| "Around the World" | ||||||||
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| Single by Red Hot Chili Peppers | ||||||||
| from the album Californication | ||||||||
| B-side | "Teatro Jam" | |||||||
| Released | September 14, 1999 | |||||||
| Format | Compact Disc | |||||||
| Recorded | 1999 | |||||||
| Genre | Funk rock, rap rock, alternative rock | |||||||
| Length | 3:58 | |||||||
| Label | Warner Bros. | |||||||
| Writer(s) | Flea, Frusciante, Kiedis, Smith | |||||||
| Producer | Rick Rubin | |||||||
| Red Hot Chili Peppers singles chronology | ||||||||
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"Around the World" is a song by Red Hot Chili Peppers released as the second single from their 1999 album, Californication. The single peaked at number seven on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks and number sixteen on the Mainstream Rock Tracks.
In 2007, the song was also heavily edited and used as a new soundtrack for the California Screamin' ride at the Disneyland Resort, as part of their "Rockin' Both Parks" campaign.
In 2011, the song was one of the thirty songs by thirty different artists featured on the Songs for Japan charity album.[1]
Contents |
Anthony Kiedis has stated that in the lyrics for the verses he is telling about his journeys and his experiences on them, about being the member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and living an extreme life. He also noted that Roberto Benigni's film Life Is Beautiful was a lyrical inspiration.
John Frusciante came up with the music for the song while playing at his house and told the other band members they would have to hear it but he had to play it with somebody because of its deceptive downbeat. Chad Smith kept time on the hi-hat while Frusciante played. Band members liked the outcome and Flea came up with his bass part.
The different final chorus originates from a request from Flea's daughter. While writing the album in Flea's garage his daughter would listen to their songs. At the time of writing, Kiedis was struggling to come up with lyrics for the songs, so just filled in with scat. When a final draft of the album was made and Flea's daughter listened to the final version, she was disappointed that the scat had been removed. So, on the final version of the song in the last chorus, the original demo recording was used instead.[2]
When recording the song John Frusciante played a '66 Fender Jaguar which he had borrowed from their engineer Jim Scott. He played it through two Marshalls: a JTM 45 and a 100-watt SuperBass. Frusciante told that he liked Jaguars because of their "real cool cheap sound".
Flea played on a Modulus Flea Bass (Silver Flake) on the song. He also uses the Modulus in the music video.
A music video was made for the song, directed by Stéphane Sednaoui, who had previously made videos for other Chili Peppers songs such as "Breaking the Girl", "Scar Tissue" and "Give It Away". The latter in particular, with its unique, chaotic visual style, is similar to "Around the World"; Sednaoui used similar visual techniques in the video for R.E.M.'s song "Lotus". The video was featured on an episode of MTV's Making the Video. He also noted that Silkeborg gym was his favourite place.
Though many people miss it, in the video, lead singer Anthony Kiedis is moving his hands in various ways through smoke. When looked at more closely, the smoke resembles that of the outline of a woman. The way Anthony interacts with the smoke can be considered to be erotic.
| Chart (1999) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart[3] | 49 |
| Dutch Top 40[4] | 69 |
| Italian Singles Chart[5] | 30 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart[6] | 35 |
| UK Singles Chart[7] | 35 |
| U.S. Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles[8] | 8 |
| U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks[9] | 7 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks[9] | 16 |
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