Fact or Fiction? Twenty Songs About Drugs?
Jim Beam
'Love Is the Drug,' Roxy Music sang. Yet when it comes to rock 'n'
roll songs, drugs are often the drug. The creators of the following
alleged dope ditties almost invariably deny it, so we're placing them
on trial. Guilty or not? The question itself is intoxicating.
20'Got to Get You Into My Life'
the Beatles (1966)The accusation: It's Paul McCartney's thinly veiled
desire to sample the forbidden fruit.
The defense: It's just a silly love song.
The verdict: Guilty. As McCartney admitted, it is his paean to "some
other kind of mind." "If I am true I'll never leave," he sang. With
songs such as 'Hi Hi Hi' and his Japanese pot bust, he has stayed true
to his beloved for years.
19'Mary Jane'
Rick James (1978)The accusation: The admitted (and convicted) drug
abuser was undoubtedly well aware that "Mary Jane" is a street term
for marijuana.
The defense: She's not the kind of girl "you can just tie down," he
sang, disguising the subject as an ode to an unfaithful girlfriend.
The verdict: Guilty. Coolio's 'Half Baked' sample is confirmation from
on high.
18'Fire It Up'
Modest Mouse (2007)The accusation: An invitation to smoke 'em if you
got 'em.
The defense: Isaac Brock said it's about "turning over a car"; lyrics
refer to carburetor trouble and "broke-down transportation."
The verdict: Not guilty, though Brock did admit, "I highly approve of
stoners and stoner anthems."
17'Space Oddity'
David Bowie (1969)The accusation: Space -- it's deep, man.
The defense: Inspired by '2001: A Space Odyssey,' the song was
released to coincide with the Apollo 11 moon landing.
The verdict: Guilty. "We know Major Tom's a junkie," Bowie confessed
on the 1980 followup, 'Ashes to Ashes.'
16' Viva la White Girl'
Gym Class Heroes (2006)The accusation: "Take your razor, break down my
line/Put your nose to the speaker/ Now breathe in, breathe in" ID's
this 'White Girl.'
The defense: It's more about the trappings of stardom, of which drugs
are merely incidental.
The verdict: Guilty. The intro "Travie, you high.../S---, yeah, I'm
high" tips its hand.
15 'The Candy Man'
Sammy Davis Jr. (1972)The accusation: Dope dealers are often known as
"the candy man" (see: Grateful Dead, Mississippi John Hurt, etc.).
The defense: It's from 'Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factor,' for
Pete's sake!
The verdict: Guilty. In the movie 'Madagascar,' when Alex the lion
gets shot with a tranquilizer dart, the song plays as he hallucinates.
14'Pass the Dutchie'
Musical Youth (1982)The accusation: "Kouchie," in the Mighty Diamonds'
original 'Pass the Kouchie,' is Jamaican slang for a ganja pipe.
The defense: Changing the name to "dutchie" (a stew pot) sanitized the
song for the adolescent band members.
The verdict: Guilty. "Dutchie" now refers to a joint rolled in (Dutch
Masters) cigar paper.
13'A Horse With No Name'
America (2006)The accusation: "Horse" is a common slang term for
heroin.
The defense: Singer Dewey Bunnell said the horse is "a vehicle to get
me away from all the confusion and chaos of life."
The verdict: Not guilty. Real drug users could've done much better
than "there were plants and birds and rocks and things."
12'Beetlebum'
Blur (1997)The accusation: Said to be about Damon Albarn's drug
experiments with old girlfriend Justine Frischmann of Elastica.
The defense: It's about a complex emotion -- part sleepy, part sexy --
as Albarn once claimed, or it's about Oasis' Beatles fixation.
The verdict: Guilty. "It's about drugs, basically," Albarn finally
confessed.
11'Eight Miles High'
The Byrds (1966)The accusation: This pioneering psychedelic song could
only have been about getting high.
The defense: The group insisted the song was about an airline flight
to England.
The verdict: Not guilty, despite Don McLean's implication in 'American
Pie' ("Eight miles high and falling fast/Landed foul on the grass").
10'White Rabbit'
Jefferson Airplane (1967)The accusation: Pills that make you larger or
smaller; hookah-smoking caterpillars literally on mushrooms.
