Subject: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: Joe_F Date: 16 Dec 09 - 10:35 PM As everybody knows, there are vast numbers of songs celebrating & accompanying the consumption of the various alcoholic beverages, as well as a fair number warning against it. But ethanol seems to be unique among psychoactive drugs in this respect. I have heard only a few songs about cocaine and opium, and they are not likely to tempt anyone. That may be because the consumption of cocaine is usually solitary, and opium puts you to sleep. On the other hand, smoking other than opium is usually a social activity, but who ever has heard of a smoking song? I have seen *poems* in praise of tobacco, but all the songs I have heard about it disparage it. Likewise hemp: its use in song seems to be confined to cockroaches. What is special about ethanol? If there are in fact any smoking songs, sniffing songs, pill-popping songs, or shooting-up songs, I would be interested in hearing about them.
|
Subject: Lyr Add: OUTSIDE OF A SMALL CIRCLE OF FRIENDS(Ochs From: GUEST,999 Date: 16 Dec 09 - 10:39 PM Outside Of A Small Circle Of Friends By Phil Ochs C D C D Look outside the window, there's a woman being grabbed C Em F G They've dragged her to the bushes and now she's being stabbed E Am Maybe we should call the cops and try to stop the pain F Am Dm G But Monopoly is so much fun, I'd hate to blow the game C Am Eb And I'm sure it wouldn't interest anybody Cm F Outside of a small circle of friends. Riding down the highway, yes, my back is getting stiff Thirteen cars are piled up, they're hanging on a cliff. Maybe we should pull them back with our towing chain But we gotta move and we might get sued and it looks like it's gonna rain And I'm sure it wouldn't interest anybody Outside of a small circle of friends. Sweating in the ghetto with the (colored/Panthers) and the poor The rats have joined the babies who are sleeping on the floor Now wouldn't it be a riot if they really blew their tops? But they got too much already and besides we got the cops And I'm sure it wouldn't interest anybody Outside of a small circle of friends. Oh there's a dirty paper using sex to make a sale The Supreme Court was so upset, they sent him off to jail. Maybe we should help the fiend and take away his fine. (*) But we're busy reading Playboy and the Sunday New York Times And I'm sure it wouldn't interest anybody Outside of a small circle of friends Smoking marihuana is more fun than drinking beer, But a friend of ours was captured and they gave him thirty years Maybe we should raise our voices, ask somebody why But demonstrations are a drag, besides we're much too high And I'm sure it wouldn't interest anybody Outside of a small circle of friends Oh look outside the window, there's a woman being grabbed They've dragged her to the bushes and now she's being stabbed Maybe we should call the cops and try to stop the pain But Monopoly is so much fun, I'd hate to blow the game And I'm sure it wouldn't interest anybody Outside of a small circle of friends [ Additional verse, 1974 ] Down in Santiago where they took away our mines We cut off all their money so they robbed the storehouse blind Now maybe we should ask some questions, maybe shed a tear But I bet you a copper penny, it cannot happen here And I'm sure it wouldn't interest anybody Outside of a small circle of friends |
Subject: Lyr Add: LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS (Beatles) From: GUEST,999 Date: 16 Dec 09 - 10:46 PM LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS As recorded by The Beatles on "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (1967) 1. Picture yourself in a boat on a river, With tangerine trees and marmalade skies. Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly, A girl with kaleidoscope eyes. Cellophane flowers of yellow and green, Towering over your head. Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes, And she's gone. CHORUS: Lucy in the sky with diamonds, Lucy in the sky with diamonds, Lucy in the sky with diamonds, Ah... Ah... 2. Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain, Where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies. Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers, That grow so incredibly high. Newspaper taxis appear on the shore, Waiting to take you away. Climb in the back with your head in the clouds, And you're gone. CHORUS 3. Picture yourself on a train in a station, With plasticine porters with looking glass ties. Suddenly someone is there at the turnstile, The girl with kaleidoscope eyes. CHORUS REPEATED AND FADED. |
