Brendan's Death Song

The song is dedicated to Brendan Mullen , the founder of The Masque Club, a small punk rock club that was an important part of the early Los Angeles punk scene. Mullen was also a longtime friend of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and one of the first music agents to start the band. In 1983, Anthony Kiedis and Flea made a demo and came with her to the popular club in Los Angeles , Club Lingerie. There they first met Mullen, who at that time was engaged in organizing concerts at the establishment. They turned on Mullen for their record and started dancing to her. What he saw impressed him so much that he invited them to perform at the warm-up of the approaching Bad Brains concert, who not only influenced the work of the Red Hot Chili Peppers themselves, but also, in general, were the kings of the punk-rock scene of that time.

Later, Brendan Mullen, along with Blackie Dammet, worked on the creation of a biography of the Red Hot Chili Peppers: Oral and Visual History . However, in 2009, he died suddenly after a stroke, which he experienced, without finishing the book. The work on the band’s biography was ultimately completed by Katery Butler , who had been his companion for many years, and John Curry , designer and musician, member of The Flyboys , who was Mullen's friend since the days of The Masque. The book was published in 2010.

The Los Angeles Times has published a two-page Flea article on Mullen’s death. ^[one]

According to an interview with vocalist Anthony Kiedis , published in July 2011, Mullen died on the first day of rehearsals for the new album. Kiedis said he received a text message about the death of Mullen during the rehearsal and immediately reported it to the group. Without uttering a word, the group members, stunned by the incident, began to jam , and what happened was the basis of the song.

Kiedis said that the notes of the funeral march are felt in the song, but, in essence, “the song is more solemn than annoying.” Kiedis says that his favorite part of the song is the bridge section , where it becomes rather dark for a while, and then this feeling of falling into an unknown abyss of death appears. ^[2] Guitarist Josh Klinghoffer believes that the song is half acoustic mourning, half fast galloping hard-rock farewell. ^[3]

Despite the fact that the song was not launched on the air, fans, according to a survey of readers of Rolling Stone magazine in 2011, voted to contribute its Top 10 best songs of the year. In an interview published in Billboard magazine on March 6, 2012, Chad Smith announced that the song will be the next single of the group. ^[four]

The song is written in the 4/4 clock size. The beginning is presented by introducing an acoustic guitar, which is then overlaid by the vocalist Anthony Kiedis. The song gradually grows, using electric guitars, drums, bass guitar, and reaches the full sound in the first chorus. The tom-tom drums are intensively involved in the shock section. In the chorus, following the bridge , bassist Flea performs an improvised bass line. The song ends several times with a recurring chorus, accompanied by the solo parts of Flea and Chad Smith.

The video was created under the direction of Mark Klasfeld, who directed the shooting of The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie and Monarchy of Roses . The clip's scenes were filmed in New Orleans on May 21, 2012. On its website, the group invited fans to take part in the shooting. For this it was necessary to send a personal photo and profile. The selected members should have appeared in the video clip. ^{[5] [6]}

The concept of the clip is built on the tradition of Funeral Jazz , which implies the procession of a marching ensemble of musicians dispersed throughout the funeral procession. Thus, the first part of the clip is represented by a funeral procession led by members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers group on a black Ford Pickup hearse. In the final part of the clip, the action takes place at McDonoville cemetery in Louisiana. And the decorations are burning letters that form two words “Death Song” (from English - “death song”) ^[7] .

The video premiered on June 28, 2012 on rollingstone.com . The length of the song in the video version is shortened by 2 minutes (compared with the album version). A full length video was also released on August 16, 2012. ^{[8] [9]}

Radio promo single ^[10]

1. "Brendan's Death Song" (radio version)

Promo Single ^[11]

1. "Brendan's Death Song" (album version)
2. "Brendan's Death Song" (radio version)
3. Brendan's Death Song (instrumental version)

Singles released in Germany ^[12]

1. Brendan's Death Song
2. Goodbye Hooray (live; recorded May 2, 2012, at the Bell Center Sports Complex, Montreal )

• Flea bass guitar
• Anthony Kiedis - lead vocals
• Josh Klinghoffer - guitar , background vocals
• Chad Smith - Drum Set

Fragments of the song are heard in the Top Gear 's India Special program's Christmas edition.