The defense: It's just 'Alice in Wonderland.'
The verdict: Guilty. It was the theme song of teen-drug-abuse
cautionary TV movie 'Go Ask Alice'; Grace Slick admitted to conceiving
the song while on LSD.
09'Morning Glory'
Oasis (1995)The accusation: "All your dreams are made/ When you're
chained to the mirror and the razor blade" points in one direction.
The defense: It's really a sex song, and "morning glory" refers to a
man waking up, let's say, at full attention.
The verdict: Not guilty. Drugs actually keep a fella from becoming
"glorious" in the A.M.
08'Jumpin' Jack Flash'
The Rolling Stones (1968)The accusation: A 'Jumpin' Jack Flash' is a
method of injecting heroin into your tear ducts ("a spike right
through my head").
The defense: Keith Richards and Mick Jagger have said it's named for
"Jumpin'" Jack Dyer, Richards' gardener at his country estate.
The verdict: Guilty. Has Keith Richards ever written a song that's not
about drugs?
07'There She Goes'
The La's (1991)The accusation: She's "pulsing through my vein" and "no
one else can heal my pain" -- "she" can only be Sweet Lady Heroin.
The defense: Guitarist Paul Hemmings says no; bassist John Power says
he doesn't know.
The verdict: Guilty. When Sixpense None the Richer's version was used
for a birth-control pill ad, the drug connection was made official.
06'Lookin' Out My Back Door'
Creedence Clearwater Revival (1970)The accusation: Tambourines,
elephants, a dinosaur Victrola -- "Won't you take a ride on the flying
spoon?" is an invitation to cocaine.
The defense: John Fogerty says he wrote the song for his son, inspired
by Dr. Seuss.
The verdict: Not guilty. These blue-collar boys would literally turn
their noses up at blow.
05'Golden Brown'
The Stranglers (1981)The accusation: The woozy, waltz-y tune is an ode
to heroin.
The defense: The song was about singer Hugh Cornwell's Mediterranean
girlfriend; the video featured exotic footage in places populated with
dark-skinned people.
The verdict: Guilty. How else to explain a punk band with a
harpsichord?
04'Cloud Nine'
The Temptations (1968)The accusation: The narrator escapes his
troubles by "riding high on Cloud Nine."
The defense: The Tempts countered that songwriters Norman Whitfield
and Barrett Strong were clean-living fellows.
The verdict: Guilty. Living in a "one-room shack" with a father that
"treated us like dirt," you don't get to Cloud Nine without help.
03'Mary Jane's Last Dance'
Tom Petty (1993)The accusation: One last hit of weed, "one more time
to kill the pain."
The defense: "It could just be a goodbye love song," said guitarist
Mike Campbell.
The verdict: Guilty. Petty was more explicit on his next hit, 'You
Don't Know How It Feels': "Let's get to the point/Let's roll another
joint."
02'Windy'
The Association (1967)The accusation: It's about "windowpane" acid.
The defense: The songwriter claimed it's about her dog, who walked
"down the streets of the city, smiling at everybody she sees."
The verdict: Not guilty. Despite a separate claim that the band's
'Along Comes Mary' was about pot, only a squeaky-clean glee club could
sing 'Cherish.'
01'Puff, the Magic Dragon'
Peter, Paul & Mary (1963)The accusation: A kilo of pot references --
Puff, little "Jackie Paper," the Hawaiian pot-growing town of Hanalei.
The defense: The lyrics were inspired by Ogden Nash's 'The Tale of
Custard the Dragon,' about loss of childhood innocence.
The verdict: Guilty. You'd need some Maui Wowee to tap into that
childlike imagination.
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TheWalrusWasDanny
Needle and the Damage done
Ashes to Ashes
Cocaine
Cold Turkey
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (only kidding!)
Danny
Jim Beam
wrote:
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Happiness Is a Warm Gun?
Jim Beam
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"Lucy" could pass as one, it did for me 30yrs ago.
TheWalrusWasDanny
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Yes but you were wrong Jim!!
Danny
Jim Beam
Ain't the first time,but it was a fun time.