Is alcohol the only drug...? (songs praising drugs

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: wysiwyg
Date: 03 Jan 10 - 11:54 PM

I know that song! I often sing that line but no one knows what it is except me! :~)

~S~

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: Clontarf83
Date: 04 Jan 10 - 12:10 AM

:) *winks*

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Jan 10 - 11:18 AM

The Amboy Dukes featured a young Ted Nugent on guitar, the self same pinko-baiting, meat-loving, squirrel hunting, gun toting, survivalist teetotaller. "Hey, i just thought those pipes were for tobacco!!"

anyways

Morphine and EyeHateGod have both recorded odes to opiates

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: GUEST,lenrubyr
Date: 20 Mar 10 - 01:51 AM

zztop
humble pie,thirty days in the hole

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: 10r
Date: 20 Mar 10 - 02:54 AM

Great list- I think everyone had
what I thought of, except 2 songs, both
recorded by the New Riders of the Purple Sage,
but I think at least one was written by someone else:
Henry (to many lines to include about marijuana)
and
Panama Red (On his white horse Mescalito ....)

Subject: Lyr Add: SEEDS AND STEMS (AGAIN) (Commander Cody)
From: bseed(charleskratz)
Date: 20 Mar 10 - 07:31 AM

I don't think anyone mentioned this--


SEEDS AND STEMS (AGAIN)
As recorded by Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen on "Lost in the Ozone" (1971)

Well, I'm sittin' alone Saturday night watchin' the late late show
A bottle of wine, some cigarettes, I got no place to go,
But I saw your other man today; he was wearin' my brand-new shoes,
And I'm down to seeds and stems again, too.

Well, I saw my old friend Bob today from up in Bowlin' Green.
He had the prettiest little gal that I've ever seen,
But I couldn't hide my tears at all, 'cause she looked just like you,
And I'm down to seeds and stems again, too.

Now everybody tells me there's other ways to get by.
They don't seem to understand I'm too far gone to try.
Now, these lonely memories, they're all I can't lose,
And I'm down to seeds and stems again, too.

Well, my dog died just yesterday and left me all alone
The finance company drive by today and repossessed my home
But that's just a drop in the bucket, gal, compared to losin' you,
And I'm down to seeds and stems again, too.
Got the "Down to Seeds and Stems Again" blues.


Charles

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: pdq
Date: 20 Mar 10 - 11:19 AM

The New Riders of the Purple Sage seemed like a continuous advertisement for pot, with songs like..

Panama Red
Henry
Charlie's Garden
Sutter's Mill*
Important Exportin' Man
Kick in the Head
Lonesome L.A. Cowboy

*the "gold" at Sutter's Mill ain't from the creek

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: Stringsinger
Date: 20 Mar 10 - 02:24 PM

No tengo tequila
No tengo Reyel
No tengo marijuana
Goddamit to hell

Mexicano lament
to the tune of Wild Rover

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: GUEST,lazy sunday
Date: 21 Mar 10 - 07:42 AM

Lou Reed's Perfect Day? Also agree to all those mentioning Ebeneezer Goode - there are LOADS of joyfully pro-E songs from the heyday of 80s/90s rave, many of which managed to sneak some pretty blatant drug references onto Radio 1 &c, because the drug slang around E was still unfamiliar. Later, Pulp's Sorted for Es and Whizz? We are getting massively far away from folk music! But an awful lot of drugs are fairly recent innovations, and even cocaine and co wouldn't have been anywhere near as commonly taken by ordinary people as alcohol, at least in northern Europe.

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: Suffet
Date: 21 Mar 10 - 08:16 AM

In 2001 we had a thread called Weed Songs which was about marijuana songs.

--- Steve

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: Michael
Date: 21 Mar 10 - 05:34 PM

As The Casuals sang
"What am I supposed to do with a girl on ketamine?"

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: GUEST,Tiggywinkle
Date: 22 Mar 10 - 06:41 AM

Gotta quibble about the Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar" that somebody mentioned--*not* a drug song, but a (very blatant)song about sex with black girls.

As far as "positive" songs about non-alcohol drugs, I thought of one or two that haven't been mentioned yet.

The Ramones--"I Wanna Be Sedated"
About, well, sedatives...!

Jim Stafford--"Wildwood Weed"
"We thought it was kinda handy, take a trip and never leave the farm!"

Tom Petty-- "Mary Jane's Last Dance"
Silly me, I thought this one was about a girl but my kids assure me to the contrary. It doesn't strike me as a particularly cheery song, but its message is certainly more on the pro-pot than the con-pot side of things.

Pink Floyd--"Comfortably Numb"
Again, whether or not this is pro-drug is debatable. The narrator is being drugged out of his gills by a doctor so he can make it through the next show. I think it sounds more negative, but the narrator claims to be "comfortable."

