 During the production of the Red Hot Chili Peppers ' 1991 album Blood Sugar Sex Magik , producer Rick Rubin regularly visited singer Anthony Kiedis to review Kiedis 's new material . He found a poem titled " Under the Bridge " while flipping through Kiedis ' notebook and instantly took an interest in the poignant lyrics . Rubin suggested Kiedis show it to the rest of the band : " I thought it was beautiful . I said ' We 've got to do this . ' " Kiedis was reluctant as he felt the poem was too emotional and did not fit the Chili Peppers ' style . After singing the poem to guitarist John Frusciante and bassist Flea , Kiedis recalls that they " got up and walked over to their instruments and started finding the beat and guitar chords to match it " . Frusciante chose the chords he played in the introduction to balance out the depressing nature of the lyrics , saying " my brain interpreted it as being a really sad song so I thought if the lyrics are really sad like that I should write some chords that are happier " . 