Subject: Lyr Add: SAN MESCALITO (Sean Gagnier) From: GUEST,999 Date: 16 Dec 09 - 10:49 PM San Mescalito pray for me now por favor I'm lost on the high range and feeling so strange and I can't find the door Lost in the strange way out on the range Never been here before I'm free as the dogs and I fly with the crows, na na na na na I climb on the wind and talk to my friend And I don't need my clothes I raised up my head and looked at his face na na na na na I felt I would die there were pieces of sky where his eyes should have been..... Sean Gagnier I'd love to have the complete lyrics to this song. It is one of the best songs Sean ever wrote, and considering that his writing was excellent all the time, that says something. |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: GUEST,999 Date: 16 Dec 09 - 10:52 PM I realize that the various drugs mentioned are not 'praised', but other drugs have also made their way into song lyrics. Buffy Sainte-Marie's "Cod'ine" pronounced co-DINE. Eric Clapton's "Cocaine". |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: GUEST,Maxwell Date: 16 Dec 09 - 11:06 PM Get Smart this season 99 and meet me in Saint Louis. MAX |
Subject: Lyr Add: FUMAR LA PIPA (Italian) From: Callie Date: 16 Dec 09 - 11:55 PM Italian folk song: Fumar La Pipa (Pipe Smoking) "Fumar la pipa non e' peccato" Mi ha disso Bortolo che mi ha insegnato Fumero' sempre, fumero' ancor, Son fumatore, son fumator. Fumano i ricchi e gli operai Son tanto pochi che non fumano mai Fumero' sempre, fumero' ancor, Son fumatore, son fumator. "To smoke a pipe is not a sin" So said Bortolo who taught me to smoke. I will always smoke, I will keep smoking. I'm a smoker! I'm a smoker! Rich and poor smoke Very few don't smoke at all I will always smoke, I will keep smoking. I'm a smoker! I'm a smoker! |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: iancarterb Date: 17 Dec 09 - 12:23 AM La Cucaracha |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: beeliner Date: 17 Dec 09 - 12:26 AM "I'm a joker, I'm a smoker, I'm a midnight toker, Sure don't want to hurt no one." [The Joker - Steve Miller Band] |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: GUEST,999 Date: 17 Dec 09 - 12:40 AM That is a great song. Used to crank the stereo to 10 for that. The song title is "One Toke Over the Line". Brewer and Shipley. |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: GUEST Date: 17 Dec 09 - 12:47 AM There's a good bit of this stuff in records of the 1930s and 1940s, mostly blues and jazz releases. Enough of it that Stash Records, in the 70s, was able to put out at least half a dozen LP compilations of "Reefer Songs," "Viper Songs," "Pipe Spoon Pot and Jug," and the like. Nearly all of it is dope-oriented, and almost none of it is unfriendly. Among the songs which come to mind:
Who Put the Benzedrine in Mrs Murphy's Ovaltine?
Reefer Man (Cab Calloway did this, and other similar pieces, including Kickin' the Gong Around, Minnie the Moocher, and The Man from Harlem, who brings joy to a dull nightclub by showing up with the Stuff)
If You're a Viper ("Dream about a reefer, five feet long/Mighty mezz but not too strong/You'll be high but not for long/If you're a viper")
Wacky Dust (Ella Fitzgerald)
The Stuff is Here (and It's Mellow)
Light Up
The "G" Man Got the "T" Man (and Gone)
Jerry the Junker
Weed Smoker's Dream
Dopey Joe (from Kokomo) Stash also did a couple of excellent sex collections, Copulatin' Blues and AC/DC Blues (Gay Jazz Classics). |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: 12-stringer Date: 17 Dec 09 - 12:50 AM "Guest" at 12:47AM is the old 12-stringer, too senile to notice that his cookie needed a reset before posting. |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: GUEST Date: 17 Dec 09 - 12:57 AM No need for a name on music threads. I'm the other one
-Joe Offer- |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: GUEST,Allan C Date: 17 Dec 09 - 02:34 AM Golden Brown by The Stranglers |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies) Date: 17 Dec 09 - 03:37 AM In praise of drugs? Lots of pop/rock songs reference drugs directly or indirectly. 'I Get a Kick Outa You' by Cole Porter, isn't exactly 'in praise of' cocaine but I love it for the jolly treatment. |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: Amergin Date: 17 Dec 09 - 03:42 AM Lucy in the Sky with diamonds is NOT a reference to drugs.... Shel Silverstein wrote a song called I Got Stoned and I Missed It.... |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: mandotim Date: 17 Dec 09 - 04:03 AM John Prine; 'Illegal Smile'. |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: GUEST,Ed Date: 17 Dec 09 - 04:05 AM Caravan: And I Wish I Were Stoned |
Subject: Lyr Add: BANANAS (Man) From: Jack Blandiver Date: 17 Dec 09 - 04:08 AM Bananas by The Manband is fairly unambiguous in its subject matter: BANANAS As recorded by Man on "Be Good to Yourself Once a Day" (2009) I like to eat to bananas, 'cos they got no bones; I like marijuana, 'cos it gets me stoned. Put a seed into the ground Wait for the sun to come around, Nurture it with love and care, Give it sun and rain and air.
