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"Especially in Michigan" is the 10th track on the Red Hot Chili Peppers' ninth studio double album Stadium Arcadium Disc 1: Jupiter. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez of The Mars Volta performed the guitar solo on the song. Both Michael "Flea" Balzary and John Frusciante previously worked with Rodriguez-Lopez and his progressive rock band The Mars Volta on their albums De-loused in the Comatorium, Frances the Mute, and Amputechture where Frusciante plays on every track except "Asilos Magdelena". Also, Omar provided lead guitar on two tracks, Lever Pulled and Anne from one of Frusciante's most recent solo album, Curtains, and "666" from his album Inside of Emptiness. During the painstaking process of choosing only 28 from the 38 new songs the Chili Peppers had made, Especially in Michigan was on the cusp of becoming a B-Side. Especially in Michigan has been featured on ABC commercials for the 2006 X-Games.
[edit] Song References
- Michigan is the birthplace of The Chili Peppers' lead singer, Anthony Kiedis. Also, while not being born there, Michigan was also the childhood home of drummer Chad Smith.
- The line "a mitten full of fishermen" is a reference to the shape of the Michigan (being a mitten-like shape), and the fact that many fishermen live in, or vacation to, the state because its surroundings are the Great Lakes.
- "Lions and Tigers come running just to steal your luck" refers to the pro sports teams of Detroit, Michigan, the Detroit Lions (football) and Detroit Tigers (baseball). The line refers to how terribly the teams usually perform. However, the Tigers wound up making a run to the World Series in the fall of 2006, eventually losing in five games to the St. Louis Cardinals.
- "A rainy Lithuanian is dancing like an Indian" refers to Anthony Kiedis great-grandfather, Anton Kiedis, who was Lithuanian, and his father's mother has some Mohican blood, also there is a mean of Lithuania at it's native language as rainy country.
- The song is also a reference to Huckleberry Finn, title character of the Mark Twain novel, as said in one line, "Come on Huckleberry Finn." This may also be a reference to Hillel Slovak, original guitarist of the Chili Peppers, as one of his many nicknames was 'Huckleberry,' which lead singer Kiedis would often call him prior to a guitar solo.
| Red Hot Chili Peppers |
| Anthony Kiedis | John Frusciante | Flea | Chad Smith |
| Hillel Slovak | Dave Navarro | Cliff Martinez | Jack Sherman | Arik Marshall | Jesse Tobias | D. H. Peligro | Jack Irons |
| Discography |
| Studio albums: The Red Hot Chili Peppers (1984) | Freaky Styley (1985) | The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (1987) | Mother's Milk (1989) | Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991) | One Hot Minute (1995) | Californication (1999) | By the Way (2002) | Stadium Arcadium (2006) |
| EPs, Live albums and compilations: The Abbey Road E.P. (1988) | What Hits!? (1992) | Live Rare Remix Box (1994) | Out in L.A. (1994) | Under the Covers: Essential Red Hot Chili Peppers (1998) | The Best of the Red Hot Chili Peppers (1998) | Greatest Hits (2003) | Live in Hyde Park (2004) |
| Singles: 1984: True Men Don't Kill Coyotes, Get Up and Jump | 1985: Jungle Man, American Ghost Dance, Catholic School Girls Rule, Hollywood (Africa) | 1987: Fight Like a Brave, Me & My Friends | 1989: Knock Me Down, Higher Ground, Taste the Pain | 1990: Show Me Your Soul | 1991: Give It Away | 1992: Under the Bridge, Suck My Kiss, Behind the Sun, Breaking the Girl | 1993: If You Have to Ask, Soul to Squeeze | 1995: Warped, My Friends | 1996: Aeroplane, Coffee Shop, Shallow Be Thy Game, Love Rollercoaster | 1999: Scar Tissue, Around the World | 2000: Otherside, Californication, Road Trippin', Parallel Universe | 2002: By the Way, The Zephyr Song | 2003: Can't Stop, Dosed, Universally Speaking, Fortune Faded | 2006: Dani California, Tell Me Baby, Snow ((Hey Oh)) | 2007: Desecration Smile, Hump de Bump |
| Other pages: Videography | Songs | B-sides Compilation |
| Related articles |
| Chain Reaction | What Is This? | Jane's Addiction | Pearl Jam | Fear | The Mars Volta | Rick Rubin | "Krusty Gets Kancelled" |
| Categories: Red Hot Chili Peppers | Red Hot Chili Peppers Songs |
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