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

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: meself
Date: 18 Dec 09 - 04:19 PM

"BTW, someone mentioned 'Let's Go Get Stoned' but that is clearly about alcohol."

And I (someone) quote:

"I'll call up my dealer on the way home and say,
"'Let's go get stoned.'"

?

Subject: Lyr Add: COCAINE HABIT BLUES (Memphis Jug Band)
From: KB in Iowa
Date: 18 Dec 09 - 03:19 PM

The Memphis Jug Band recorded 'Cocaine Habit Blues' in 1930. The refrain is Hey, hey, honey, take a whiff on me.

They are not praising cocaine.


Cocaine habit's mighty bad.
It's the worst old habit that I ever had.
Hey, hey, honey, take a whiff on me.

I went to Mr Beaman's in a lope.
Saw a sign on the window says no more dope.
Hey, hey, honey, take a whiff on me.

If you don't believe cocaine is good,
Ask Alma Rose at Minglewood.
Hey, hey, honey, take a whiff on me.

I love my whiskey, and I love my gin,
But the way I love my coke is a doggone sin.
Hey, hey, honey, take a whiff on me.

[instrumental break]

Since cocaine went out of style,
You can catch 'em shootin' needles all the while.
Hey, hey, honey, take a whiff on me.

It takes a little coke to give me ease.
Strut your stuff long as you please.
Hey, hey, honey, take a whiff on me.

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: pdq
Date: 18 Dec 09 - 02:35 PM

Yes, the "Take A Whiff On Me" in the DigiTrad is different.

Perhaps you would like to download the Greenbriar Boys version from Amazon.com. It will cost 99¢ US.

The correct title of the Loggins and Messina song I mentioned is simply "Whiskey".

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 18 Dec 09 - 02:19 PM

Thanks pdq - but Take A Whiff On Me in DigiTrad is not the same song, tho shares a few floaters.

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: pdq
Date: 18 Dec 09 - 01:55 PM

If someone is looking for the song "Cocaine Bill and Morphine Sue", they will probably find it under the title "Take A Whiff On Me". Dates back to at least Lead Belly.

An odd hybrid of booze and pot songs is Loggins and Messina's "Don't Sing Anything Pretty After Whiskey". Pro-pot, anti-whiskey.

Subject: Lyr Add: THAT ACAPULCO GOLD
From: KB in Iowa
Date: 18 Dec 09 - 01:22 PM

"The examples give so far seem to confirm my original impression"

Well, Joe F. 'That Acapulco Gold' that I mentioned earlier is most definitely celebrating pot smoking.

Me and Martha took a honeymoon,
Below the border 'neath the silvery moon,
She was eighteen and I was twenty-two,
Now we're just a-doin' what the old folks do

We're goin' south, south, to get that
Acapulco Gold
Ain't nothin' it can't fix,
Old dogs can learn new tricks,
When the streets are lined with bricks
Of Acapulco Gold

We 'bout decided against the whole thing
But then we thought we really ought to swing
Heard that the southland held the key,
To cure them cotton pickin' sniffles and sneeze

refrain

Zig zag, white or wheat any'll do
Hey diddle diddle twenty three skidoo
Me and Martha sure had fun
Now there's Acapulco Gold for everyone


BTW, someone mentioned 'Let's Go Get Stoned' but that is clearly about alcohol. He even mentions buying a bottle of gin.

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: Bettynh
Date: 18 Dec 09 - 01:12 PM

To be complete, on the negative side of non-alcoholic drugs:

"Hurt", written by Trent Reznor, but owned by Johnny Cash

"Cocaine Blues" owned by Dave Van Ronk, though I doubt he wrote it.

Tom Paxton's "Cindy's Cryin' (But It Ain't No Use)"

Kris Kristofferson's "Sugar Man"

Neil Young's "The Needle and the Damage Done'

The Velvet Undergroound's "I'm Waiting for the Man"

Van Morrison's "Blow in Your Nose" and "Nose in your Blow"

Rosalie Sorrel's "L.A. Nights"

Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit"

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: Bettynh
Date: 18 Dec 09 - 12:34 PM

It's specific to its time, but Tom Paxton's "Talking Vietnam Potluck Blues" brings a smile (We have met the enemy and he has been smashed!)

Arlo Guthrie's "Coming into Los Angeles"

The Short Sisters' "Coffee"

Christine Lavin's "Chocolate Covered Expresso Beans"

Shel Silverstein's "Have Another Espresso"

Mississippi John Hurt's "Coffee Blues" isn't about coffee, but it's a great song.

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: meself
Date: 18 Dec 09 - 11:29 AM

And the winner is: "Let's Go Get Stoned" (not the Ray Charles version, but the Amboy Dukes').

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: Mr Red
Date: 18 Dec 09 - 05:32 AM

Paregoric thread 1
Paregoric thread 2
see threads for lyrics & explanation.