There, oh there
Come on wait for it to sprout, |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: bubblyrat Date: 17 Dec 09 - 04:34 AM The Rolling Stones and something about "Brown Sugar" ?? Donovan and "Candy Man" ?? |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: Weasel Date: 17 Dec 09 - 04:44 AM Ebeneezer Goode? Cheers, Weasel |
Subject: Lyr Add: TAKE A WHIFF ON ME + TELL IT TO ME From: Ruth Archer Date: 17 Dec 09 - 04:53 AM Two similar songs which celebrate cocaine, but also acknowledge that it'll get you in the end. I think cocaine songs were more common when the drug was legal. Take a Whiff on Me - Leadbelly Walked up Ellum and I come down Main Tryin' to bum a nickle, just to buy cocaine Ho, ho, honey take a whiff on me. (Cho): Take a whiff on me, take a whiff on me And everybody, take a whiff on me. Ho, ho, honey take a whiff on me. Went to Mr. Lehman's on a lope Sign in the window said: "No more coke". Ho, ho, honey take a whiff on me. (Cho): Goin' up State Street, comin' down Main Lookin' for the woman that uses cocaine. Ho, ho, honey take a whiff on me. (Cho): I'se got a nickle, you'se got a dime... You buy the coke and I'll buy the wine. Ho, ho, honey take a whiff on me. (Cho): The blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice Takes a brown-skinned woman, for my particular use. Ho, ho, honey take a whiff on me. (Cho): Cocaine's for horses and not for men Doctors sat t'will kill you but they don't say when. Ho, ho, honey take a whiff on me. (Cho): Whiff-a-ree and whiff-a-rye Gonna keep on a whiffin' boys, 'till I die. Ho, ho, honey take a whiff on me. Tell it to Me Well I'm ridin' down Fifth Street, I'm comin' down Main I tried to bum a nickel for to buy cocaine Cocaine's gonna kill my honey dead Chorus: Now won't you tell it to me Tell it to me Drink the corn liquor let the cocaine be Cocaine's gonna kill my honey dead I sniff cocaine before I die I'd be sniffin' cocaine if it took my life Cocaine's gonna kill my honey dead (Chorus) Now I sniff cocaine, I sniff it in the wind The doc he says it'll kill me but he can't say when Cocaine's gonna kill my honey dead (Chorus) All them rounders that think they're tough But they feed their women on the beer and the snuff Cocaine's gonna kill my honey dead Some more recent examples: top 10 cocaine songs of all time (apparently) |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: Nigel Parsons Date: 17 Dec 09 - 04:56 AM Tom Lehrer: The Old Dope Peddler Jeremy Taylor: The Pot Song |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: GUEST,Chaz Brewer Date: 17 Dec 09 - 05:11 AM Oh well that's alright then. Let's praise it and celebrate it! Let's take a plant and breed it to produce so much THC that the kids of this generation can blow their minds and run the world when they 'grow up', that we are trying so hard to preserve with our taxes. Why are we doing that? CB |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: Will Fly Date: 17 Dec 09 - 05:13 AM Clapton's "Cocaine" JJ Cale wrote it. :-) |
Subject: Lyr Add: CHAMPAGNE DON'T HURT..(Jerry Jeff Walker) From: Tug the Cox Date: 17 Dec 09 - 05:53 AM [Variants in the 3rd and 4th choruses are marked with boldface.]
