Red Hot Chili Peppers' Anthony Kiedis joins Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1 to discuss the group’s new song “Not The One” from their forthcoming album ‘Unlimited Love’ due out next week. He tells Zane about how the song came together, his approach to writing lyrics, and more.
Anthony Kiedis Tells Apple Music How “Not The One” Came Together…
Flea had put together a drum machine and bass song in his cobweb covered garage. It was not what you hear today for "Not The One", because the bridge was the verse and the chorus was the bridge, and it was completely inverted. Every day after band practice, I ride home and I listen to what we've done that day over and over and over and over hoping that it sparks something or that I hear the right melody or something, anything. In that case, I started hearing that entire song on the way home, but completely inverted from the way he had arranged it. When you start something, you get a little bit married to it. I came in the next day and I said, "Flea, I know this is not what you had in mind, but is it alright if I sing the verse over the chorus and the chorus over the bridge?" He's like, yeah, do whatever you want. I was like, "Really?" He's like, "Yeah, yeah, whatever.”… because he wrote a beautiful thing. I thought maybe he wanted to keep it as it was written. On this particular day, he was so supportive and that was super helpful. I think I was going through a very lonely and introspective month. This idea came about I think I know who you are, but maybe I don't. You think you know who I am, but maybe you don't and especially in intimate relationships, like we know we all present something and people always have an idea, but what would happen if we just showed each other our very worst from the very start?
Anthony Kiedis Tells Apple Music About His Approach To Writing Lyrics…
I love all varieties of lyric writing, abstract being one of my favourites, because so much has already been said in songs along the way that I like to find some new way of adding to a song lyrically that isn't predictable or already been done many, many times. Then I had the challenge of being way behind schedule, which that's always the situation. The band will write 20 songs and I'll be like, "I'll get to those lyrics post haste." But now I've got 20 songs to add to and then it was 20 more and then it was more. I had a unique situation in so much as I did not have the luxury of editing or censoring, whatever came I had to make use of it because there was too much waiting for me to get to. Usually I'll be like, "Hmm, maybe, maybe not." But in this case, I was like, "If it came to me, it's in the song. Next.”