House of the rising sun is implies it is part of the story (pick your version)
Goodnight Irene is not exactly in praise of drugs, but......

And isn't there a Cockayne Overture in Elgar's tune list? Or was it a symphony? & a village in Yorkshire - 'appen soh!

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 18 Dec 09 - 05:12 AM

I know, btw, that it is absurd to seek a definitive version of any traditional song -- but out of interest, who knows it as "Cocaine Bill & Morphine Sue", & who, v.v., as "Morphine Bill & Cocaine Sue"?

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 18 Dec 09 - 04:52 AM

Thanks, Roughyed. But, tho a good song, Cocaine Lil is not the same one as Cocaine Bill.

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 18 Dec 09 - 03:47 AM

In the first post, Joe F asks What is special about ethanol?

For the nickel tour of a history of alcoholic beverages, the slide show at Eight ancient drinks uncorked by science might be of interest.

(If you click on the "print this" button at the bottom of any page you can look at all nine slides on one page.)

Now, back to the music.

John

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: Roughyed
Date: 18 Dec 09 - 03:07 AM

Try looking under Cocaine Lil. One of the little known side effects seems to be a sex change....

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 18 Dec 09 - 02:45 AM

Oddly, this song, Cocaine Bill... doesn't seem to be in Digitrad under any title I can formulate. But it was also cited, quoting as under, by GuestGARGOYLE in long & full post of 17 Nov 01 on thread 'Rugby Football Songs":

"And his heart would be hard indeed who was not moved by the tragety of Morphine Bill and Cocaine Sue who after killing themselves with drugs (Honey have a sniff on me) were buried side by side."-
quoting Michael Green's Book of 'More Rugby Songs' 1967.

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 18 Dec 09 - 02:14 AM

See thread - Lyr req: Cocaine Bill & Morphine Sue:- Nov 06-Jan 07.

Certainly song, well recalled from my long-ago youth & student & soccer-playing days, about drugs, tho not exactly in praise: last verse as I remember it went — 'This story only goes to show There ain't no sense in sniffing snow'.

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: Roughyed
Date: 18 Dec 09 - 01:11 AM

What about Dylan's Rainy Day Women #s 12 and 34? That encourages people to get stoned, I don't think he meant alcohol and it sounds like a party. I seem to remember a band from the 6os called I think David Peel and the Lowere East Street who did a whole marijuana themed album - my memory of the tracks is a bit vague for some strange reason

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: Artful Codger
Date: 17 Dec 09 - 11:31 PM

"Come, Sirrah Jack, Ho!" is a madrigal about the pleasures of smoking. "It is very, very good; 'tis very good!"

k.d. lang did a concept album Drag on the theme of smoking.

Pipes and tobacco figure as simple pleasures in a fair number of songs, though I can't think of a song with a refrain like "So puff, boys, puff! And see that you do not cough!"

The Captain Matchbox Whoopie Band's album Smoke Dreams was apparently recorded while they were smoking something else.

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: Amergin
Date: 17 Dec 09 - 08:52 PM

I also do not think Velvet Underground's Heroin was in praise of the drug.

Subject: Lyr Add: TOBACCO'S BUT AN INDIAN WEED
From: autoharper
Date: 17 Dec 09 - 08:39 PM

Perhaps the oldest one is "Tobacco's But An Indian Weed"
attributed to Thomas D'Urfey, around 1719. Often mistaken as a song about the dangers of lung disease, the song uses tobacco smoking as a metaphor for the the transient nature of existence. Larry Hanks recorded an excellent version of this song on his "Tying a Knot in the Devil's Tail" CD.

1.        To-bacco's but an Indian weed,
        Grows green at morn, cut down at eve
        It shows our de-cay,
        We are but clay;
        Think of this when you smoke to-bacco!

2.        The pipe that is so lily white,
        Wherein so many take delight,
        It's broken with a touch,
        Man's life is such
        Think of this when you take tobacco!

3.        The pipe that is so foul within,
        It shows man's soul is stained with sin
        It doth require
        To be purred with fire;
        Think of this when you smoke tobacco!

4.        The dust that from the pipe doth fall,
        It shows we are nothing but dust at all
        For we came from the dust,
        And return we must;
        Think of this when you smoke tobacco!

5.        The ashes that are left behind,
        Do serve to put us all in mind
        That unto dust
        Return we must;
        Think of this when you take tobacco!

6.        The smoke that does so high ascend,
        Shows that man's life must have an end
        The vapor's gone,
        Man's life is done;
       Think of this when you take tobacco!

-Adam Miller

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: Amergin
Date: 17 Dec 09 - 07:52 PM

Peter Tosh did Legalise It.

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Dec 09 - 07:48 PM

So...Joe F.

Your niece needed a term paper before the winter recess?

