Lyr Req: Codeine / Cod'ine (Buffy Sainte-Marie)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Codeine / Cod'ine (Buffy Sainte-Marie)
From: GUEST,A Regular
Date: 21 Feb 13 - 04:23 PM

The problem with codeine and singers is that codeine is a pain killer and muscle relaxant. Bad combo for vocalists because they may not know when they are screwing up their larynx/vocal cords. Opiates and derivatives mask pain so singers often don't know they are doing damage. Pain is the body's way of informing us that something is being hurt.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Codeine / Cod'ine (Buffy Sainte-Marie)
From: banjoman
Date: 21 Feb 13 - 05:50 AM

Great song - dont hear enough of Buffy nowadays.
Incidentally I take coedine on a regular basis for severe pain. No serious side effect after 10+ years. Each time I visit USA I have to carry a letter from my doctor stating that it is a prescribed drug, although I have never been asked to produce it (So far)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Codeine / Cod'ine (Buffy Sainte-Marie)
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 21 Feb 13 - 05:27 AM

My copy of It's My Way, the LP with Cod'ine on, is dated 1964, but the sleeve notes offer no more information about the origin of the song.

There is a biography, also called: It's My Way by Blair Stonechild. Perhaps that would clarify the possible addiction issue if anyone has a copy.

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Codeine / Cod'ine (Buffy Sainte-Marie)
From: GUEST,Woody Brison
Date: 20 Feb 13 - 10:28 PM

Old thread, old song... let's see if this website will even take a comment any more...

I heard an interview with Buffy Ste. Marie on the radio in L.A. sometime in the late 60's. In the interview, Buffy said she wrote this song when she was pretty young. She'd read about codeine, and the danger of addiction to it, and she was appalled I guess, and she wrote this song about it. Being so young she didn't know how it was pronounced, that's why she pronounced it "codine". I guess when she recorded it (years later?) she just kept the odd pronounciation for the rhymes.

They played the track during the interview. I suppose it was a preview before the album came out? I remember being amazed and entranced at the way Buffy put her heart into it and really "wrung out" a lot of the words.

Now that I read (Wikipedia) that she became addicted to codeine in 1963 and wrote the song as a result, I'm a little puzzled, she was 21, why didn't she know how to pronounce it? Maybe so, or maybe she wrote part of the song earlier and just finished it later. Or maybe the 1963 date is wrong, subract 10 years? Or, how do we know she was even addicted? I guess we never do.

At any rate, I only heard that track that ONCE. I was in high school and I had refurbed an old radio with a big ol' speaker, very fine sound quality. Now, listening to it 40 years later on a CD ("The Best of Buffy Sainte-Marie") from the library (I have about as much money now as I did then) I can remember quite vividly the sound of this. It's the same exact track they played on the radio. (And I'm still just as impressed)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Codeine / Cod'ine (Buffy Sainte-Marie)
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Dec 10 - 12:26 PM

Codeine don´t give a "rush", but the "high" comes in between 20 or 30 minutes.
I´m from Europe. Dihydrocodeinetartrat helped to cope the withdrawal from Heroin ... until the government orded to give the "patients"
Methadone.

Both "medications" will give you a withdrawal thats last for weeks and months.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Codeine / Cod'ine (Buffy Sainte-Marie)
From: GUEST,Cat Feral
Date: 08 Dec 06 - 01:59 PM

Strange... I heard that song a few times in my girlhood (if that's a word) and what I always heard was:

"When I was a young girl, I learned not to kill.
Of whiskey and frolic, I often did swear..."

I'm aware that "kill" in no way rhymes with "swear," but that's what I heard. Which I took to mean that her parents had taught her, "Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, etc. ... and BTW, stay away from whiskey and general carousing," but they didn't know enough to warn her about codeine and other "real" drugs. (and yes, I know alcohol is a drug, but you know what I mean.)

Did anyone else hear it that way?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Codeine / Cod'ine (Buffy Sainte-Marie)
From: GUEST,Lana
Date: 25 Apr 05 - 02:20 PM

Courtney Love did a cover on this song last year, if anyone is interested it can be found here:

http://www.moonwashedrose.com/aural/holeaudio.html

Just scroll down the page to the "Misc Live" section.
It's a great song. I wish I could hear Buffy's original version...I'm too young to have been alive in 1968...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Codeine / Cod'ine (Buffy Sainte-Marie)
From: Roger in Baltimore
Date: 15 Apr 05 - 02:57 PM

Whoa!! Where did that come from?

