"Under the Bridge"

The song that I am willing to defend as poetry is "Under the Bridge" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This song was released as the second single from their album, Blood Sugar Sex Magik, in 1991. The lyrics were first written by the group's vocalist, Anthony Kiedis. He wanted to express his current feeling of loneliness. He also used the lyrics to look back on his use of heroin and cocaine and their effects on his life.
The speaker of the song is Kiedis himself. His tone and the overall song conveys regret and remorse. It shifts to one of greater emphasis highlighted by sorrow towards the end. The occasion, taken from the lyrics, is at a time when Kiedis has stopped to reflect and look back. During this moment, he is feeling a great sense of loneliness accompanied with his reflection on this time of his life.
The purpose of the song is for the audience, the general listener, to experience the true meaning of loneliness and also to realize the pain that comes with drug usage.
Although Kiedis convey's the city as his only friend at he beginning of the song, he later tells how he would go downtown to do drugs. The song goes, "Sometimes I feel like my only friend/Is the city I live in, the city of angels", and later he sings, " Under the bridge downtown/I gave my life away". This shows Kiedis' true loneliness because the one friend he has was the one that was enabling him to ruin to his life. That being the city. The shift in the tone of the song when Kiedis finally tells of his drug usage highlights sorrow and anger that is being released. This supports the idea of how painful drugs really are. Things become more serious and Kiedis tells of how he forgot his love and how he gave his life away due to drugs. The emphasis put on this part is what makes it key in highlighting the damage of drugs. This is something that is better heard than told. Also, when Kiedis sings, "Is the city I live in, the city of angels/Lonely as I am, together we cry", he highlights the idea that both he and the city are crying. This can mean that as the city is his friend, she is crying with him. This could also mean that in a city like L.A., people are leading superficial lives so the city itself is lonely also. This supports the loneliness that Kiedis is experiencing due to the lack of friendly people in the city.