"Universally Speaking" is the fifth single by US alternative rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers from their 2002 album By the Way. It is the second track on the album and was released solely in the UK. The track was also included on their live album Live in Hyde Park which was recorded over three nights in 2004 at record-breaking shows in London's Hyde Park.
The video for the song features Doug Wilson, who plays a deranged concertgoer who attempts to return a book to vocalist Anthony Kiedis, who left the book in his taxi in the video to "By the Way". The book he is returning to Kiedis is "Lexicon Devil", which is the biography of Darby Crash, the late frontman for the late 70's punk band The Germs. The music video was directed by longtime friend Dick Rude who also directed the video for "Catholic School Girls Rule" and the live DVD Off the Map.
The covers for the single were taken from the cover of the By the Way album. These however, had there colours inverted back to normal, of the original painting of the woman, as the album cover had its colours inverted.
Contrary to popular belief, the B-Side "Slowly Deeply" was originally recorded in the Californication era sessions in 1998, it was not recorded for By The Way.
XFM online said it was a "fairly upbeat rock ode" and Rolling Stone said it was "beatlesque psychedelia".
