What does Californication mean?

Red Hot Chili Peppers: Californication Meaning

Album cover for Californication album cover

Song Released: 2000


Get "Californication" on MP3: Get MP3 from iTunes

Californication Lyrics

Psychic spies from China
Try to steal your mind's elation
Little girls from Sweden
Dream of silver screen quotations
And if you want these kind of dreams
It's Californication

It's the edge of the world
And all of western...

  1. anonymous
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    Aug 22nd 2007 !⃝

    I think you all have good points but I believe he says about how Hollywood infects people's life and how they try to be like the Hollywood stars. Since cheating is similar to fornication and because hollywood is in california he puts those words together making californication... That's it I think.

  2. anonymous
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    Jul 15th 2007 !⃝

    Alright first off who ever said it is about Dani California is partly right,but not 100 percent. Californication is talking about how superficial Hollywood is. Dani California is mentioned "teenage bride,with a baby inside getting high on information",but the song isn't entirely based on her.

  3. anonymous
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    Jul 5th 2007 !⃝

    Guy earlier mentioned Californication being from a bumper sticker and explained the meaning of the sticker. I interpret the bumper sticker and the title of the song to be very similar in meaning. "Californication" is the process of becoming California-like rather than the common Cali - fornication (Sex) interpretation. I live outside of the US and have never heard of the bumper sticker, I just always interpreted the title of the song this way. -ation is a suffix used often for this purpose. Anyway, that's just how I always interpreted the title.

  4. anonymous
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    Jun 22nd 2007 !⃝

    Also "the sun may rise in the east at least it settles in a finer location" is saying that California is an ok place better the the east coast and it doesn't have to set in Hollywood

  5. anonymous
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    Jun 22nd 2007 !⃝

    Ok... Really it is say that california is fake in every way the people, the movies, just to name a few. And " A tennage bride with a baby inside" is about Dain California the girl who was in By The Way and Dain California.

  6. anonymous
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    Jun 21st 2007 !⃝

    I believe that this song is entitled "Californication" yes to combine the two words, but more importantly to show the two things most "important" to Americans today...sex and a the influence celebrities have on us. It is saying that California is not all it's cracked up to be- but not the state...the state of mind. When they talk about space being made in a Hollywood basement they're saying that humans are so advanced that we can now do something that before only God could create. Everyone builds up the glamorous life until they realize that it will only destroy us. As for that sun- rising in the east-- that represents the beginning of civilization...if it sets in the west being California, that means- ok, civilization will end with this life that we're creating, but that's ok at least we'll go out glamorous. I dunno....I think it just has to do with how celebrities and the media have so vastly influenced and changed our lives. It's fitting then that California be the state used....then again, it's only in every other Chili Pepper song created ever.

  7. anonymous
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    Jun 14th 2007 !⃝

    Well I think that this is about the life in hollywood and what califoria has to offer.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  8. anonymous
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    May 19th 2007 !⃝

    I think this song is about California where most movies and music are made, are in a way brain warping the world because all over the world people look at these movies and this lifestyle and take to it ."Little girls from Sweden
    Dream of silver screen quotations
    And if you want these kind of dreams
    It's Californication"

  9. anonymous
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    May 11th 2007 !⃝

    Well it's a long song so there is a lot of stuff in it that really doesn't have much meaning. I think really all it is is just filler. Kind of like the rest of Beethoven's 9th symphony. All anyone cares about is the dan dan da daaaa and the rest is just filler. Without filler it wouldn't be a symphony after all.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  10. anonymous
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    May 4th 2007 !⃝

    I Agree with you guys. Completely.But you always recite the same passages,i mean what is Alderon? and why are earthquakes good vibrations to a girl`s guitar?

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  11. anonymous
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    Apr 27th 2007 !⃝

    I agree with most of you u can tell that it's about california being over rated and celebrities with plastic surgery and that yet that random dude who said about Dani is right.

    If you listen to Dani California it says "poppa was a copper and her momma was a hippie" obviously this means that she was brought into a bad family so she was pregnant as a teenager perhaps and getting married coz of the baby. and in Californication they say "teenage bride with a baby inside getting high on information" talking about Dani who was impregnated, engaged and trying to know all she can about this stuff.

  12. anonymous
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    Apr 14th 2007 !⃝

    By the way the last interpretation was just part of my own personal experience. Some of what I said is not in the song its just what its saying.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  13. anonymous
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    Mar 30th 2007 !⃝

    Ok California has been fucked up by Democrats, HollyWood stars and all of this other stuff that goes on there. Now for some reason people want to be part of this all and be just like them even though its a horrible lifestyle. All of the White little suburban kids all think there gangsters because of the Music and movies that come out of there. People get all sorts of sick ideas about sex and politics and people want to be just like all of the people there. So pretty much the song is just pointing out the obvious which all of these idiots out there haven't figured out. And being an artist he can get his opinions out there through song and that is what he's done. Also Dani California is just about some chick or chicks and his story about them not anything that has to do with the song Californication. Also there last point that I'm pointing out is that it's all fake and all that stuff will never last so really all of this stuff with stars is just not even worth caring about. I mean seriously why should I care Angelina Jolie's sex life or who she's done what with I mean shouldn't I care more about my own life and whats going on. Seriously.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  14. anonymous
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    Mar 15th 2007 !⃝

    Some one PLEASE explain to me the "And Alderson's not far away"
    WHATS THE ALDERSON!??!

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  15. anonymous
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    Mar 13th 2007 !⃝

    It couldn't possibly be about Dani California moron way way way up there. Take a look at your copyrights.

    It's about the decline of Western civilization in a broad sense, but the lyrics point out details.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway



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