Jefferson Airplane--"Go Ask Alice" (Also known as "White Rabbit")
I am going to respectfully disagree with the person who classified this as a con-drug song. Sorry, but the ending line: "Feed your head!" in context cannot be heard as anything other than a ringing endorsement.

I could probably dredge up a few (quite a few!) more, given my fondness for the music of the 60s & 70s when I'm not listening to folk songs and sea shanties. But I'll just mention a couple of things: the late and much lamented Bob Kotta's "Tequila in the Jar" contains the line "Marijuana no fumar" but I have also heard it sung "marijuana si fumar." And am I the only one who remembers that Donovan's "Mellow Yellow" sparked a fad for smoking banana peels, in the belief that they would get you high?

As to why alcohol is so celebrated in song, as opposed to other substances, I see a couple of factors at play. One is simply that booze has been around longer. That's not to say that our caveman ancestors weren't out smoking the meadow or snacking on the local mushrooms--they may well have been. But there is evidence that our Neolithic ancestors were brewing or fermenting alcoholic beverages. The ancient Egyptians certainly were. By the Middle Ages, ale or wine were common features at mealtimes, and in many places that is still the case. The same cannot be said for other recreational drugs.

Along with that--and related to it--is simply the fact that alcohol is much more socially acceptable. Obviously, if music of any genre concerned itself only with things that are legal, our musical traditions would be much less interesting and fun! Still, alcohol use (and abuse) being a part of daily life for the last 6,000--9,000 years it would probably be more surprising if it *didn't* show up in song. Even before things like opium and marijuana and cocaine were made illegal, they were much less commonly or openly used. And I think that may have something to do with why those substances turn up less frequently in songs, and especially less often in a positive light.

That's my 15 minute, off-the-cuff take on it, anyway. YMMV.

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: Joe_F
Date: 22 Mar 10 - 04:28 PM

I wonder if perhaps there were opium songs in India & China, or hemp songs in the Middle East.

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 17 Dec 10 - 07:13 AM

Tiggywinkle's right about 'Brown Sugar'. When he wrote it Mick originally called it 'Black Pussy' which don't exactly allow room for argument. How 'bout Bowie/Mott the Hoople 'All The Young Dudes' 'carry the 'ludes' ?

Subject: Lyr Add: NICOTINE BLUES (Martin Winsor)
From: Newport Boy
Date: 17 Dec 10 - 10:48 AM

A while back I posted Martin's Nicotine Blues.

Nicotine Blues, by Martin Winsor (about 1960)

I wake up in the morning no damn good
I lie there in the bed just like a block of wood
I fumble for the matches, light that morning fag
There ain't nothing like that first sweet drag

Chorus
Nicotine, nicotine
I'm just a slave to that nicotine
You can keep your liquor and your Benzedrine
I'm just a slave to that nicotine

About every hour or so I get that yen
Gotta stop everything and have a smoke again
Looks like I was born the type
That just lays around and smokes my pipe

Some folks like that old Virginia grown
Smoke tailor-mades or they roll their own
You can do what you like to that Indian weed
Me, I would even chew the seed

Don't go much on that old opium
Hashish only leaves me feeling numb
But if you want to see me swing on a star
Feed me up with a fat cigar

Every night before I go to bed
A certain thought passes through my head
I know it's no use my counting sheep
If I don't have a smoke I just can't sleep.


I can't remember where I got this from, but I noted it down about 1961.


Phil

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 17 Dec 10 - 03:52 PM

Likewise hemp: its use in song seems to be confined to cockroaches.

Apparently you've never listened to any reggae. :-) There are scores and more of songs about the herb, ganja, collie weed, sensimilla, sensi, chalice pipes, spliffs, etc etc.

What may be interesting is that many are not simply 'praising' the drug --i.e. as per one of the above ideas that some songs praise while others deride. These songs are not saying (like typical alcohol songs), 'Hurrah! Let's go get some pot/booze. It will be really fun.' Rather, the herb signifies (in part) a sort of resistance. I don't use ganja, but I can still vibe with the subversive tone of many of the songs.

This one has an especially militant feel:

Black Uhuru - Stalk of Sinsemilla

The narrator has "a stalk of sensimilla growing in his backyard." It's really a defiant statement.

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: Joe_F
Date: 17 Dec 10 - 05:58 PM

Sahib: Interesting indeed. I suppose the song you have linked to is in English, but, between the dialect and most recent singers' habit of drowning themselves out with their instruments, I can't understand a word. Is it written out somewhere?

However, from your comment I infer that the songs you mention are from places where the stuff is illegal, so that praising it has subversive effect, and not from places where it is or was part of the dominant culture, as in Jamaica or parts of the Middle East. Did the Jamaican cane cutters have songs about how useful it was in getting thru a day's work?

