Songfacts®:

• Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis said this tune is about the cycle of life. He was inspired by a "tiny, one-road dirt town" in Northern Australia that doesn't get rain for most of the year. When the rain finally does fall, it brings a sense of cleansing and rebirth.
• There really is an Animal Bar; it's in Karumba, Australia, part of the Karumba Lodge. RHCP bassist Flea, a native of Australia, had likely heard of it.
• John Frusciante said of his guitar work of the song: "The main part is done with volume-knob swells, a wah, and a chorus pedal, but I used the wah pedal exactly the opposite of how it's normally used. I raise the volume while the wah is in the full treble position, and then close the wah to its full bass position. Then I lower the volume and repeat the move on the next chord. It's unusual for a guitarist to use a wah that way, but it is the way a synthesist would think. The chorus effect is maxed at some points, as is the Holy Grail, which is set to the Spring sound. The solo is processed with the stereo phasing effect from the Analogue Systems Phaser." >>>

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• Flea's bass line was inspired by the German rock bands Neu! and Can.
• For Stadium Arcadium, the band's ninth studio album, the Peppers returned to The Mansion, a Laurel Canyon estate owned by their producer Rick Rubin, where they recorded their recording site owned by their breakthrough 1991 album, Blood Sugar Sex Magik. RHCP drummer Chad Smith, who was turned off by the house's haunted reputation in the Blood Sugar days, told Classic Rock magazine what it was like returning to The Mansion after 15 years: "It was like meeting an old girlfriend who has since f--ked a bunch of other guys: she's a bit torn up, and it's nice to see her but, you know. It's okay, but much different. But the place still sounds great."