Lyrics:
GETTING BORN IN THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI
PAPA WAS A COPPER
AND MAMA WAS A HIPPIE
IN ALABAMA SHE WOULD SWING A HAMMER
PRICE YOU GO... (See the rest of these lyrics)
Top Rated Interpretation
2006-05-02 20:04:57
Yeah, it's about a girl named Dani California "California rest in peace." In the video they were saying California rest in peace and spoofing all these other bands because they're saying California get ready 'cause a lot of untalented bands are taking over.
anonymous
2007-01-23 04:01:29  
I'm not gonna go too in depth with the song as I can see it could be taken from several different points of view.
"California rest in peace" - Dead, obviously.
"Simaltanious release" - She was pregnant (Backed up in the song Californication "Teenage bride with a baby inside")
"California show your teeth" - Had to be identified by dental records.
This is just my thoughts on it.
anonymous
2007-01-24 14:12:33  
this song is actually about all the women anthony kiedis has been with in his life.
anonymous
2007-02-05 11:04:09  
its not RAMSTEIN or the germs that's in the video. its either the misfits or samhain.
you can tell because of the devilock that anthony is wearing. The reason that it could be samhain is becuase danzig was the only one that had one it that band and its huge.
the reason why its not ramstein is because its going in chronilogical order of rock history and the infuence that. I don't think ramstein was very popular in the late 70's early 80's
anonymous
2007-02-09 22:51:20  
i thought this song was part of the trilogy
"Californication" "Under the Bridge" and "Dani California"
anonymous
2007-03-01 11:52:08  
It's Hendrix not Prince. Why would Prince be in the 70's? It's also Motley Crue not Poison. The blue neck band and the point to the camera with the drum stick was vintage Tommy Lee from the Home Sweet Home video.It's also Danzig with Misfits influence look at the stance with the mike stand pure Glen. Also Beatles with some Freddie and the Dreamers influnce.Also Bowie with some New York Dolls influence. All in all a great vid with a lot of cool references. Love the P Funk with Bootsie Collins glasses and the mother ship and all. Trivia Question time what album did George Clinton produce for the RHCP?
anonymous
2007-04-01 15:42:33  
Uhm, John Frusciante said in an interview, that the band that everyone (including me) was the beatles is the monkees.. And then I understood the next part as being the beatles in the time of their lonely hearts club band-era. But I see it fit at hendrix, but this is just my point of view. And I'm pretty sure that it's the misfits, unknown one. Hugs :)
anonymous
2007-05-21 05:51:52  
Dani is a representation of all of the girls in Anthony's life. The film clip for Dani California is not meant to be particular bands just genres as flea has said!
anonymous
2007-05-31 23:54:22  
It's about a 14 year old girl from louisiana (balck bandan sweet louisina) who he met on their self titled book and her dad was the chief of police in lousiana (papa was a copper) get it its in scar tissue read it
anonymous
2007-06-20 15:59:51  
Those assholes who think that the dani california video is re-enacting so-called "crappy" bands are ignorant because many of those bands are among the greatest of all time. Also, the bands featured are
1-Elvis
2-The Beatles
3-
4-Bootsy Collins
5-David Bowie
6-Green Day
7-The Misfits
8-Aerosmith
anonymous
2007-06-25 15:07:16  
Ok, so Dani is not a real person & so on... we've understood that, thank you very much. I don't think chili peppers sing about her in Californication, because Anthony says (in his book, you lazy people) that girl from Californication was actually a girl that he knew from his drog group (I don't know how to explain it, English is not my better side) and he said, as much as I could remember, that she died... ok, this doesn't make so much sense... Sorry people :)
Tlk2themaninchrj
2007-08-10 23:20:23  
I think Dani was a real girl but also a metaphor for California. "California rest in peace" maybe saying California is just dying because of what it's come to. The music video goes there all these different genres who are supposedly supposed to be real bands that Anthony hates. He might be saying California is being taken over by all these stupid bands, which I agree with.
It definitely sounds like the life of a girl though.
anonymous
2008-03-05 23:48:38  
I think it's basically a modern day Bonnie & Clyde story. The part when she was stealing another breath was before she got up faced the cops & fired, ending her life in glorious battle & on the video I think # 10 is AC/DC
anonymous
2008-03-13 15:13:54  
Umm, no he doesn't hate those bands, he loves the Beatles & elvis and so on...watch the making of video, then you'd see. They're basically just going through all the musicians that have influenced people over the years.
i think this is another one of these videos that has NOTHING to do with the song whatsoever.
anonymous
2008-04-06 03:17:35  
Most of the song is fairly self explanatory, but some people seem to read way to much into some parts.
The line "California rest in peace" is simply to show the Dani is dead, since her full name is Dani California as one can tell from the line "With a name like Dani California, The day was gonna come when I was gonna mourn ya". Now, of course her name might be a metaphore for the way California is, but that's a seprate debate all together.
The other part of this song I see debated the most is how she is said to die. To me at its very clear... She was killed by a cop in North Dekoda. The line "Never made it up to Minnesota, North Dakota man was a gunning for the quota" is really easy to interpret. "The man" is an often used term to describe cops, and cops often have quotas to fill. Simple enough... and the line "Down in the badlands she was savin' the best for last" also supports that, seeing as the badlands do run through North Dakota.
Beyond that the rest of the song pretty much explains itself... Its a fictional girl who leads a bad life, and ends up getting killed at a young age.
anonymous
2008-05-31 21:08:21  
"Simultaneous release" is not sexual. It refers to the character's manner of death, i.e. a gunfight. The man "gunning for the quota" and Dani shot their guns at the same time, and she died.
If you look at the song lyrics, it's not hard to see that Dani did not commit suicide--just because the narrator says he mourns her doesn't mean she took her own life, guys.
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