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This is a topic from the More Than a Decade forum on inthe00s.
Subject: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: gumbypiz on 12/10/09 at 11:29 pm
I was stumbling around the internet trying to find a tune from my past that was stuck in my head.
Once I found it, to my surprise, I found that the song was noted to be about drugs/drug use (heroin in particular). The song itself is very innocuous and listening to the music (not reading into the lyrics too much as I had many times before), I was kind of surprised.
It started me thinking, there are a LOT of songs about love, death, dancing and so on, but much more than we realize there are a huge amount of music that has been devoted to drugs and alcohol. Some are obvious, but often times we’ve listened to them and not even realized what the subject matter of the songs were or that they were about drugs.
Some of which were not obvious to me until later in life (I guess I'm a little slow) are:
Golden Brown – The Stranglers (heroin)
Mothers Little Helper – The Rolling Stones (pills)
She Talks To Angels – Black Crows (heroin)
Never Let Me Down Again - Depeche Mode (?, not sure, but the lyrics strongly suggest an addict waiting for something)
Got To Get You Into My Life - The Beatles (pot)
House of the Rising Sun – The Animals (alcohol)
Life In The Fast Lane – The Eagles (cocaine)
Tonight, Tonight, Tonight – Genesis (cocaine)
What are your favorites (the obvious ones)? What are ones that reference to alcohol and drugs or addition that we might not notice or easily forget what they are really about?
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: snozberries on 12/10/09 at 11:44 pm
You forgot Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (LSD)
what about Go Ask Alice... who was that? Janis? Grace Slick? somebody like that...
Gin and Juice- Snoop Dog
Chronic - Dr Dre (you said they could be obvious ;D )
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: Red Ant on 12/11/09 at 12:33 am
Junkhead - Alice in Chains ("What's my drug of choice? Well, what have you got?")
Cocaine - Eric Clapton (obvious)
Family Tradition - Hank Williams Jr (alcohol and pot)
I Want To Get High - Cypress Hill (pot)
Many Clouds of Smoke - Total Devastation (pot)
Hurt - NIN (presumably heroin)
Mr Brownstone - GNR (heroin)
Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb (heroin)
Use The Man - Megadeth (unknown injectable, presumably heroin)
MLH is specifically about valium.
Ant
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: Frank on 12/11/09 at 1:09 am
Sister morphine - Rolling Stones
Dead Flowers - Rollin Stones
The No no song - Ringo Star
Drugs in my pocket - Monks
Cold Turkey - John Lennon
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: gibbo on 12/11/09 at 3:07 am
Another really obvious one...High, High High - Paul McCartney and Wings
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: karen on 12/11/09 at 9:57 am
what about Go Ask Alice... who was that? Janis? Grace Slick? somebody like that...
White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane about magic mushrooms
an obvious one is Heroin - Velvet Underground and Nico
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: snozberries on 12/11/09 at 11:41 am
White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane about magic mushrooms
an obvious one is Heroin - Velvet Underground and Nico
thanks karen... I could have googled it but I was standing at an uncomfortable angle when I posted it.
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: CatwomanofV on 12/11/09 at 12:18 pm
Captain Jack-Billy Joel
The Piano Man-Billy Joel
I Drink Alone- George Thorogood
One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer-George Thorogood
If You Don't Start Drinkin'-George Thorogood
Bad Girl-Madonna
Casey Jones-The Grateful Dead
Everybody Must Get Stoned-Bob Dylan
Hey Bartender-The Blues Brothers
I'm sure I will think of more later.
Cat
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: star80 on 12/11/09 at 12:31 pm
Kicks by Paul Revere & The Raiders (this song was originally wrote for "The Animals", but they turned it down).
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: DJ Blaze on 12/11/09 at 8:11 pm
I Don't Like The Drugs, But The Drugs Like Me - Marilyn Manson
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: Foo Bar on 12/11/09 at 9:58 pm
Sister morphine - Rolling Stones
She kicked ass. Bummer she left.
Back on topic, gotta go with Laid Back, White Horse, or the other side of the spoon (actually, on the album before that), Ministry's Just One Fix.