Roger in Baltimore

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Codeine / Cod'ine (Buffy Sainte-Marie)
From: GUEST
Date: 15 Apr 05 - 08:53 AM

i sniff codein every half hour. without it my life is pointless. i also take xtc and heroin at the weekends. I also puff weed every 2 hours so im always fucked. Believe it or not im a doctor and i say abuse drugs, u only live once and this life is so cruel.

Subject: Chords Add: Codeine / Cod'ine (Buffy Sainte-Marie
From: Roger in Baltimore
Date: 12 Apr 05 - 09:32 AM

Athena,

Guitar tuning DADGBD low to high, left to right. Often called Dropped D tuning.

Chord      Shape

D       000230

D7      030230

D/B    020230

A       550xxx

G       330xxx

D/F#    004230

A9      002030

A7      002020

X       002000


INTRO

D /   D7   / D/B   / G slide A G /   D   /



D             D7               D/B          D
My belly is a-cravin', I got a shakin' in my head,

   D/F#          A9          A7         X    A7
I feel like I'm dying, and I wish I was dead.
      D         D7       D?B               A9   A7
If I live 'til tomorrow, that'll be a long time,
          D             D7             D/B       D
But I'll reel and I'll fall, and I'll rise on cod'ine,
          D/7          D/B   A -> G    D
And it's reel, and it's reel, one more time.

I'm at work, but I think the progressions are right. Sorry for the chord names, but my knowledge of musical theory is limited.

Roger in Baltimore

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Codeine by Buffy Sainte Marie
From: mkebenn
Date: 11 Apr 05 - 06:08 AM

One of two songs that weaned me off the Kingston Trio forty odd years ago, and I still play it. Wonderfully easy gender switch, swapping woman and man in the forth verse and boy for girl in the second. As for reel/real, I think one of each, in that order. Also, I always heard the second line, second verse as "off whiskey and frolic I often did swear"...Mike

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Codeine by Buffy Sainte Marie
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Apr 05 - 12:09 AM

Ummm-athenareich???????

Roger from Baltimore gave them in this thread.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Codeine by Buffy Sainte Marie
From:
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 10:50 PM

does anyone know where i can find the chords to "cod'ine"?

:) athena

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Codeine by Buffy Sainte Marie
From: GUEST,woodseye
Date: 11 Jan 05 - 12:02 PM

Quicksilver Messenger Service done an excellent version as did Gram Parsons.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Codeine by Buffy Sainte Marie
From: GUEST,Steve
Date: 10 Jan 05 - 08:38 PM

Buffy Sainte Marie' "Codein" and Bert Jansch's "Needle of Death" are tne best anti-drug songs I have ever heard. I give a slight edge to the Jansch's song, which was the motivation for Neil Young to write his anti-drug song: "Needle and the Damage Done."

Subject: RE: codeine by Buffy Sainte Marie
From: Roger in Baltimore
Date: 11 Feb 04 - 02:55 PM

I am separated from my Buffy St. Marie Songbook. However, I learned the guitar part from the book. It is in drop D tuning DADGBD. The "one more time" is just a double stop on the DA pair. Very powerful guitar part. And it does have a "12 string" sound to it. I'll have to go home and try it on my 12 string. Might be a musical "overdose" though.

Whether it's "real" or "reel", your audience may not know, but which one you believe may very well affect how you interpret this song to your audience (and in that way, they may know). I often tell the audience the "double entendre" in my introduction. It makes the word more powerful and it might not come to the audience's mind immediately.

Roger in Baltimore

Subject: RE: codeine by Buffy Sainte Marie
From: pxp
Date: 11 Feb 04 - 01:33 PM

Codine 2:25 The Charlatans 1966 Nuggets, Vol. 4 - Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era

Here's what one website says about it: "The group cut a nine-track album for Kama Sutra which included the Buffy St. Marie song Codine (later recorded by many other 'Frisco bands), ... The Charlatans had wanted Codine backed by 32-20 released as a single, but the record company got cold feet because of the mention of 'drugs' in Codine and cut off all contact with the band. This was disasterous for The Charlatans and ironic when one considers that the song was condemning drugs rather than advocating their use."

