The lyrics of 'Californication' have been scrutinised

Many people of a certain age will be familiar with Red Hot Chili Peppers' album 'Californication', which was one of the biggest rock albums of the 1990s.

The album, which brought the band to a more mainstream audience than ever before, was one of their biggest-selling albums and celebrates 25 years this year.

However, the title track has come to people's attention for another reason after it went viral on Tik Tok, with some claiming that its lyrics were prophetic.

They cite lines like 'A little girl from Sweden dreams of silver screen quotation' as foretelling the presence of Greta Thunberg in our lives, the line about 'population control' is a reference to Bill Gates, while 'Pay your surgeon very well to break the spell of ageing' apparently referring to the rise in cosmetic surgery and procedures amongst younger people.

It all sounds a little bemusing, but the theory that Anthony Kiedis and his bandmates are soothsayers has gathered steam in recent days, after first appearing online last year.

See the full lyrics of the song, and the online reaction to rock's apparent answer to Nostradamus below:

"Psychic spies from China try to steal your mind's elation
And little girls from Sweden dream of silver-screen quotation
And if you want these kind of dreams, it's Californication

It's the edge of the world and all of Western civilization
The sun may rise in the East, at least it settled in a final location
It's understood that Hollywood sells Californication

Pay your surgeon very well to break the spell of aging
Celebrity skin: is this your chin or is that war you're waging?
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Dream of Californication

Marry me, girl, be my fairy to the world, be my very own constellation
A teenage bride with a baby inside getting high on information
And buy me a star on the boulevard, it's Californication

Space may be the final frontier but it's made in a Hollywood basement
And Cobain, can you hear the spheres singing songs off Station to Station?
And Alderaan's not far away, it's Californication

Born and raised by those who praise control of population
Well, everybody's been there, and I don't mean no vacation

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Dream of Californication
Dream of Californication
Dream of Californication
Dream of Californication

Destruction leads to a very rough road but it also breeds creation
And earthquakes are to a girl's guitar, they're just another good vibration
And tidal waves couldn't save the world from Californication

Pay your surgeon very well to break the spell of aging
Sicker than the rest, there is no test, but this is what you're craving

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Dream of Californication
Dream of Californication
Dream of Californication
Dream of Californication"