Like a lot of the other comments are saying, I think this mainly about voyeurism. If the song was about his girlfriend, then why would he use the word spy. If you are a spy it means you shouldn't be caught, that is kind of the whole point, and if you are a voyeur, the whole point of the pleasure you get from it, is the fact that the other people don't know you are watching them. See a bit of a connection there?
Standing in line to see the show tonight
And there's a light on, heavy glow
By the way, I tried to say
I'd be there, waiting for
Dani the girl is singing songs to me
Beneath the marquee, overload
Steak knife, card shark
Con job, boot cut
Skin that flick, she's such a little DJ
Get there quick by street but not the freeway
Turn that trick to make a little leeway
Beat that nic, but not the way that we play
Dogtown, blood bath
Rib cage, soft tail
Standing in line to see the show tonight
And there's a light on, heavy glow
By the way, I tried to say
I'd be there, waiting for
Black jack, dope dick
Pawn shop, quick pick
Kiss that dyke, I know you want to hold one
Not on strike but I'm about to bowl one
Bite that mic, I know you never stole one
Girls that like a story, so I told one
Song bird, main line
Cash back, hard top
Standing in line to see the show tonight
And there's a light on, heavy glow
By the way, I tried to say
I'd be there waiting for
Dani, the girl, is singing songs to me
Beneath the marquee, oversold
By the way, I tried to say
I'd be there waiting for
Ooh, ah, guess you never meant it
Ooh, ah, guess you never meant it
Ooh, ah, guess you never meant it
Ooh, ah, guess you never meant it
Ooh, ah, guess you never meant it
Ooh, ah, guess you never meant it
Ooh, ah, guess you never meant it
Ooh, ah
Standing in line to see the show tonight
And there's a light on, heavy glow
By the way, I tried to say
I'd be there waiting for
Dani, the girl, is singing songs to me
Beneath the marquee, oversold
By the way, I tried to say
I know you from before
Standing in line to see the show tonight
And there's a light on, heavy glow
By the way, I tried to say
I'd be there waiting for
And there's a light on, heavy glow
By the way, I tried to say
I'd be there, waiting for
Dani the girl is singing songs to me
Beneath the marquee, overload
Steak knife, card shark
Con job, boot cut
Skin that flick, she's such a little DJ
Get there quick by street but not the freeway
Turn that trick to make a little leeway
Beat that nic, but not the way that we play
Dogtown, blood bath
Rib cage, soft tail
Standing in line to see the show tonight
And there's a light on, heavy glow
By the way, I tried to say
I'd be there, waiting for
Black jack, dope dick
Pawn shop, quick pick
Kiss that dyke, I know you want to hold one
Not on strike but I'm about to bowl one
Bite that mic, I know you never stole one
Girls that like a story, so I told one
Song bird, main line
Cash back, hard top
Standing in line to see the show tonight
And there's a light on, heavy glow
By the way, I tried to say
I'd be there waiting for
Dani, the girl, is singing songs to me
Beneath the marquee, oversold
By the way, I tried to say
I'd be there waiting for
Ooh, ah, guess you never meant it
Ooh, ah, guess you never meant it
Ooh, ah, guess you never meant it
Ooh, ah, guess you never meant it
Ooh, ah, guess you never meant it
Ooh, ah, guess you never meant it
Ooh, ah, guess you never meant it
Ooh, ah
Standing in line to see the show tonight
And there's a light on, heavy glow
By the way, I tried to say
I'd be there waiting for
Dani, the girl, is singing songs to me
Beneath the marquee, oversold
By the way, I tried to say
I know you from before
Standing in line to see the show tonight
And there's a light on, heavy glow
By the way, I tried to say
I'd be there waiting for
Lyrics submitted by treestump, edited by Mellow_Harsher, tavy13, Hyrikan, lovelymoon11, MasterMind007
By the Way Lyrics as written by John Anthony Frusciante Michael Peter Balzary
Lyrics © Hipgnosis Songs Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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dani refers to dani california who was refered to in Californication and of course the song dani california. she is an imaginary character anthony created to represent all the girls in his life, just thought id say that.
i agree wit groovin2themusic. basically, first he buys a steak knife, then he meets a card shark, then he plans a con job, then he buys a pair of bootcut jeans. then he builds a town for dogs, then he kills someone and takes a bath in their blood, then he sees their rib cage, then he buys a soft tail motorcycle. then he plays black jack. i don't know what dope dick means. then he goes to a pawn shop and makes a quick pick. then he sees a song bird. then he gets back in line for the concert. then he gets cash back from a purchase he made previously at the pawn shop. then he buys a hard top car with the money he got. it's a logical progression of events, obvi.
