Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Give It Away"

I was scrolling through Hulu the other day and ended up watching an episode of Dark Side of the 90s. The episode was on the Viper Room, which was a nightclub on Sunset

Blvd in LA that Johnny Depp bought in 1993. It became a celebrity packed hot spot of the early 90’s and in the same year it was purchased, an event took place that would make it infamous for a different reason. The event highlighted in the show was the unfortunate passing of 23-year-old actor, River Phoenix. Who passed in the early morning of Halloween 1993 on the sidewalk outside the front doors of the Viper Room. He had been a promising actor of his time, in movies like My Private Idaho alongside Keanu Reeves, Stand By Me, and Indiana Jones. He was also the older brother of actor Joaquin Phoenix.

In the episode, it talked about how good of friends River was with members of Red Hot Chili Peppers. The night of his death, the bass player of RHCP, Flea, had been playing a set at the Viper Room, and even accompanied River to the hospital. One of their hit songs “Give it Away” had a verse dedicated to River. As a longtime lover of RHCP and that song, I had always wondered what the lyrics meant. To my surprise, there are more than just sexual innuendos in it.

There are plenty of references to wholesome ideas and smart wording throughout the song. The song and the album it is on, Blood Sugar Sex Magik, was inspired by singer Anthony Kiedis’ girlfriend at the time, Nina Hagen. Kiedis in his autobiography, Scar Tissue, talked about how she taught him a lot about love and selflessness. The song is about giving away your love, kindness, and helping others however you can. “Give it away” (repeated 68 times in total) and “What I got you got to get it put it in you” are reminders to let selflessness run through your veins, and to let love pour out of you.

The verse in “Give it Away” referring to River is, “There’s a river born to be a giver, keep you warm won’t let you shiver. His heart is never gonna wither.” This shed light on the fact that River was a giving person and had been an activist his

whole life. Impressive to me that the lyrics were written 2 years prior to his passing. There are no shortage of songs dedicated to someone gone too soon, most times emphasizing only the good about the person. The verse in this song and the song later written by Red Hot Chili Peppers dedicated to River, called “Transcending”, have similarities on how they speak about him in life and after death. “Transcending” is off their sixth album, One Hot Minute, which was released in 1995. With metaphors alluding to River’s giving, loving, and compassionate nature all throughout. It

was so impressive to me that someone so young left such huge impact.

Another lyric that shows the importance of loving others and being generous is: “Keep your more to receive your less,” which refers to Bob Marley’s song “Misty Morning”. They put this in the song to highlight the notion of “giving equals receiving.” This reference explained the “Bob Marley poet and a prophet, Bob Marley taught me how to off it, Bob Marley walkin’ it like he talk it” mention, which I had always questioned why that was in there. He has been acclaimed for his way of spreading peace, love, justice, and knowledge through his music and poems. Clarifying as to why they would refer to him in this song about generosity.

After doing this dive it solidified one of the reasons I started this journey: to get to the true meaning of my favorite songs. I never knew that “Give It Away” had so many positive references, and lessons to apply to my daily life. It also gave me an excuse to listen to such an amazing album like Blood Sugar Sex Magik again.