Jupiter; Song 12: C’Mon Girl

From my understanding this is basically a John song as he came up with the bass-line in the verse and the snare work that drives the chorus. And I really feel for Flea because, well, this song has probably the hardest bass-line to play as far as Chili Pepper songs go. If you don’t believe me try playing air bass guitar along with the verse of the song (using fingers, not a pick). It’s just so fucking fast. Apparently John came up with the bass riff, which makes sense because if any bassist ever stumbled upon it in a jam, they would have the common sense to go “Wow, that’s such a good sounding riff, it’s a pity its too hard to play because it really suits the song.” Well I would at least. I guess suppose its good to come up with parts that challenge other bandmates. In completely unrelated news I would like everyone to know that Shaun has agreed to learn the solos for Eruption (Van Halen), Dazed and Confused (Led Zeppelin) and Master of Puppets (Metallica) for our rock bands next gig.

Lyrically the song goes through different styles throughout verse and chorus, with the verses having the Kiedis Style of Lyric Writing™ that involves coming up with a melody and shoving any words that fit into it, and the chorus being “C’Mon Girl, lets get it right” repeated ad nauseaum. The verses work however, and has some of my favourite lines of the album, such as “Conveyor belts are moving and I want you to be sure of that”.

Hmmmm, not too much else to say, Chad’s drumming in the chorus is nice and expansive, I really like the pre-chorus and there’s a nice tribute to Vincent Price at the end of the song with the maniacal laughter. Overall the song is OK, but not outstanding.

Jupiter; Song 11: Warlocks

"Warlocks" is an alright funk song with a cool chorus and bridge. The sound of the bass is appealing, however the verse would have benefitted from a more interesting guitar part. John does make up for it with some nice, deep chords in the chorus. The solo is very old-school in nature, which sums up the song as somewhat of a Blood Sugar Sex Magik song, minus the passion and ambition. The stacatto funk on the clavinet courtesy of the late, GREAT Billy Preston lifts the piece unmeasurably.

This was one of the songs I was looking forward to most on the new album because it has such a great name, and I was hoping to hear some dark mystical epic piece. So I was disappointed to hear a standard funk song when I first was listening to Stadium Arcadium. Now I appreciate the back to basics nature of the song, and it complements the album well, and I think makes for a good driving song.