Porcelain

Album: Californication (1999)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song was written for a lady Anthony Kiedis met at a YMCA in downtown Los Angeles in the summer of 1998. She was near broke and had an estranged husband, and couldn't afford to take care of her baby, "Do you carry the moon in your womb/Someone said that you're fading too soon/Nodding and melting and fading away." >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Spencer - Equinunk, PA

Comments: 12

  • Eloquentracer92 from On MercuryThis song makes me sleepy…
  • @melvxnkhumaloi've had the album in my gallery for some time now but i like to play music on shuffle so i never got to here it and, if it played, i’d skip it. this past friday i missed flight out egypt back to holland. and i was first, in denial, then panic and finally acceptance. i requested a driver to take me back to the hotel and as i was waiting for him, it played. i got so much solace from this melody. so i decided, it seems chaotic, but i know its all going according to His plan.
  • Standard from Slovakia@Jared from Sacramento, Ca
    She is fragile and precious as a porcelain.
  • Dani from Memphis, TnAround that time, I had met a young mother at a meeting.
    She was living in a YWCA with her baby girl, trying to get sober but failing miserably. The beauty and sadness and tragedy and glory, all wrapped into one, of this mother/daughter relationship was evoked by the vibe of that music.

    From "Porcelain"
    Porcelain
    Do you carry the moon in your womb?
    Someone said that you’re fading too soon
    Drifting and floating and fading away
    Little line
    All day
    Little lime
    Porcelain
    Are you wasting away in your skin?
    Are you missing the love of your kin?
    Nodding and melting and fading away.
  • Morgan from New Orleans, Lai really like this song. it's just so hauntingly mellow
  • Evan from Kali, MiThe only song by RHCP that I truly dislike. It just does not appeal to me.
  • Ben from Ocean City, NjVery beautiful song! Yes this is about a young mother he met when in rehab, very sad story =(
    Love the bass, I <3 Flea!
    Have to agree w/ Kat, porcelain is a figurative reference to how fragile this mother and her child are.
  • Kat from Chicago, IlI think that using the word 'porcelain' (besides it being aurally pleasing) is to emphasize how fragile this woman is.

    What I'd like to know is why the songfacts say something different than what those two comments say.
  • Rita from South Pas., Israelhmm... I heard it was about a lady he met along the way who was still pregnant with her child but so addicted to heroine that it eventually killed her and the child both.
  • Jared from Sacramento, CaBut what does porcelain have to do with it?
  • Nathalie from San Antonio, TxWhen reading Scar Tissue, Anthony explains that the woman he meets is coming off of drugs but is forced to care for her child. He is expliaining the connection that the two have to eachother, and their dependence for one another.
  • Matt from Auburn, MiI have heard this song is about a lady he met in rehab who was pregant at the time and he he felt for the baby.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Daniel Lanois

Daniel LanoisSongwriter Interviews

Daniel Lanois on his album Heavy Sun, and the inside stories of songs he produced for U2, Peter Gabriel, and Bob Dylan.

Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders

Chrissie Hynde of The PretendersSongwriter Interviews

The rock revolutionist on songwriting, quitting smoking, and what she thinks of Rush Limbaugh using her song.

70s Music Quiz 1

70s Music Quiz 1Music Quiz

The '70s gave us Muppets, disco and Van Halen, all which show up in this groovy quiz.

Richie McDonald of Lonestar

Richie McDonald of LonestarSongwriter Interviews

Richie talks about the impact of "Amazed," and how his 4-year-old son inspired another Lonestar hit.

Chris Fehn of Slipknot

Chris Fehn of SlipknotSongwriter Interviews

A drummer for one of the most successful metal bands of the last decade, Chris talks about what it's like writing and performing with Slipknot. Metal-neck is a factor.

Andrew Farriss of INXS

Andrew Farriss of INXSSongwriter Interviews

Andrew Farriss on writing with Michael Hutchence, the stories behind "Mystify" and other INXS hits, and his country-flavored debut solo album.