Subject: RE: codeine by Buffy Sainte Marie
From: MickT
Date: 11 Feb 04 - 06:31 AM

http://www.manband-archive.com/music/lyrics-display.php?file=lyrics-codine.php&contents=lyrics-index-c.php&title=Codine

Subject: RE: codeine by Buffy Sainte Marie
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 11 Feb 04 - 05:19 AM

That should have said 90mg.
eric

Subject: RE: codeine by Buffy Sainte Marie
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 11 Feb 04 - 05:02 AM

Jazus, I must be in very bad pain, I've been prescribed 900mg codeine
for severe pain due to an old injury.
eric

Subject: RE: codeine by Buffy Sainte Marie
From: GUEST,Tony sans Cookie
Date: 11 Feb 04 - 12:02 AM

Codeine Phosphate is an ingredient in pharmacy only pain killers here in Australia. These generally have 500mg of paracetamol and either 8 or 10mg of Codeine Phosphate per tablet. Pain killers with higher codeine content (typically 16 mg) are commonly prescribed for severe pain from injuries and post-op. From experience they are effective pain killers but I have never experienced any sort of buzz - I probably didn't take enough. As noted above Codeine is a close relative of Morphine, so I dare say you could extract it from a bottle of tablets and purify it if you were determined enough. I know that Australians are cautioned to carry a letter from their doctor indicating that it is a medically prescribed drug when travelling to a number of overseas countries with tough anti-drug laws.

Subject: RE: codeine by Buffy Sainte Marie
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 10 Feb 04 - 11:24 PM

Interesting group of "friends" that pop into this place on occassion....no doubt they know and follow some of the old-standby-standards....but for the edification of the yonger-folk seeking a legal-limits high....or wanting to protect their liver....

The 4th leading cause of death in the USA is from adverse drug reactions

There are levels at which some drugs effects are optimum....and levels above which NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE is observed....asprin, codiene, vicodene....are examples....the sixth asprin does not improve the perception of pain any more than the second one (unless it is stomach ulcers)

Take an over-view with this little PP and then branch into the others.
http://www.jbpub.com/dsonline/6e/Chapter%2005_files/v3_document.htm

http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/F-27/C.R.C.-c.870/125255.html

dose response curve
http://www.curvefit.com/introduction89.htm

http://neuro-www.mgh.harvard.edu/forum/MultipleSclerosisF/Steep-NarrowDoseResponseCurve.

http://www.apa.org/journals/seligman.html

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: codeine by Buffy Sainte Marie
From: Little Hawk
Date: 10 Feb 04 - 11:01 PM

It's a superb anti-drug song, and comes directly from Buffy's own struggle with Codeine addiction when she was quite young. She kicked it...with great difficulty. The line is definitey "My belly is cravin' (or a-cravin'), I've got a shakin' in my head" and later "you'll forget you're a woman, you'll forget about men, try it just once and you'll try it again".

The song is usually played in DADGAD as far as I know...or possibly double dropped D, but I think it's DADGAD. She did a lot of stuff in that tuning, as did the young Bob Dylan.

I still think it's the best anti-drug song I ever heard.

I figure that Buffy deliberately changed the spelling to Cod'ine, leaving out the 'e' in codeine, so that she could give the song a sort of spooky, unique title and get more good rhymes for the ends of the lines at the same time. It would not have worked nearly so well if built around the word 'codeine', because 'een' doesn't rhyme so handily as 'ine'.

That's sheer good songwriting instinct, not an accident. The apostrophe in Cod'ine indicates that she was well aware of the actual spelling of the word.

- LH

Subject: RE: codeine by Buffy Sainte Marie
From: Janice in NJ
Date: 10 Feb 04 - 10:00 PM

Oh, how well I remember those teenage days when you could buy over the counter cough syrup that contained codeine! Yes, you could get high, not an intense high, more like a medium buzz, and you had to drink the whole 8 ounce bottleful. And yes, the stuff was addictive. As soon as you stopped you were struck with two symptons of withdrawal: a pounding headache that wouldn't go away unless you took another hit of the syrup, and really bad abdominal cramps coupled with 24 straight hours of the runs. I couldn't imagine getting as wasted as the character in Buffy's song, but getting yourself straight took some effort.

Subject: RE: codeine by Buffy Sainte Marie
From:
Date: 10 Feb 04 - 04:54 PM

After receiving my B.A. in l968 I went on to "grad school" at the Lompoc Fed Correctional Institution in CA. I learned the guitar and Buffy St Marie's "Codeine." At that time it was played in D-Modal Tuning which lent the allusion of a 12 string guitar.

