Herman Anthony Chunn. With the assistance of manager Eric Godtland, Jenkins and Chunn made a $10,000 deal for Jenkins to acquire the rights to guitar riffs that Chunn wrote, which would later be incorporated into "Semi-Charmed Life". This deal gave Jenkins sole authorship of the song, with Jenkins commenting: "I kept going until it was my song. I had no idea where that song was going, but I bought [Chunn] out." In 2000, rumors circulated that guitarist Tony Fredianelli, who had previously auditioned for Third Eye Blind in 1993, had written the song's hook. When reached for comment by the San Francisco Chronicle, producer Eric Valentine claimed that "Semi-Charmed Life" had "been around for many years. There are a lot of people who contributed to that tune and didn't get credit." On October 16, 2018, approximately a year after the 2017 reissue of Third Eye Blind, Cadogan filed a lawsuit for infringement of copyright against Third Eye Blind and Jenkins. Despite being uncredited, Cadogan alleged that he was responsible for co-writing four songs on the album, including "Semi-Charmed Life", and thus was entitled to 25 percent of their profits, for which he had not been compensated. Cadogan also sought to establish authorship over the four songs in dispute. On August 21, 2019, the lawsuit was terminated through voluntary dismissal with prejudice. Recording and mixing The recording sessions for "Semi-Charmed Life" took place in and around San Francisco, California at Toast Studios, Skywalker Ranch, and H.O.S. Production on the song was helmed by Jenkins and Eric Valentine, with Valentine also acting as a recording engineer. Valentine intentionally recorded the song without assistance from computers, opting to directly record the material onto tape machines. When speaking to Billboard, Valentine described the recording sessions, stating that he would cut and edit the tapes, with "no fixing or changing anything." The song was recorded on a Neve 8038 mixing console, using Studer A800 MKIII and Ampex MM1200 tape recorders. Valentine was also responsible for the mixing of the track, which was made at The Site, H.O.S., and Toast Studios. Valentine mixed the song on a Neve 8078 mixing console, using a Studer A800 tape recorder. Ted Jensen mastered the track at Sterling Sound Studios in New York City, using a 3M 996 as the master tape. WEA was responsible for the manufacturing of the single on both compact disc and cassette tape. "Semi-Charmed Life"