CHAMPAGNE DON'T HURT ME, BABY
CHORUS: Champagne don't hurt me, baby.
1. Got the good life down in Belize. [instrumental break]
2. It ain't nobody 's business, kid,
CHORUS: Champagne don't drive me crazy. [instrumental break]
3. You drink your whisky, drink your wine,
CHORUS: Champagne don't hurt me, baby. |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: Dave the Gnome Date: 17 Dec 09 - 06:28 AM Steve Earle's 'Copperhead Road' evolves from distilling moonshine to growing pot. DeG |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: kendall Date: 17 Dec 09 - 06:29 AM As I recall, even the original Jimmy Rodgers, the singing brakeman, sang about cocaine back in the 20s. |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: Young Buchan Date: 17 Dec 09 - 06:34 AM Down came bonny Jeannie, came tripping downstairs. Glenlogie |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: Vic Smith Date: 17 Dec 09 - 07:06 AM Victoria Spivey & Lonnie Johnson - Dope Head Blues (1926) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chsOLR2jzuc |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: GUEST,bankley Date: 17 Dec 09 - 07:31 AM Heroin --- Velvet Underground Junker's Blues --- Champion Jack Dupree Casey Jones --- Grateful Dead Oxycontin Blues --- Steve Earle Cheap Beer Joint --- David Wilcox (Teddy Bears) Riverboat Fantasy --- David Wilcox (Teddy Bears) Sam Stone --- John Prine (I'll Never Smoke) Weed with Willie (Again) --- Toby Keith |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: GUEST,Jack Campin Date: 17 Dec 09 - 07:32 AM "Ime prezakias", a rembetika song made famous by Rosa Eskenazi (or Roza Eshkenazy), is in praise of heroin (or some other white powder, but I think heroin is the most likely for the place and time). |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: Ruth Archer Date: 17 Dec 09 - 07:37 AM "Steve Earle's 'Copperhead Road' evolves from distilling moonshine to growing pot." So does Hayseed Dixie's Kirby Hill. |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: melodeonboy Date: 17 Dec 09 - 07:50 AM "Roll Your Own" , "Semi-Truck" (reference to "bennies"), "Down to Seeds and Stems Again Blues" - Commander Cody "Roll Another Number" - Neil Young and Crazy Horse "If You're A Viper" - I don't know who did that one! |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: GUEST,Mike of Hessle Date: 17 Dec 09 - 08:09 AM Sometime back in the 60's or 70's I remember seeing a guy on the Folk-scene called Mike Absalom. He sang a song called 'Hector the Dope Sniffing Hound.' Thin it went someting like - Hector the Dope Snifffing Hound Used to be seen around town With Inspectors and Pigs He was one of the bigs But a bark from that nark sent you down. |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: Bob the Postman Date: 17 Dec 09 - 08:15 AM Re 999 at 17 Dec 09 - 12:40 AM, "joker, smoker, midnight toker" is actually from Steve Miller's "The Joker", not Brewer and Shipley "Over The Line". You probably cranked them both to 10. On CBC Radio I once heard a WW II transcription of a radio show produced for playing to the troops in Europe. The announcer introduced an instrumental as follows "And now, here's a young Coloured boy from Montreal who can really tickle those ivories. It's Oscar Peterson with his rendition of 'If You're A Viper'." Way to slip one past the man. |
Subject: Lyr Add: DON'T BOGART ME (Fraternity of Man) From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies) Date: 17 Dec 09 - 08:25 AM Fraternity of Man's 'Don't Bogart Me' is a funny track (of Easy Rider fame): DON’T BOGART ME aka DON’T BOGART THAT JOINT As recorded by The Fraternity of Man on “Easy Rider (Music from the Soundtrack)” (1966)
CHORUS: Don't bogart that joint, my friend.