But enough of that. My drugs of choice are caffeine and alcohol. Best I can do for caffeine (without breaking into the Dr. Demento archives) is Hot Butter's 1973 early synth classic Percolator.
And that's just not what this thread's about.
So you can warm up with Hank Williams' Naked Women and Beer, but if your playlist doesn't include George Thorogood's If You Don't Start Drinkin' (I'm Gonna Leave), mellow out to I Drink Alone, and finish with the immortal One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer, you haveain't experienced drinkin' music.
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: whistledog on 12/11/09 at 11:10 pm
Drugs in my pocket - Monks
This one was apparently banned in some countries. Oddly enough, it wasn't in Canada and became such a big hit here (Top 20) that the Monks became more popular in Canada than anywhere else. As a result, their 1981 2nd album 'Suspended Animation' was only released in Canada (which still seems kind of odd to me)
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: snozberries on 12/12/09 at 11:52 am
Blame It (on the Alcohol) Jamie Foxx
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: Frank on 12/12/09 at 12:27 pm
This one was apparently banned in some countries. Oddly enough, it wasn't in Canada and became such a big hit here (Top 20) that the Monks became more popular in Canada than anywhere else. As a result, their 1981 2nd album 'Suspended Animation' was only released in Canada (which still seems kind of odd to me)
I was in my last year of high school when the Monks album "Bad habits" was released. Lots of good songs off that one "Drugs in my pocket, Johnny Be rotten, love in stereo, nice legs..shame about her face"
Quite a popular album at the time.
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: CatwomanofV on 12/12/09 at 3:33 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv1yQ-UuNpA
Cat
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: Henk on 12/12/09 at 5:37 pm
One of the most obvious.... Not a hit in US, but a #1 in Holland. ::)
Cokane In My Brain - Dillinger
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MjeP_-7ALw
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: Henk on 12/12/09 at 5:42 pm
Or how about this one... Another #1 in Holland (obviously!). Encourages the use of marijuana.
I Want To Be A Hippy - Technohead
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wSr7h_pjxs
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: wildcard on 12/12/09 at 5:55 pm
someone said Comfortably Numb. Here's what Songfacts says.
Roger Waters wrote the lyrics. While many people thought the song was about drugs, Waters claims it is not. The lyrics are about what he felt like as a child when he was sick with a fever. As an adult, he got that feeling again sometimes, entering a state of delirium, where he felt detached from reality. He told Mojo magazine (December 2009) that the lines, "When I was a child I had a fever/My hands felt just like two balloons" were autobiographical. He explained: "I remember having the flu or something, an infection with a temperature of 105 and being delirious. It wasn't like the hands looked like balloons, but they looked way too big, frightening. A lot of people think those lines are about masturbation. God knows why."
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: whistledog on 12/12/09 at 6:05 pm
Or how about this one... Another #1 in Holland (obviously!). Encourages the use of marijuana.
I Want To Be A Hippy - Technohead
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wSr7h_pjxs
That still remains one of the strangest dance songs ever, close behind the self-titled hit by Doop.
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: coqueta83 on 12/12/09 at 8:11 pm
Snowblind - Styx (about cocaine addiction)
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: Jessica on 12/12/09 at 9:34 pm
Because I Got High -Afroman
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: Henk on 12/13/09 at 8:59 am
One of the most obvious.... Not a hit in US, but a #1 in Holland. ::)
Cokane In My Brain - Dillinger
For a couple of years, Dillinger frantically tried to come up with a follow-up.
Rather pathetically, this was the best he could come up with (but even the Dutch didn't buy that!):
Marijuana In My Brain - Dillinger
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQUU_OXV3OI
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: Henk on 12/13/09 at 9:04 am
I guess you all know of the liberal attitude towards (the use of) drugs in the Netherlands, so it shouldn't surprise you to see that the next song made #4 in our charts. The singer is Bob Marley's widow (and Ziggy Marley's mother), the song is about marijuana (again).
One Draw - Rita Marley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOT322nAt2A
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: Henk on 12/13/09 at 9:08 am
Here's one more, from a Belgian band this time, about a heroin addiction.