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: GUEST,celticblues5
Date: 17 Dec 09 - 07:03 PM

The fabulous Julia Lee had twin recordings of "Sweet Lotus Blossom" & "Sweet Marijuana" (same song, just substituted one phrase for the other, depending, I suppose on the audience at any particular time, "(sweet) lotus blossom" being marginally more obscure as to its meaning).

Soothe me with your caress,
Sweet lotus blossom
Lotus blossom
Help me in my distress
Sweet lotus blossom
Please do

Now you alone can bring my lover back to me
Even though I know it's just a fantasy
And then, knock me clear out
Sweet lotus blossom
Please do.....


Then there was Bessie Smith --- ["Gimme a Pigfoot"]

.....Give the piano player a drink because he's bringin' me down
He's got rhythm, yeah!
When he stomps his feet, he sends me right off to sleep
Check all your razors and your guns
We gonna be rasslin' when the wagon comes
I wanna pigfoot and a bottle of beer
Send me 'cause I don't care
Slay me 'cause I don't care
Gimme a reefer and a gang o' gin
Slay me, 'cause I'm in my sin
Slay me 'cause I'm full of gin
Check all your razors and your guns
Do the
shim-sham shimmy
till the risin' sun


A compilation, "Reefer Songs," lists:
1. Reefer Man - Don Redman And His Orchestra
2. The Man From Harlem - Cab Calloway And His Orchestra
3. Here Comes The Man With The Jive - Stuff Smith And His Onyx Club Boys
4. If You're A Viper - Bob Howard And His Boys
5. Texas Tea Party - Benny Goodman And His Orchestra, With Jack Teagarden
6. Light Up - Buster Bailey's Rhythm Busters
7. Jack I'm Mellow - Trixie Smith
8. Sweet Marijuana Brown - Barney Bigard Sextet
9. Viper Mad - Sidney Bechet With Noble Sissie's Swingers
10. The Weed Smoker's Dream (Why Don't You Do Right) - Harlem Hamfats
11. The G Man Got The T Man - Cee Pee Johnson And His Band
12. All The Jive Is Gone - Andy Kirk And His Twelve Clouds Of Joy
13. The Stuff Is Here - Georgia White
14. Wacky Dust - Chick Webb And His Orchestra, With Ella Fitzgerald
15. Who Put The Benzedrine In Mrs Murphy Ovaltine? - Harry 'The Hipster' Gibson
16. Jerry The Junker - Clarence Williams And His Washboard band
17. Reefer Song - Fats Waller
18. Lotus Blossom (Sweet Marijuana) - Julia Lee And Her Boy Friends
19. Willie The Chimney Sweeper - Ernest Rodgers
20. Weeds - Bea Foote
21. Save The Roach For Me - Buck Washington
22. Knockin Myself Out - Lil Greene
23. Minnie The Moocher - Cab Calloway And His Cotton Club Orchestra


And here's another compilation of substance songs -
http://isohunt.com/torrent_details/114485209/Teens+Lyrics?tab=summary

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: GUEST
Date: 17 Dec 09 - 06:27 PM

Dr. Hook's "Freaker's Ball" album has a few songs about stuff including the classic "I Got Stoned and I Missed It".

Neil Young's "The Needle and the Damage Done" and the album "Tonites' the Nite"

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: Joe_F
Date: 17 Dec 09 - 05:53 PM

The examples give so far seem to confirm my original impression: There are of course songs that mention other drugs incidentally, and songs that describe how wretched they make people, but there are no dope songs anything like "Landlord, fill the flowing bowl" or "Chevaliers de la table ronde", which encourage people to drink as an aid to conviviality & merriment. Are there perhaps marijuana songs in Arabic? I ask because I once read that the Koran forbids the taxation of hemp on the ground that it is cruel to tax things that console the poor.

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 17 Dec 09 - 03:33 PM

<quote>
No, we expect a consistent name in every message.
</quote>
The make the bloody field mandatory!

Subject: RE: Is alcohol the only drug praised in song
From: KB in Iowa
Date: 17 Dec 09 - 02:24 PM

'That Acapulco Gold' by Rainy Daze.

Came out in 1967.

It got some radio play before The Man figured out what it was about and had it pulled from the airwaves. Got to #70 on the Billboard charts.

(submitted once sans cookie)

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!

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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 - 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: 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: 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: 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: erosconpollo
Date: 17 Dec 09 - 08:27 AM

Along Comes Mary - not only a song about marijuana but a pop hit

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.
Pass it over to me.
Don't bogart that joint, my friend.
Pass it over to me.

1. Roll another one
Just like the other one.
You've been hanging on to it
And I sure would like a hit. CHORUS

[Instrumental break]

2. Ro-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-oll another one
Just like the other one.
That one's just ‘bout burnt to the end,
So come on and be a real friend. CHORUS TWICE

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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.