1. Roll another one [Instrumental break]
2. Ro-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-oll another one |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: erosconpollo Date: 17 Dec 09 - 08:27 AM Along Comes Mary - not only a song about marijuana but a pop hit |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: clueless don Date: 17 Dec 09 - 08:55 AM Bill Danoff, probably best known for his song "Afternoon Delight" from his days with the Starland Vocal Band, was earlier in a group called Fat City. He wrote a song called "The Fat City High School Fight Song". The first few lines (to the best of my memory) were Thank God, for marijuana 'cause its the cheapest thing to buy. Thank God, for marijuana 'cause it's what made the city high (the City High!) Don |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: Bob the Postman Date: 17 Dec 09 - 08:55 AM Glue-sniffing Anahuac by The Austin Lounge Lizards. |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: beeliner Date: 17 Dec 09 - 09:09 AM "If You're a Viper" aka "Youse a Viper" or "Viper's Drag" was by Fats Waller. There's an excellent version by the Manhattan Transfer on their album "Jukin'" "I Heard" by the Mills Brothers is certainly one of the most cryptic. |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: Leadfingers Date: 17 Dec 09 - 09:32 AM And surely caffeine is a drug: [A Proper Cup of Coffee] |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: GUEST,John from Elsie`s Band Date: 17 Dec 09 - 10:40 AM One of the songs in our repertoire is "Tobacco's But an Indian Weed". But, the sentiments of the song point out the pitfalls of smoking rather than putting tobacco on a pedestal. |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: Leadfingers Date: 17 Dec 09 - 12:13 PM As does 'A Merry Progress to London' - The HIGH cost of tobacco use . |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: Mavis Enderby Date: 17 Dec 09 - 12:53 PM Champagne and Reefer - Muddy Waters [lyrics] |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: PHJim Date: 17 Dec 09 - 01:01 PM GUEST,bankley suggested some songs that certainly don't praise drugs. Heroin, as sung by the Velvet Underground, may qualify, but it sure doesn't make me want to try it. Sam Stone is anything but a song praising drugs. It's an anti-drug song if I ever heard one. Oxycontin Blues isn't a praise of Oxycontin either. Some of these songs mentioned by other folks also don't answer the request of the original poster. Buffy St.Marie's Codine is not a praise of the drug, nor is Cocaine. It's not too hard to find songs that mention drugs or even songs that are about drugs, but the original poster wanted songs that PRAISE drugs. It seems to me that I recall a James Taylor song, before he got sober, called Mescalito. It was a song praising the drug and his backing musicians made him put a disclaimer in the liner notes stating that the other musicians on the album did not necessarily agree with the sentiments expressed in the lyrics of that song. |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: PHJim Date: 17 Dec 09 - 01:06 PM John Hartford also recorded a song, early in his career, that prised marijuana called Granny Wontcha Smoke Some Marijuana. I recall going to see him a few years before he passed and someone yelled out a request for that song. John said, "No, that's a terrible song." |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: pdq Date: 17 Dec 09 - 01:16 PM John Hartford, with help from Doug and Rodney Dillard, did a song called "Two Hits and the Joint Turned Brown". Sorta neo-Reggae, I suppose. Pretty funny. |
Subject: Lyr Add: TOBACCO IS LIKE LOVE From: KathyW Date: 17 Dec 09 - 01:33 PM What about "Tobacco is like Love"? You can find it on John Townley's album "A Chesapeake Sailor's Companion": http://www.amazon.com/Chesapeake-Sailors-Companion-Townley-Press/dp/B00005EBJM/r (pops) "TOBACCO IS LIKE LOVE" by Tobias Hume Tobacco, tobacco, Sing sweetly for tobacco! Tobacco is like love, o love it. For you see I will prove it. Love maketh lean the fat men's tumour, So doth tobacco. Love still dries up the wanton humour, So doth tobacco. Love makes men sail from shore to shore, So doth tobacco. 'Tis fond love often makes men poor So doth tobacco. Love makes men scorn all coward fears, So doth tobacco. Love often sets men by the ears, So doth tobacco. Tobacco, tobacco, Sing sweetly for tobacco! Tobacco is like love, o love it. For you see I will prove it. |
Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song From: Mavis Enderby Date: 17 Dec 09 - 02:18 PM "Love maketh lean the fat men's tumour, so doth tobacco" must be about the most ironic lyric I've ever seen! |
Share Thread: |
Subject: | Help |
From: | |
Preview Automatic Linebreaks Make a link ("blue clicky") |