An amusing song in which *coffee* is treated as subversive (I suppose with some satirical intent) is "Eyes of Night Owls" by Bob Kanefsky.

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: GUEST,999
Date: 17 Dec 10 - 06:11 PM

Listen to Phil Ochs` Circle of Friends.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE FREE MEXICAN AIRFORCE (Peter Rowan)
From: Spleen Cringe
Date: 17 Dec 10 - 06:40 PM

The Free Mexican Airforce
By: Peter Rowan (w/ Flaco Jiminez)
        
In the Morenos Mountains campesinos are planting their fields
While the ghost of Zapata rides a horse that can still outrun the wheel
There, free in the sky high above, nearly clear out of sight
It's the Free Mexican Air Force flyin' tonight

In the City of Angels, a cowboy is cooling his heels
Remembering that God gave us herbs and the fruits of the fields
But a criminal law that makes outlaws of those seeking light
Made the Free Mexican Air Force -- Mescalito riding his white horse --
Yeah, the Free Mexican Air Force is flyin' tonight!
Flying so high - yi - hiyeeeee! ...

How strange that an innocent herb causes money to burn
They'll jail you or kill you for making those rich fat cats squirm
They're the fools who make rules with no difference between wrong or right
That's why the Free Mexican Air Force is flyin' tonight

Uncle Sam in his misery put a nix on the fields of Guerrero
Sayin', "Shoot down all gringos and wetbacks who dare wear sombreros!"
Either run for your life, surrender, or stand up and fight --
Or join the Free Mexican Air Force -- Mescalito riding his white horse --
Yeah, the Free Mexican Air Force is flying tonight!
Flying so high - yi - hiyeeeee! ...

(instrumental bridge)

It is not marijuana destroying the minds of the young
But confusion continued for power and greed in all forms
Well, the borders of evil will fall to the smugglers of light!
We're the Free Mexican Air Force and we're flyin' tonight!

In San Antonio, they tell me that power and money are one
They can buy us or sell you to keep you afraid, on the run
But no one can stop us! My vision is clearly in sight!
And the Free Mexican Air Force -- Mescalito riding his white horse --
Yeah, the Free Mexican Air Force is flyin' tonight!
Flying so high - yi - hiyeeeee! ...

Some were smoking colitas while other were loading their guns
Blowing smoke from their six-shooters, spinning their barrels for fun
Contrabandistas, banditos alike --
We're the Free Mexican Air Force and we're flyin' tonight!

High in the hills we are harvesting sweet sensimillia
Yeah, the law wants it all 'cause they know that the wild weed can free ya
And freedom for us is a prison for the rulers of might!
That's why the Free Mexican Air Force -- Mescalito riding his white horse --
Yeah, the Free Texican Air Force is flyin' tonight!
Flyin' so high- yi- yee...

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: Jeri
Date: 17 Dec 10 - 06:54 PM


Free Mexican Air Force on YouTube.

I first heard the song in 1978 in the Armadillo World Headquarters. (From the sound system, not live.)

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: fox4zero
Date: 17 Dec 10 - 08:41 PM

Stash Records issued a number of albums concerning coke and other
intoxicants, including an entire album about "Jake" the alcoholic
extract of Jamaica ginger. However, Jake songs usually did not
extol Jake, but rather damned it for the paralysis caused by a
substitute used instead of ethyl alcohol.
Larry

Subject: Lyr Add: SINSEMILLA (Black Uhuru)
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 18 Dec 10 - 03:01 AM

Marijuana is illegal in Jamaica. The Rasta culture, which speaks largely to displaced/disenfranchised, embraces it as a sort of article of faith, as it were. It is of symbolic significance, and the government recognizing it as illegal is, from that perspective, just one more way that they *don't* recognize the Rasta (and by extension, the poor and "culturally conscious" generally) as legitimate. From their perspective, a good and useful drug, moreover one that is important to their religion/spirituality, is kept illegal for the dual reasons of greed and because it is associated with "undesirables." A big part of the Rastas' critique is that this quality of supposed undesirableness is that which is the African, the Black, etc. versus the Colonizer. So, the attack on marijuana is an attack on their culture, etc.

Here's a try at the lyrics for Black Uhuru's "Sinsemilla":

I've got a stalk of Sinsemilla grooming in my backyard

Don't cut down the collie tree
Cause it make the best tea for me
I've seen doctor say it is naturally
One thing must start to believe a lot of fool
To survive and go through in Babylon

Yes I've walked the streets and seen children downtown
Begging everyone they see, and it hurt me
It can't be right for what this world do for the youth
The little herb I'm selling; they want to capture me
I and I don't cherish wickedness, because it's non-profit to I and I

Anything that is non-profit, I and I don't take for it
Fussies, fussies all over I and I
No need to fret, for I and I shall [??]

