to his behind. "am I still a slut" reinforces the sexual innuendos again. Also talking about her being in his bed then he pushes on a trigger metaphorically killing her, literally just getting her out of his life. "pull the thread" also sounds like he is unraveling or destroying a relationship with a girl, again because he wants to take it on (or in) the other side. This is, if nothing else, an interesting and funny way to interperate the song

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2006-10-19 18:29:04     Rating:

Push the trigger = shooting up
pull the thread = undoing the turnicate

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2006-10-29 18:37:16     Rating:

It is about Anthony accepting someones gayness...In otherside otherside means the other side of the normal from straight to gay

Submitted by: robertellerbeck
Added: 2006-11-09 09:13:18     Rating:

I've always though this song was about how he can't stop taking drugs and how he believes he has to pay for it in the afterlife (otherside).

"how long will I slide, separate my side, slitting my throat"
when will he stop killing himself

"I yell and tell it that its not a friend, I tear I down I tear it down and then its born again"
he can't stop

"pour my life into a paper cup"
his life is in a delicate state

"the astrays full and I'm spilling my guts"
he doesn't think his body can handle much more drug abuse

"still her slut"
slave to the drugs

He feels the addiction is destroying his body and soul but I think he also feels guilty about something, something to do with "push the trigger and pull the thread" which are both metaphors, the gun being a syringe and the thread part being about the addiction process and how once it starts sometimes it doesn't stop

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2006-11-15 05:31:25     Rating:

'otherside' as a single word is common slang for the afterlife. If it meant something else, it would have been spelled as two words. The voice is actually supposed to be slovak's as sung and written by anthony. The rhcp's intended this album to be in tribute of him. Slovak was a former band member who overdosed on heroin. The song describes slovak's personal struggle with drugs, at a point when it has just become a terminal crisis. Slovak realizes heroin now has complete and total control over him and that he is a helpless slave to it. Like other severe addicts to this drug who eventually overdose and die, it's gotten to the point where sub-lethal doses of the drug are no longer satiating his cravings, making a lethal overdose not question of 'if', but 'when': "how long can I slide?"

slovak is conveying that the only way to take back control is to end his life. To do this, he must come to terms with suicide. The repeated line, "I don't believe it's bad" is of great significance. It's essentially slovak finally taking back control from the drugs, and resolving in his mind that suicide isn't bad under the circumstances (drug overdose). It's interesting to note that at time index 3:59 anthony switches to saying "I don't believe it's sad."

when anthony (singing as slovak) says, "i've got to take it on the otherside," it means that he (slovak) is craving the drug, but that he'll have to take the drug in the afterlife, because he's putting an end to the chaos by killing himself. "burn me out, leave me on the otherside"... This specifies drug overdose as the method of suicide. In effect, in order to both satiate his craving for the drug and to bring an end to the suffering, he's going to take a megadose that will leave him both satisfied and dead.

Slovak explains that he's tried to fight the addiction, but it was futile: "I yell and tell it [drugs] that it's not my friend; I tear it down , and then it's born again." this refers to the inevitability of relapses. "once you know, you can never go back": this means that the addiction is never over. Once you've become hooked, you're craving it forever. It's permanent.

In a nutshell, the song is about getting people to understand slovak's state of mind and the hell he was going through. The lyrics aren't meant to be cryptic. The song is about getting the listener to empathize and understand the mind of someone who was suffering terribly. It's about getting people to understand the misery and why he took his own life.

The song "savior" is also in reference to slovak.

Everything about this song is ingenious: the music, the poetic lyrics, the whole production. One of the very best rock songs ever, imho. -ryan, lansing, mi

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2006-12-03 19:26:46     Rating:

by the way anyone here who said that this is about being gay is jsut borderline retarded. My buddy has his book Keidis that is, Scar Tissue. its a biography and I read the part in the book about his songs and what they mean. Otherside is partly about suicide but its mostly about death and dealings with drug addictions. Relapse, withdrawal etc.

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2007-01-12 16:24:39     Rating:

I'm just gonna say a small bit. Slit my throat its all I ever had is not being literal its that the only thing he felt at the time of writing this song that he had was his singing voice and it just didn't even matter. POUR my life into a papercup means that he feels he hasn't done anything amazing or accomplished anything that he's wasted so much time of his life on drugs (have you read scar tissue? his biography his dad taught him to smoke crack at such a young age and he was sleeping around as a kid)

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2007-01-15 14:28:19     Rating:

Exactly one guy said, "the singer knows Flea inside out." It about accepting Flea's homosexually. He's a redneck come on.

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2007-02-14 18:57:43     Rating:

No, Most of you guys are completely off
This is about AK struggle with his heroin use
Hence the "Otherside"
the otherside is his sobriety
and AK is saying that if he didn't have his voice
He Would be dead now, because his voice is all that he has ever had
He says it all in Scar Tissue

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2007-02-15 19:48:57     Rating:

I think that this song is about drug abuse, but there is a deeper meaning for anthony.
I think that this song is about a promise he made to his friend, hillel(sorry about spelling) who died of a drug overdose, and anthony promised hillel by his grave side that he will never do drugs again, and that is the reason why anthony went to rehab for the first time, he was clean for like 5 years but then slipped one night. I think this song is a way for anthony to apologise to hillel for breaking his promise.
The Drug reference is there, and the communicating with the dead is there, seeing hillels picture and realising what he did wrong, and wanting to kill himself (suicide motive)

Submitted by: midnitegreen
Added: 2007-04-09 20:08:55     Rating:

...but he doesn't necessarily want to think about committing suicide at the end he says "..i don't belive it's FAIR.."

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