Not An Addict - K's Choice
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cklb7L0OA1c
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: Lindee on 12/13/09 at 11:32 am
Brown Sugar- The Rolling Stones (at least I always thought it was)
The Needle and The Spoon- Lynyrd Skynyrd
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: Philip Eno on 12/13/09 at 11:56 am
Seven Drunken Nights by The Dubliners is a curious song about the effects alcohol.
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: star80 on 12/13/09 at 1:11 pm
Mary Jane ~ Rick James
Roll It Up, Light It Up, Smoke It Up ~ Cypress Hill
Take A Hit ~ Mack 10
That Smell ~ Lynyrd Skynyrd
Big Empty ~ Stone Temple Pilots
Landslide ~ Fleetwood Mac
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: CatwomanofV on 12/13/09 at 4:34 pm
Snowblind - Styx (about cocaine addiction)
I could I have forgotten that one. I started choreographing a dance to that song a long time ago. Never did finish.
Another one:
The Needle & The Damage Done-Neil Young
Cat
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: CatwomanofV on 12/15/09 at 7:27 pm
Another one-by Shel Silverstein. :o :o :o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPNTc93zRdA
Cat
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: Badfinger-fan on 12/15/09 at 7:49 pm
I Gotta Get Drunk - Willie Nelson
Sweet Leaf - Black Sabbath
Purple Haze - Jimi Hendrix
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: MaxwellSmart on 12/16/09 at 3:38 am
Bob Dylan: Rain Day Women
VU/Lou Reed: Waiting for My Man
Sisters of Mercy: Amphetamine Logic
Clan of Xymox: Jasmine and Rose
Men Without Hats: Pop Goes the World ^
Shane Magowan: Nancy Whiskey
Coil: Windowpane
GG Allin: Haning' Out With Jim
The Nuns: Suicide Child
John Lennon: Cold Turkey
The Tear Garden: Valium
T.J. Red Arnall: Cocaine Blues*
Tom Paxton: Bottle of Wine
The Rolling Stones: Mother's Little Helper
Grateful Dead: Casey Jones
Neil Diamond: Red Red Wine***
Thompson Twins: Don't Mess With Dr. Dream
Squeeze: Black Coffee in Bed
Cabaret Voltaire: Drinking Gasoline
Skinny Puppy: Addiction
Laid Back: White Horse
J.S. Bach: The Coffee Cantata
Heldon/Richard Pinhas: Cotes De Cachalot Ála Psylocybine
Fear: Have a Beer with Fear
GG Allin: Rowdy Beer Drinkin' Tonight
Dream Academy: Lucy September
GG Allin: Drug Whore
Talking Heads: Drugs
Howard Jones: A Little Bit of Snow
The Legendary Pink Dots: A Lost for Powder
Fun Boy Three: Farmyard Connection
Commander Cody: Seeds and Stems
Donovan: Candy Man
Pink Floyd: Morning Glory
Butthole Surfers: The Shah Sleeps in Lee Harvey's Grave
2 Special mentions:
Donovan: Mellow Yellow
The Beatles: Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds not about acid, but about a picture Julian Lennon drew in school. The LSD acronym was destined to be attributed.]
^I'm joking of course.
*Covered by too many artists to list.
**Case Jones is a folks song about a train engineer. It dates back to about the turn of the 20th century. Lyrics vary. Pete Seeger had a version in which Casey Jones was not a hero, but a railroad scab. The Grateful Dead version is the only one I know of with the lyric "Driving that train, high on cocaine."
***Diamond wrote it and had a minor hit with it in the late 1960s, the more familiar UB40 version was a huge hit in 1984.
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: danootaandme on 12/16/09 at 7:55 am
The Beatles: Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds not about acid, but about a picture Julian Lennon drew in school. The LSD acronym was destined to be attributed.]
Lucy passed away just recently(September 22, 2009)
www.entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/beatles/article6852494.ece
Lucy O’Donnell was 4 years old when her classmate at nursery painted a picture of her, surrounded it with stars and squiggles and took it home to show his parents. “It’s Lucy in the sky with diamonds,” Julian Lennon told his father, inspiring one of the Beatles’ most enigmatic songs and carving his friend a slice of musical immortality.
