REQ: Lyrics for 'Cocaine' Dave v. Ronk (?)

Robert Kunz

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Apr 10, 1996, 3:00:00 AM4/10/96

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Hallo All,

Couldn't find it in OLGA's flatindex.
Please would anybody mail it to me

(preferrably to rober...@aol.com)

Thank you in advance
Robert .

R. McPherson

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Apr 11, 1996, 3:00:00 AM4/11/96

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On Wed, 10 Apr 1996, Robert Kunz wrote:

> Couldn't find it in OLGA's flatindex.
> Please would anybody mail it to me
> (preferrably to rober...@aol.com)

The song is "Cocaine" by J.J. Cale
The verse progression is E E D E E / D /
The chorus is E D C B7

If you want to hang out you got to take her out
Cocaine
If you want to get down down on the ground
Cocaine

She don't lie she don't lie she don't lie
Cocaine

If you got bad news you got to kick them blues
When your day is done and you want to ride on
Don't forget this fact you can't get back

(these were verses I remembered, there may be one missing)
rjmc...@uci.edu R. McPherson, Psychobiology Dept, UC Irvine

Allyn Dimock

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Apr 14, 1996, 3:00:00 AM4/14/96

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Dave Van Ronk recorded Cocaine Blues several times with several different lyrics.
The set I most liked were thoe ones he used in concert in the late 70's and '80s
and recorded on "Your Basic Dave Van Ronk" '81 (hey Shannachie: howabout a CD
re-release here, the remaining Kicking Mule tapes are getting hard to find).

As I recall the chords (sitting at my desk in the office)

C/G
Walking down Beale Street, turning up Main
F /E /F
Gonna' find me a gal who sells cocaine
C/G F G C/G
..... kill two birds with one stone ...

The chorus substitutes E7 for C in the first line. There is a nice bend
from D to Eflat on the B string on the transition from F to G in the last line,
and Dave plays the bass note on 2 and 4 most of the time, so the first
measure has E, G, E, G as the bass. For an accurate version: someone just
published an entire book of Dave's songs, rags, and arrangements and I believe
that Cocaine is in there.

The chorus (traditional with all versions of the song):

Listen baby, come here quick,
This ol' cocaine 'bout to make me sick,
Cocaine, run all round my brain.

Some of Dave's more fun lyrics:

I went to bed last night, I was singing a song,
I woke up this morning and my nose was gone,
... you can imagine my embarassment.

My mucous membrane is just a memory,
Sometimes I think that coke is bad for me,
... then I stop thinking.

There is no problem in life so great,
that you can't run away from it....
.................................. Yeah.

Other verses are fairly standard (from the Rev Gary Davis version)

Yonder comes my baby dressed in red,
She's got a shotgun, says she's goin' to kill me dead.
Cocaine! ....

Cocaine's for horses, not for men
They tell me it will kill me but they won't say when
Cocaine, run all roun' my brain.

Thats all I can remember her and now. Hope it helps.
-- Allyn

LinX Unlimited

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Apr 14, 1996, 3:00:00 AM4/14/96

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"R. McPherson" <rjmc...@arcturus.oac.uci.edu> wrote:

The tune "cocaine", that I remember (albeit in pieces) has verses
like:

Walk down 4th street, cross to Main
Lookin' for the man who's sellin' cocaine
Cocaine, run all around in my brain.

You take Sally, I'll take Sue
There ain't no difference 'tween the two
Cocaine, run all around in my brain.

Yeah, baby, I'm so high
I can't walk but I sure can fly.
Cocaine, run all around in my brain

O.K., for all you old coffee house plunkers like me, someone get me
the words to "Codine" (pronounced co-dine).

Again, only bits still come through my be-sotted brain...

Stay away from big cities stay away from big towns
Stay away from the man pushin' codine around
Stay away from the store where the remedy's so fine
'Cause you rise and you fall and you die on codine

'Cause it's real, it's so real, one more time.

Don't anyone quote that; I'm sure that I've muddled a couple of verses
together.

TIA

Cheers,

Roger at LinX