John Frusciante takes us through the guitar parts and sounds he used to record their multi-double platinum selling single Dani California! Taken from their 2006 album and nineth studio album Stadium Arcadium Frusciante used various effects devices in order to achieve the textures and treatments in the song, including Mellotron, Moog effect pedals, and a Doepfer modular synthesizer, used for the filtering and processing of pre-recorded tracks.
Throughout Dani California, lyricist Anthony Kiedis laments the early death of Dani, a poor, young Southern girl who eventually lived in California, became a mother and lived a hard, fast, unsettled life. Kiedis has commented that the character of Dani is composite of all the women with whom he has had relationships.
Dani first appeared in the 1999 song Californication, which includes the lyrics "Teenage bride with a baby inside/Gettin' high on information" although the girl's name is not specified . She was next mentioned in the Red Hot Chili Peppers' 2002 single By the Way as "Dani the girl". Kiedis commented: "When this funky groove came up it struck me as a perfect place to actually tell a story. It sort of revealed itself to me that it's been the same character, just kind of developing. At first I didn't realize that I was writing about the same girl."