Real life could never match that and yesterday St Thomas’ Hospital, Central London, said the woman the world knew as “the girl with kaleidoscope eyes” had died on holiday in Norfolk after suffering for years from lupus, a vicious disease of the immune system that causes the body to attack its own cells. She was 46....
The little blonde girl in Julian Lennon’s watercolour sketch grew up with a love of children. Illness prevented her having her own, but she studied nursery nursing and worked with special needs children, running a specialist nanny agency until she began to suffer from the autoimmune diseases psoriasis and lupus in her thirties.
She married her childhood sweetheart, Ross Vodden, in 1996, and Julian Lennon, whom she had seen only once since their nursery days, sent a note to the wedding.
The Voddens were two days into their first holiday in eight years when Lucy developed an infection and was taken to hospital in King’s Lynn, where she died last Tuesday with her husband and family at her bedside, including her father, the writer and doctor Michael O’Donnell. Her elder sister, Fran, said: “She had been so excited about the holiday that she drove herself half the way there, which is incredible, but she got the infection and with no immune system there was absolutely no chance of her beating it at all....
The whereabouts of Lennon’s sketch are unknown. The song it inspired will not be played at the funeral.
http://www.bowlofserial.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Lucy-Vodden.jpg
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: CatwomanofV on 12/16/09 at 10:40 am
Fax Me A Beer-Hank Williams, Jr
There's A Tear In My Beer-Hank Williams, Jr
Save The Beer-Faust & Lewis
Alabama Song-The Doors (drinking)
Cat
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: MaxwellSmart on 12/17/09 at 1:12 am
Lucy passed away just recently(September 22, 2009)
www.entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/beatles/article6852494.ece
Lucy O’Donnell was 4 years old when her classmate at nursery painted a picture of her, surrounded it with stars and squiggles and took it home to show his parents. “It’s Lucy in the sky with diamonds,” Julian Lennon told his father, inspiring one of the Beatles’ most enigmatic songs and carving his friend a slice of musical immortality.
So sad. What a sweet-looking gal, both as a child and a woman. No wonder Julian was so inspired.
:\'(
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: danootaandme on 12/17/09 at 7:06 am
Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll - Ian Dury
Boogie 'til You Puke - Root Boy Slim
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: coqueta83 on 12/17/09 at 8:38 pm
Lucy passed away just recently(September 22, 2009)
www.entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/beatles/article6852494.ece
Lucy O’Donnell was 4 years old when her classmate at nursery painted a picture of her, surrounded it with stars and squiggles and took it home to show his parents. “It’s Lucy in the sky with diamonds,” Julian Lennon told his father, inspiring one of the Beatles’ most enigmatic songs and carving his friend a slice of musical immortality.
Real life could never match that and yesterday St Thomas’ Hospital, Central London, said the woman the world knew as “the girl with kaleidoscope eyes” had died on holiday in Norfolk after suffering for years from lupus, a vicious disease of the immune system that causes the body to attack its own cells. She was 46....
The little blonde girl in Julian Lennon’s watercolour sketch grew up with a love of children. Illness prevented her having her own, but she studied nursery nursing and worked with special needs children, running a specialist nanny agency until she began to suffer from the autoimmune diseases psoriasis and lupus in her thirties.
She married her childhood sweetheart, Ross Vodden, in 1996, and Julian Lennon, whom she had seen only once since their nursery days, sent a note to the wedding.
The Voddens were two days into their first holiday in eight years when Lucy developed an infection and was taken to hospital in King’s Lynn, where she died last Tuesday with her husband and family at her bedside, including her father, the writer and doctor Michael O’Donnell. Her elder sister, Fran, said: “She had been so excited about the holiday that she drove herself half the way there, which is incredible, but she got the infection and with no immune system there was absolutely no chance of her beating it at all....
The whereabouts of Lennon’s sketch are unknown. The song it inspired will not be played at the funeral.
http://www.bowlofserial.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Lucy-Vodden.jpg
I'm so sad to hear of her passing! :\'(
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: MaxwellSmart on 12/18/09 at 11:08 pm
Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll - Ian Dury
Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll is very good indeed...