The song still haunts me.

bst rgds, lws

Subject: RE: codeine by Buffy Sainte Marie
From: Roger Himler
Date: 15 Sep 98 - 09:02 PM

I had an abcessed tooth once, and was prescribed Tylenol III (with Codeine) for the pain as I waited for the infection to subside under medication. I took the maximum dosage and soon went to sleep. I awoke in a daze, still hurting. So, without looking at the clock, took the next four hour dosage. I repeated this twice again. Turns out I took about four doses in two or three hours. I am a believer that it can provide a high. Tim Jacques, you may just be very drug resistant. The books and the addicts tell you that the dosage to achieve a high is less than the dosage that kills you. Hence, it is an intoxicant.

Roger in Baltimore

Subject: RE: codeine by Buffy Sainte Marie
From: alison
Date: 15 Sep 98 - 08:14 PM

Hi,

Speaking as a nurse, codeine can be addictive, and it gives you constipation.

Lot's of seemingly innocent drugs can have bad effects. Once knew of a woman who died after taking kaolin and morphine (used to treat diarrhoea... and freely available over the counter in pharmacies... well it used to be anyway). She drank 14 bottle of the stuff a day to get the morhine....... and it killed her.

Slainte

alison

Subject: RE: codeine by Buffy Sainte Marie
From: Rockad Johnny
Date: 15 Sep 98 - 10:25 AM

It is "My Belly is a Cravin'" according to the BSM Songbook (Grosset & Dunlap) it also gives her guitar tuning as DADGBG

Subject: RE: codeine by Buffy Sainte Marie
From:
Date: 14 Sep 98 - 08:51 PM

Codeine may put you to sleep, but it won't give you a high. I took some fairly strong doses when I injured my leg once.

The stuff sold over the counter here is indeed in low doses, and you can get it in cough syrup too. Americans buy it up in large bottles to take home with them.

Subject: RE: codeine by Buffy Sainte Marie
From: Roger Himler
Date: 14 Sep 98 - 07:26 PM

ces,

Ralph's version is more true to the original by my memory. I do still think it's "My belly is a'achin' there's a shakin' in my head." It's a better line lyrically.

Codeine is a narcotic (sleep inducing) drug. It is derived from the opium poppy just as are heroin and morphine. Codeine is a very effective cough suppressant and therefore was a primary ingredient in cough syrups in the 1800's. It continued in use for some time in the US despite the furor over narcotic drugs in general. In the State of Maryland in the 60's you could buy codeine based cough syrups at the pharmacy, but you had to sign for them. The idea was to keep track of people who's coughs may be too strong or last too long.

It was a legal way to maintain an addiction, but it was not cheap, and oral ingestion is a poor way to get a drug into your system. It is very slow, so it does not provide the "rush" that many addicts seek. Robitussin (sp?) cough syrup was also abused in the past when it had codeine in it.

Although Codeine is not a popular drug of abuse in the US, I like this song because it provides a pretty good insight into the addict mind without being overly preachy.

I believe I read in Sing Out decades ago that Buffy agreed the last line could be reel or real depending on your taste. Besides, how will your audience know?

Roger in Baltimore

Subject: Lyr Add: COD'INE (Buffy Sainte-Marie)
From: Ralph Butts
Date: 14 Sep 98 - 06:37 PM

ces...

Buffy lived down the hall from my sister-in-law at UMass in the early 60's but, unfortunately, I've never seen her perform live. She doesn't venture out of Canada too often, these days.

The following is a transcription from Buffy's 1964 album "It's my way!" (I know there can be different versions). The liner notes say the following about this song:

'The foreknowledge of death and the recapitulation of the life which made that death inevitable; a tale of drug addiction told within the mind but in the voice of the ancient (or prematurely aged) addict desperately seeking some justification for her existence; the pathetic repetition that she has avoided the additional sin of alcohol, thus keeping faith with the creed of her parents; a characterization so extraordinaryand many-levelled that all consciousness of its having been "created" is lost; a macabre waltz which tetters on the edge of the grave.'

It's your choice on "reel" or "real" for the last line - here at the den, we always thought is was "reel".

.....Tiger

Cod'ine
Buffy Sainte-Marie

GUITAR INTRO

My belly is a-cravin', I got a shakin' in my head,
I feel like I'm dying, and I wish I was dead.
If I live 'til tomorrow, that'll be a long time,
But I'll reel and I'll fall, and I'll rise on cod'ine,
And it's reel, and it's reel, one more time.

