MOMMY, WHERE’S DADDY
Recorded during: The Red Hot Chili Peppers sessions.
Length: 3:31
Performers: Anthony Kiedis (vocals), Flea (bass), Jack Sherman (guitar), Cliff Martinez (drums), Gwen Dickey (vocals).
Live performances.
The only Chili Peppers track to have been performed by every single guitarist, from Slovak to Klinghoffer. A demo version of the song was recorded but as of yet has not been released.
In an interview with Italian fan site Venice Queen, Jack Sherman looked back on the song fondly:
Well, “Mommy Where's Daddy” really has a lot of things that are special about it. Flea, Cliff and I put the music together fairly easily and quickly at rehearsal. It was a bit more funky and groovy than some of the other material which tended more towards intense punk and hard rock. Then when we went to demo it was the first time I heard the lyric/vocal. I was blown away and told Anthony how great I thought it was. A little bit creepy lyrically but not over the top. […] The intro and the outro solos came out of nowhere in rehearsal. Andy Gill, said (after I had just played that intro without thinking about it) “What did you just do, can you do it again?” I did and I have no idea where that came from. So, I did it again at the end. Ha ha. I am proud of that part.
The “child” section of the song was originally sung by Flea, and was only changed at the very last minute to its final version, featuring Gwen Dickey. Flea himself is a big fan of the song, and specifically referenced it in his September 2020 tribute to Jack Sherman on Instagram.