David Bowie: Ashes to Ashes (heroin)
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: MaxwellSmart on 12/18/09 at 11:11 pm
Never Let Me Down Again - Depeche Mode (?, not sure, but the lyrics strongly suggest an addict waiting for something)
Either that or a gay song.
???
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: Fairee07 on 12/19/09 at 2:18 pm
Magic Carpet Ride---Steppenwolf (LSD)
Magic Bus---The Who (hallucinogens)
Joey---Concrete Blonde (alcoholism)
Girl With a Problem---Northern Pikes (alcoholism)
Free Ride---Edgar Winter (hallucinogens)
Let Her Cry---Hootie and the Blowfish (substance abuse)
99 Bottles of Beer On the Wall
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: Lindee on 12/19/09 at 7:44 pm
Snortin' Whiskey- Pat Travers
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: MaxwellSmart on 12/20/09 at 12:09 am
99 Bottles of Beer On the Wall
:D
No wonder we all start drinking early! We sang about it on every bus trip. I'm surprised there hasn't been some kerfuffle about a school board banning the song...or changing the lyrics!
99 bottles of non-alcoholic beverages on the wall,
99 bottles of non-alcoholic beverages...
Doesn't have much of a ring, does it?
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: Frank on 12/20/09 at 12:20 am
:D
No wonder we all start drinking early! We sang about it on every bus trip. I'm surprised there hasn't been some kerfuffle about a school board banning the song...or changing the lyrics!
99 bottles of non-alcoholic beverages on the wall,
99 bottles of non-alcoholic beverages...
Doesn't have much of a ring, does it?
...and we wouldn't lose count, coz when we sang the song and drank the stuff, we'd forget what # we are, eventually.
Which made it more fun.. ;)
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: Henk on 12/25/09 at 9:34 am
Lovin' Whiskey - Rory Block
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: robby76 on 12/27/09 at 9:42 am
Ebeneezer Goode - The Shamen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0Mzr_A-Q0I
Monkey - George Michael (that was about drug addiction, wasn't it?)
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: Foo Bar on 12/28/09 at 11:52 pm
Ebeneezer Goode - The Shamen
Karma for that one. Clever, witty, and most of the references would have gone completely over most parents' heads.
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: MaxwellSmart on 01/02/10 at 9:33 pm
Stick McGhee: Drinking Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee
Covered by Jerry Lee Lewis, Richard Thompson, and others.
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: MaxwellSmart on 01/08/10 at 4:01 pm
Champion Jack Dupree: Wine Wine Wine
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: Badfinger-fan on 01/14/10 at 3:27 am
didn't see this one posted yet...Mama Told Me (Not To Come) ~ Three Dog Night
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKaQzQAlNn4&feature=related
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: MaxwellSmart on 01/16/10 at 6:19 pm
didn't see this one posted yet...Mama Told Me (Not To Come) ~ Three Dog Night
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKaQzQAlNn4&feature=related
Ah, a Randy Newman song written for Eric Bourdon and the Animals. This was covered by several artists, including Yo La Tengo, Lou Rawls, and Tome Jones. Another version is by the Wolfgang Press, and English 4AD band I liked in the '80s and '90s.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OataTlgD1Cc
(This is not the original video)
Hans Reichel: Mr. and Mrs. Alcohol (Instrumental)
Robert Ashley: Alcohol (Alcoholism, from his opera "Celestial Excursions")
Black Sabbath: Trashed (tequila, whiskey, and driving drunk)
Frank Zappa & The Mothers: Who Needs the Peace Corps? (Song parodying the hippie "drop out" movement, lyrics refer to smoking pot, and scorn the counterculture for substituting psychedelic drug experiences for meaningful social activism)
Arabian Prince: Let the Good Times Roll (Nickel Bag) (Grass again)
Killing Joke: Prozac People
Gil-Scott Heron: Angel Dust (PCP)
Ric Ocasek: Jimmy Jimmy (Adolescent drug abuse)
Public Enemy: Night of the Living Baseheads (Freebase cocaine aka. crack)
Subject: Re: Songs about drugs and alcohol
Written By: loki 13 on 01/16/10 at 8:05 pm
Snowblind....Black Sabbath