@PussycatDolls4evs Could dope dick mean a bong?
@PussycatDolls4evs Could dope dick mean a bong? I remember frank ocean singing about a "glass dick" in the song crack rock
@PussycatDolls4evs Dope dick is a situation where a man can't get it up cuz he has done too many drugs. Anthony Kiedis is a recovering heroin and cocaine addict (in active addiction when this song was written) so I don't think the lyrics are as literal as you might think. I don't think it's all just a straightforward chain of events, I think they are personal metaphors or word plays that symbolize different aspects of his life during that time. I, too, am a person in long term recovery and I can relate to some of these feelings and events at a fundamental level. He divulges a lot about his personal experiences in active addiction and, later, his recovery in his autobiography "Scar Tissue". It's an awesome read and is very insightful into the history, life and soul of the wonders that are Anthony Kiedis and RHCP. He is such a beautiful writer (obviously, haha). This book really changed my life. You should check it out, you won't be able to put it down, I promise. :)
@PussycatDolls4evs Dope dick means she fucked the brains out of someone, she must’ve find someone with a big one to satisfy her to the point of releasing stress hence its like dope
@PussycatDolls4evs well that means drunken one..
This song is clearly about addiction and the blank promises addicts make. Just watch the video and see the taxi as the drug . The doors lock the wild ride ensues and he calls for help and luckily his friends save him from his fate . Which some poor fellow is ready and waiting for . The soft parts of the song are the blank promises he is ashamed of the hard lyrics are the junkie working for his fix. At least that's my two cents .
yea i agree with everyone...AWESOME song but the lyrics are kinda messed so i have no clue wut its about!! who can help me out?!
please dont put stupid comments it ruins the moment... ...this song is weird, but inspires...I like it though u can give the meaning to the song cuz its not self explanatory...
i think the chorus is about him choosing a prostitute over the perfect girl. the prostitute is "singing her song" and trying to get him to pick her up and he feels overloaded. the heavy glow refers to the decision he has to make - stay waiting for the girl of his dreams or just be drawn into the pleasures of sin. it goes on to describe his dream girl while also refering to what he does involving the prostitute and sin. let me explain my reasoning.: steak knife card shark con job boot cut -all have to do with sin and lust. the hooker might have been wearing boot cut jeans. the rest of them are kinda self explanitory.
Skin that flick she's such a little DJ to get there quick by street but not the freeway
dogtown blood bath rib cage soft tal
kiss that dyke i know you want to hold one not on strike but I'm about to bowl one
i would think that the last chorus would be like the others except for the "of her soul" instead of "overload". this leads me to believe that he wishes the prostitute could be the girl of his dreams and that she would sing to him from her soul but shes really just a prostitute and hes still waiting for his true love.
@a1stbornunicorn tldr
ok got the whole meaning for you all you might think im weird when i say this but hey
the first stanza or whatever its called is all abouta girl who they went to see play at some show i think shes a singer as later contents tells me and she does this and she still dosent have enough money to live so she becomes a prostutite as i'll soon tell ya more about.
the first prt of the short phrases are all about the things that happen in the city of la and tells us how dangerous it is to be there
next stanza tels us she gets a lot of comsters and they know she's also a singer they know they're doing wrong by doin things to this irl but dont care
next piece of phraases tell usabout things that happen to this girl
next stanza tells us about things she does to these men to get her money in a bit of description the last two line sof that girls that like a story so i told one means that this song is aimed at females and they try to make the females not make tha same mistake as this girl did
the last four phrases tell us how this girl feels about herself or how rhcp feel about what this girl is doing
Did anyone notice, during the chant, it could be one of a couple of lyrics - Ooh Ahh kissin and a smoochin Ohh Ahh kissed ya then I missed ya Ohh Ahh (meaningless gibberish) Or, my personal favourite that i think it sounds the most similar to: Ohh Ahh kiss another milkshake
@rclifford He never says that in the song. He says Oh ah guess you never meant it Four times
No special meaning. A very special meaning. For me, this song is about some kind of connection.. communication.. love,..having a relationships and working on it, connecting and getting to know somebody.. that's it.
the verses are just words to me, like he's driveling trying to get to the point, which I think it's meant to be as well, in the chorus is where the real meaning of the song is hidden, and in the end is when the feeling of the song is revealed, kind of sad sounding to me. I think it's about ending a relationship after you've really tried to make it work. Sometimes during concerts Anthony sings "by the way I tried to say I'll be there for you" for example, which I think is the meaning of the whole song. "Dani the girl" is simply just a reference to the girl, saying he knows her from before, since Dani seems to be a reference to most of the girls he ever knew. Great song and I really like the acoustic version of this.