Fight Like a Brave
{{More citations needed|auto=yes|date=December 2009}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Fight Like a Brave
| cover = Red_hot_chili_peppers_fight_like_a_brave.jpg
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Red Hot Chili Peppers
| album = The Uplift Mofo Party Plan
| B-side = Fire
| released = {{start date|1987|9|29}}
| recorded = May 1987
| studio =
| genre = Funk metal{{cite web|url=https://rockhall.com/blog/post/7404_10-essential-red-hot-chili-peppers-songs/|title=10 Essential Red Hot Chili Peppers Songs|website=Rock and Roll Hall of Fame|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160617100050/https://rockhall.com/blog/post/7404_10-essential-red-hot-chili-peppers-songs/|archive-date=June 17, 2016|access-date=March 21, 2020}}
| length = 3:51
| label = EMI
| writer = {{hlist|Flea|Irons|Kiedis|Slovak}}
| producer = Michael Beinhorn
| prev_title = Hollywood (Africa)
| prev_year = 1985
| next_title = Higher Ground
| next_year = 1989
| misc = {{External music video|{{YouTube|0-H_nGieMMA|"Fight Like a Brave"}}}}
}}
"Fight Like a Brave" is a song by American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. It was released on September 29, 1987, as the first and only single from their third studio album, The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (1987). It is also the band's debut single. The single included a cover of the Jimi Hendrix song "Fire" as a B-side, which would later appear on The Abbey Road E.P. and Mother's Milk as a tribute to guitarist Hillel Slovak, who died in 1988.
Composition
Most of the song's lyrics revolve around Anthony Kiedis' addiction to heroin. At the lowest point in Kiedis' addiction, Flea had kicked him out of the Chili Peppers with no intention of letting him back in unless he was proven sober. After getting clean through various rehab programs, he called Flea to tell him of his success, and was accepted back in the band. On the plane ride home, Kiedis wrote this song about his struggles with drugs and his overcoming them.{{cite book|title=Scar Tissue|author=Kiedis, Anthony|author-link=Anthony Kiedis|pages=[https://archive.org/details/scartissue00kiedi/page/199 199–201]|publisher=Hyperion|year=2004|ISBN=1-4013-0101-0}}
The song is mostly an attempt to inspire other people like the rehab sessions were motivational for Kiedis to abandon the drugs. Kiedis described "Fight Like a Brave" as "a metaphor for trying to encourage someone who feels as though they don't have a chance [as though] they're grovelling in the gutter of life." He also said the song expressed the band's discontentment with EMI, their label at the time.{{cite book|title=Red Hot Chili Peppers - By the way: the biography|first=Dave|last=Thompson|publisher=Virgin Books|year=2004|page=98}}
Live performances
Despite being a single, the song has only been performed 37 times and has not been performed live since 1989. It was teased on The Getaway World Tour.{{Cite web|url=https://www.rhcplivearchive.com/song/fight-like-a-brave-26|title = Red Hot Chili Peppers Live Archive}}
Track listing
7" single (1987)
- "Fight Like a Brave"
- "Fire"
12" single (1987)
- "Fight Like a Brave" (Not Our Mix)
- "Fight Like a Brave" (Boner Beats Mix)
- "Fight Like a Brave" (Mofo Mix)
- "Fire"
12" picture disc/12" promo (1987)
- "Fight Like a Brave" (Mofo Mix)
- "Fight Like a Brave" (Knucklehead Mix)
- "Fire"
12" Japanese split promo/DJ copy (1987)
- "Fight Like a Brave" (album) by Red Hot Chili Peppers
- "Contradiction" (Heavy Mix) by Lions & Ghosts
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Red Hot Chili Peppers}}
{{Red Hot Chili Peppers singles}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fight Like a Brave}}
Category:Red Hot Chili Peppers songs
Category:Songs written by Anthony Kiedis
Category:Songs written by Flea (musician)
Category:Songs written by Hillel Slovak
Category:Songs written by Jack Irons