Red Hot Chili Peppers: Scar Tissue Meaning

Song Released: 1999

Scar Tissue Lyrics

Scar tissue that I wish you saw
Sarcastic mister know it all
Close your eyes and I'll kiss you 'cause
With the birds I'll share
With the birds I'll share
This lonely view
With the birds I'll share
This lonely view

Push me up...

1. anonymous

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   Aug 1st 2006 !⃝

   I always thought "a sarcastic mister know it all" was someone who thinks he knows all their is to know, like a therapist or a doctor....But he [the 'doctor'] doesn't understand the way or how the guy feels because he is blind to the scar tissue. Scar tissue, as most know, forms as a result or a wound. Mental/emotional wounds cause one to change their outlook on life. Maybe the "sarcastic mister know it all" would understand if he saw the "scar tissue."
2. anonymous

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   Jul 27th 2006 !⃝

   I think the song just uses metaphors to express the pain and suffering people go through in life and the things they try to do to make up for it. They do things to try to get people to notice that they were hurt in some way, like hurt themselves, which often does nothing and nobody notices. This is expressed in the first line of the song, "scar tissue that I wish you saw."
   when the people around them don't realize or pay attention to the person's pain, they just kind of wallow in their self-pity, or "share it with the birds".
3. anonymous

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   Jul 21st 2006 !⃝

   I've heard several times that it's about how when their guitarist john, left the group to go into drug rehab and the song is a celebration of his returning and becoming a different man i.E heald and hence "scar tissue".
4. anonymous

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   Jul 10th 2006 !⃝

   This song is about his past issues with his dad and his drug taking it reflects on all his experinces and also makes refrence to the guitariast at that time who was causeing trouble in the band and couldn't understand his drug taking that is y it starts " scar tissue that I wish you saw a sarcastic mr know it all" this was anthony kedis view of the guitarist. It is also the name of his biography in which the opening line reads "this is my story scar tissue and all" so it is obvious that scar tissue is about the bad events and happenings in peoples lifes and is also about how other people do not understand the behaviour as have not seen there "scar tissue"
5. anonymous

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   Jun 16th 2006 !⃝

   "Push me up against the wall" might have something to do with the heroin controlling him, like an inescapable addiction, like, hint, being "backed up against a wall"?
6. anonymous

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   Jun 15th 2006 !⃝

   "Under the bridge downtown" really is from Under the Bridge, and not Scar Tissue. It's the big chorusy part.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
7. anonymous

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   May 14th 2006 !⃝

   I think its simply about baggage. A person's scar tissue is there past problems that are scared over... That's how it feels to me.
8. anonymous

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   Apr 4th 2006 !⃝

   Its about Guitarist John Frusciante, Who had spiraled downward into drug use and depression after leaving the band after the BloodSugarSexMagik album. The song chronicals heroin use and the friction fame had on Frusciante (referring to groupies in the "push me up against the wall..." phrase).
9. anonymous

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   Feb 1st 2006 !⃝

   "Under the Bridge downtown," I believe was referring to the place where Anthony bought most of his drugs.
10. anonymous

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    Jan 10th 2006 !⃝

    It is about heroin usage, in the book Scar Tissue, written by Anthony Kiedis, it describes him going to hidden spots in certain neighborhoods to satisfy his need for heroin, without revealing himself, being a celebrity. However, the beginning of the song, "sarcastic mr. know it all," is actually about former rhcp member Dave Navarro. In the book, Kiedis says that it's about Navarro saying that sarcasm was his sense of humor. "Under the bridge downtown, is where I drew some blood," is speaking mostly of his heroin use. Also, "With the birds I share this lonely view," is describing most of his life as kind of an outcast.
11. Irishnez07

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    Jan 5th 2006 !⃝

    This song is about heroine usage. The above me who thought the guy above him thought it was Under the Bridge, it's you who got Scar Tissue confused with Under the Bridge, not him.
12. anonymous

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    Dec 29th 2005 !⃝

    I always thought it was about the guitarist road into drugs and all that mess...
    ^I think the guy above is confused with this song and "Under the bridge"
13. anonymous

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    Nov 27th 2005 !⃝

    The song is about heroin usage! Scar tissue is left from the needle every time he injected. Blood loss in the bathroom stall refers to drawing back on the plunger before injecting into the vein. Sharing a lonely view with the birds is a reference to being high.
14. anonymous

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    Nov 17th 2005 !⃝

    I'm not sure but I always kind of imagined it as some guy who loved a girl but she was a prostitute. "Push me up against the wall Young Kentucky girl in a push-up bra," but I was never sure who the "Sarcastic mister know it all" perhaps someone he knew who wasn't very nice towards him and he wishes that this guy could see his "scar tissue" perhaps to prove a point.
    
    He really wants to be with this girl "Fallin' all over myself To lick your heart and taste your health" but in the end he just can't do what it takes (or, she might die, I've never been sure who has the "blood loss in a bathroom stall" and I thought that waving goodbye to ma and pa could be her saying good bye before she dies) anyways, regardless of whether or not she dies, he loses her and ends up alone "With the birds I'll share This lonely view". He is still determined to be with her "I'll make it to the moon if I have to crawl" so either he follows her or if shes dead he perhaps waits for death/kills himself. the "close your eyes and I'll kiss you" could mean that he'll take every opertunity to be with her.. not sure :S
    
    Anyway, that's how I've always kinda got a meaning outta the song... a guy loves a girl he can't have, so he tries his best, gets in trouble, ends up lonely but doesn't want to give up on her because he still loves her.
15. anonymous

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    Oct 22nd 2005 !⃝

    I think the scar tissue this person is singing about has to do with a loss, such as a miscarriage (blood loss in a bathroom stall) after having a one night stand with a stranger and getting her pregnant. he feels the loss of the child and feels lonely inside.

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