There is red house over yonder full of marijuana
[??] sitting on corner chatting it with informer

Free the herb, little herb
Heal the nation, heal the sick
Sell, sell that collie herb
You could be rich, have everything you would want in life
Some of us going on like it don't want a thing in life
So we go round like worm, no no
I'd rather to sell stalk of sensimilla

people touch what [??] for marijuana


Here's a recent song with a similar strident tone:
Bun Di Ganja

Herb tree grow like flowers a me yard
Till dem say why Papa Chezi a di real herb lord!
Say me burn de ganja, burn de ganja, burn de ganja real hard

Bad t'ings 'appen a me can't [bad a] bawl
And me say me can't take de botheration, no not at all
Say me burn de ganja, burn de ganja, burn de ganja real hard

Mi got herb inna mi chalice pipe, herb inna mi tea
Herb inna mi system; chemically free
Organically, medically, proven to be
De perfect solution fi all malady
Mi seh indoor, outdoor
Tell di farmer: plant more
Legalize the herb for the people dem poor
ETC

Almost sounds like an advertising jingle!

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: framus
Date: 18 Dec 10 - 01:06 PM

I haven't ploughed through all of this thread, but has anybody mentioned "The Old Dope Pedlar" by Tom Lehrer?
Davy.

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: GUEST,Doug Saum
Date: 18 Dec 10 - 03:12 PM

"Easy Skankin'" Robert Nesta Marley

Doug Saum

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: Joe_F
Date: 18 Dec 10 - 08:29 PM

Sahib: Thanks very much for spelling out "Sinsemilla". It appears, however, that both it and "Bun di Ganja", tho they do indeed praise dope, are mainly propaganda against its illegality, and only secondarily celebrations of its effect on those who smoke it.

I was not aware that marijuana was illegal in Jamaica. How long has that been true? As I indicated, I was under the impression that its main use there was to relieve the tedium of hard manual labor. I have never met anyone in America who used it for that purpose. %^)

framus: Lehrer's song is indeed formally in praise of illicit drugs, but only as a way of satirizing sentimental songs (and being naughty).

We still have not come up with anything resembling (say) "Landlord, Fill the Flowing Bowl" but devoted to some other drug.

I read once that the Koran forbade taxing marijuana on the grounds that it was wicked to raise the price of anything that gave comfort to the poor. If that is so, one might hope for such songs in Islamic societies -- except that (I gather) the Koran is rather hard on music too.

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: Stephen L. Rich
Date: 19 Dec 10 - 12:00 AM

Marc Black's "OOOh, I Love My Coffee"
Andina and Rich's "Caffeine"

Subject: Lyr Add: PASS THE KUTCHIE
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 19 Dec 10 - 12:31 AM

Hi Joe F,

tho they do indeed praise dope, are mainly propaganda against its illegality, and only secondarily celebrations of its effect on those who smoke it.

I apologize if it was unclear: I was noting those song precisely because of their other dimension *besides* "We love to smoke cannabis." The latter are indeed common in the reggae oeuvre, however, since they don't interest me much personally, I don't have many at the tip of my tongue (I prefer love songs and such!).

But an example I can offer that may be more on your target is the well known "Pass the Kutchie":

Pass the Kutchie

It's doggerel verse, but it's more about the "vibe" of just sitting around in a circle and passing the pipe around.

//
Pass the kutchie pon the lef' hand side
Pass the kutchie pon the lef' hand side
It a go bun, it a go dung, Jah know

It was a cool and lovely breezy afternoon
(How do feel when you got no herb?)
You could feel it 'cause it was the month of June
(If you got no herb you will walk an' talk)
So I lef' my gate and went out for a walk
As I pass the dreadlocks' camp I hear them say
(How do dey sing when you heard dem sing?)

Pass the kutchie pon the lef' hand side
Pass the kutchie pon the lef' hand side
It a go bun, it a go dung, Jah know

So I stopped to find out what was going on.
(How do you find when you make your stuff?)
For the spirit of Jah, you know he leads me on
(Them all have a leaf at the dreadlocks' camp)
There was a ring of dreads and a session was there in swing
I could feel the chill as I see and heard them say
(How do dey sing when you heard dem sing?)

Pass the kutchie pon the lef' hand side
Pass the kutchie pon the lef' hand side
It a go bun, it a go dung, Jah know
//

As far as your imagined scenario about (19th century?) songs praising cannabis to get through labour goes, I am not an expert on pre-recording industry Jamaican songs, but FWIW so far as I have heard a number of them, sorry I can't remember hearing any such thing.

***
Is the birth-control pill a drug you'd consider under this topic? :-) I do know of a few Jamaican songs about that!