Well, when I was a young girl, I learned not to care
For whiskey, and from it I often did swear.
My mother and father said, "Whiskey's a curse."
But the fate of their baby was many times worse,
And it's reel, and it's reel, one more time.

Stay away from the cities; stay away from the town,
Stay away from the man pushin' codeine around,
Stay away from the stores where the remedy is fine,
For better your pain than be caught on cod'ine,
And it's reel, and it's reel, one more time.

You'll forget you're a woman, you'll forget about men,
Try it just once, and you'll try it again.
You'll forget about life, you'll forget about time,
And you'll live off your days as a slave to cod'ine,
And it's reel, and it's reel, one more time.

INSTRUMENTAL BREAK

But, if I die tomorrow, still one thing I've done,
I've heeded the warning that I got when I was young.
My one satisfaction, it comes when I think
That I'm livin' my life without bendin' to drink,
And it's reel, and it's reel, one more time.

And my belly is a-cravin'; I got a shakin' in my head,
I feel like I'm dying, and I wish I was dead.
If I live 'til tomorrow, that'll be a long time,
But I'll reel and I'll fall and I'll die on cod'ine,
And it's reel, and it's reel, one more time.

Subject: Lyr Add: COD'INE (Buffy Sainte-Marie)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Sep 98 - 05:32 PM

COD'INE
Buffy Sainte-Marie

An' my belly is craving, I got shakin' in my head
I feel like I'm dyin' an' I wish I were dead
If I lived till tomorrow it's gonna be a long time
For I'll reel and I'll fall and rise on codeine
An' it's real, an' it's real, one more time

When I was a young man I learned not to care
Wild whiskey, confronted I often did swear
My mother and father said whiskey is a curse
But the fate of their baby is many times worse
An' it's real, an' it's real, one more time

You'll forget your woman, you'll forget about man
Try it just once, an' you'll try it again
It's sometimes you wonder and it's sometimes you think
That I'm a-living my life with abandon to drink
An' it's real, an' it's real, one more time

Stay away from the cities, stay away from the towns
Stay away from the men pushin' the codeine around
Stay away from the stores where the remedy is found
I will live a few days as a slave to codeine
An' it's real, an' it's real, one more time

An' my belly is craving, I've got a shakin' in my head
An' I've started heating whether my body said
Steady yourself with the grains of cocaine
An' you'll end dead or you'll end up insane
An' it's real, an' it's real, one more time

An' my belly is craving, I got shaking in my head
I feel like I'm dyin' an' I wish I were dead
If I lived till tomorrow it's gonna be a long time
For I'll reel and I'll fall and rise on codeine
An' it's real, an' it's real, one more time
An' it's real, an' it's real, one more time

Text & Music, Buffy Sainte-Marie
Album "Best of" / Vanguard VCO 864 / 1970

Diese eindrückliche Codeinentzugsschilderung
wurde 1970 auch von Donovan interpretiert.

(also recorded by Donovan in 1970)

Subject: RE: codeine by Buffy Sainte Marie
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Sep 98 - 05:28 PM

Codeine is an opiate, Tim, and they say it can be just as addictive as heroin. I'd guess that if it's available over-the-counter in Canada, it's in very low doses. I think it used to be a common ingredient in over-the-counter cough medicine in the U.S., but no more. I think the Powers That Be in the U.S. went overboard in their fear of drugs, to the point that they lost credibility with the younger generation.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: codeine by Buffy Sainte Marie
From:
Date: 14 Sep 98 - 04:50 PM

Codeine is just a pain reliever. You can buy it over the counter here in Canada. Not aware that it is supposed to give anyone a high. It is the aspirin that gives you the pain in the gut, anyway, not the codeine with it.

Subject: RE: codeine by Buffy Sainte Marie
From: Barbara
Date: 14 Sep 98 - 03:50 PM

My belly is aching, there's a pain in my head
I feel like I'm dying, and I wish I were dead
If I live till tomorrow, it'll be a long time
And I'll spend all my life and I'll die on co-dyne
And it's real, and it's real, one more time.

It's on Illuminations, and the Best of Buffy St. Marie. If it doesn't show up here first, I'll go get it and transcribe it.
n.b. She says codyne in the song, not co-deen. Dunno why.
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: codeine by Buffy Sainte Marie
From:
Date: 14 Sep 98 - 12:39 PM

Buffy Sainte Marie recorded the song "Codeine" almost thirty years ago. I'm trying to find the words. Can you help?