Not so long ago, I was writing about another Red Hot Chili Peppers song on here. That too also happened to be a single. The Peppers are a really good singles band. I don’t think people would disagree with me on that. Every song of the band’s that I’ve covered on here just happen to be one. ‘Under the Bridge’, that was a big single, I told you all about it already. ‘Universally Speaking’, not so much. It was the fourth and final single released from By the Way, in June 2003. That album had been out for almost a year by that point. But it was another successful one, and the record label were gonna take whatever monetary gain they could get. The song’s music video usually played on Kerrang! more than anywhere else from what I remember. It’s the sequel to the ‘By the Way’ video, seeing the crazed cab driver from that – played by Dave Sheridan (Doofy from Scary Movie) – attempting to return the magazine he took from Kiedis, by sneaking into Coachella 2003. He gets up to all sorts of nonsense and eventually succeeds in his mission. Nothing to do with the song, but it’s funny nonetheless.
The story you hear about the making of By the Way mainly revolves around how Flea was quite close to leaving the band because John Frusciante seemed to be rejecting every musical idea he had. But one idea brought in by Flea that was deemed worthy by Lord Frusciante was ‘Universally Speaking’. I’m being facetious. But it’s no joke, the song was something he brought to the group. And it’s placed in the second spot on the album, which I think kind of indicates some strong feelings for it in part of the bandmembers. So imagine, you’re going through By the Way the first time. The opener, the title track, gives that mix of exhilarating funk and melody that the Chilis are known for, loved for, adored for. Then ‘Universally…’ comes along. Slows things down a little, but still really impactful with the stomping rhythm established by drummer Chad Smith. Frusciante plays some steady guitar chords over the top. Flea rounds it off with a warming bass line that rings out underneath it all. It’s a solid introduction. The instrumentalists doing their thing to build anticipation. And then Anthony Kiedis starts singing. He sounds fine. He’s sort of singing in the lower part of his register, which I don’t think he did all that often up to that point. I think he’s got that recognisable tone in his singing voice he, displayed in places like ‘Otherside’, ‘Californication’, or even ‘By the Way’. It makes for a nice change up in this situation.
The meme goes that Kiedis’s lyrics are only about women, or the state of California, or women in California, and then he’ll put some nonsensical words for good measure. ‘Universally Speaking’ is very clearly about a woman of Anthony Kiedis’s desires. He sees her, he’s entranced, he’s got to get her and judging by the words in the chorus and those sections where the song’s title is said, he does. But there’s no nonsense here. He does have a style of putting words together so they can sound good to the music, I think even he’s said before. Like, “Silveretta, the chance of a lifetime”, doesn’t make much sense, but with the music alongside it, it somehow means a lot. ‘Specially the way it’s sung. And especially, especially when John Frusciante joins in with the harmony in the final chorus. That outro with Frusciante’s solo is quite special too, really puts the cherry on. I’d also like to shout out that key change that happens when Kiedis sings “Come on, baby, ’cause there’s no name for…” etc., again with Frusciantes harmonising “Ooh” alongside. Don’t think that sort of practice was ever put into place in an album of theirs before, which really puts into perspective that focus on melody that was the lynchpin behind the sessions for that album.
