# Best pro-drug message in rock **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 1, 2006, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841 "2006-08-01T04:36:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/1 "2006-08-01T04:36:36Z")
My nominee is the song “[a href=http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~marwak/lyrics/stranger.htm]Stranger in Blue Suede Shoes[/a]” by Kevin Ayers. Its message is gentle, positive, and witty. It tells the story of an uptight square who smokes some sort of “cigarette” and is transformed into a mellow person. _From the green cigarette he told a long drag And said “I think I’ll pack my traveling bag I’m tired of cheating and wasting my head And filling the boss’s bags with bread I want to get out in the sun and rain And feel the wind on my skin again The world is large, and I’ve got time yet And by the way, thanks for that… cigarette… Thank you very much”_ ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/2 "2006-08-01T04:41:16Z")
I don’t thing the Simon and Garfunkle song “Kodachrome” is about color positive film. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/3 "2006-08-01T04:43:34Z")
That would have to be\* [Smoke Two Joints](http://www.thetoyes.com/lyrics/lyrsmoke2.html)\*, originally done by The Toyes, and made famous by Sublime. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/4 "2006-08-01T04:54:26Z")
Remember what the dormouse said… ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/5 "2006-08-01T05:05:11Z")
> [@Suburban Plankton](#): > > That would have to be\* [Smoke Two Joints](http://www.thetoyes.com/lyrics/lyrsmoke2.html)\*, originally done by The Toyes, and made famous by Sublime. Aye ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/6 "2006-08-01T05:15:02Z")
_Late in the Evening_ Paul Simon \*Then I learned to play some lead guitar, I was underage in this funky bar And I stepped outside to smoke myself a J When I come back to the room, everybody just seemed to move And I turned my amp up loud and I began to play It was late in the evening, and I blew that room away\* [http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Late-In-The-Evening-lyrics-Paul-Simon/264AF814001CB7D54825698A0009F752](http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Late-In-The-Evening-lyrics-Paul-Simon/264AF814001CB7D54825698A0009F752) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/7 "2006-08-01T05:19:35Z")
Is there really any competition here? _Sweet Leaf_, Black Sabbath. The riff to that song is way better than _Iron Man_. And for best pro-legalization song, I’ll say _Don’t Step on the Grass, Sam_ by Steppenwolf - who knows, they might be the only band to get a nomination in both threads. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/8 "2006-08-01T05:30:32Z")
I was going to mention in the other thread that I didn’t think Heroin by Lou Reed counted as anti drug…hell, it was one of the reasons I tried it (I’ve given it up since! But it was a Perfect Day.) ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/9 "2006-08-01T05:32:40Z")
_Catnip is a kitty cat drug One puff two puffs - high in a dream Funny kitty’s got very sleepy eyes I wonder what he’s dreaming of Catnip dream catnip dream catnip dream Meow meow meow_ **Catnip Dream** , by Shonen Knife ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/10 "2006-08-01T05:44:12Z")
**The Beatles** ’s “Got To Get You Into My Life” was about marijuana, according to Paul McCartney. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/11 "2006-08-01T05:53:58Z")
Velvet Underground, “Heroin”: I Don’t know Just what I’m doin’ But I’m Gonna try For the Kingdom if I can ‘Cause it makes me feel like I’m a man When I put a spike into my veins And I tell ya, things aren’t quite the same When I’m rushin’ on my run And I feel just like Jesus’ son Well, I guess, but I just don’t know Well, I guess, but I just don’t know ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/12 "2006-08-01T05:55:06Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Remember what the dormouse said… Feed your head! Feed your head! ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/13 "2006-08-01T08:22:21Z")
Don’t Bogart that joint, my friend, Pass it over to me… ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/14 "2006-08-01T12:37:12Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > _Late in the Evening_ Paul Simon > > \*Then I learned to play some lead guitar, I was underage in this funky bar > And I stepped outside to smoke myself a J > When I come back to the room, everybody just seemed to move > And I turned my amp up loud and I began to play > > It was late in the evening, and I blew that room away\* I always thought it should be “and I blew that _joint_ away”. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/15 "2006-08-01T12:52:21Z")
The greatest pro-drug song ever: Cat Mother and the All Night Newsboys – [Strike a Match and Light Another.](http://fhapgood.fastmail.fm/masscann/strike_a_match.txt) (Written by Jay “Theme for Ken Burns’s The Civil War” Ungar.) \*When your feet are in the stirrups and your ass is on the ground Cause the grass that he’s been eating is the finest stuff around Well let us not remember boys and let us not forget Strike a match and light another marijuana cigarette [/quote] And, of course, you have to mention the oeuvre of David Peel and the Lower East Side, with songs like “I Like Marijuana,” “I’ve Got Some Grass,” “Show me the Way to Get Stoned,” “Legalize Marjiuana,” “I Want to Get High,” “Everybody’s Smoking Marijuana,” and “The Pope Smokes Dope.” As the titles indicate, Peel was exhuberantly pro-marijuana. ---
**Author:** ![dawson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@dawson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dawson)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/16 "2006-08-01T13:17:49Z")
comfortably numb - pink floyd ---
**Author:** ![Hamadryad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6de8d8/32.png) [@Hamadryad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamadryad)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/17 "2006-08-01T13:57:39Z")
I’d say the “best pro-drug message in rock” is about 2/3 of the best tunes from the last 40 years. To quote Bill Hicks: “If you don’t believe drugs have done good things for us, then go home and burn all your records, all your tapes, and all your CDs because every one of those artists who have made brilliant music and enhanced your lives? RrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrEAL fucking high on drugs. The Beatles were so fucking high they let Ringo sing a few songs.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![noodlehaus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@noodlehaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/noodlehaus)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/18 "2006-08-01T14:04:01Z")
There’s The Mentors “Up The Dose”- …“Now take qualludes and thorazine Heroin and morophine Reds, dilaudid, percodan, valium, codeine number 4 Alcohol, sleep eze, marijuana, romilar, niquil, Angel dust, librium, Take tons of it baby Take it all And we’ll be naked Ballin’ together” “Romilar D” by The Fuzztones- “…Don’t know where I’m Goin, Don’t know where I’ve been/ But I’m where It’s at when this stuff kicks in…” The Cramps-“Lets Get Fucked UP” Eddie Spagetti (of the supersuckers)-“Killer Weed” “…Its Exactly what you need” and speaking of The Supersuckers, how 'bout “Non-Addictive Marijuana”? “I like smokin’ non addictive marijuana/I like a big ole bump of that soothin’ speed, But what I really want is a big spoonful of heroin/'cause heroin always gives me what I need” ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/19 "2006-08-01T14:39:37Z")
How about a sextet of pro-cocaine ditties: [Eric Clapton](http://www.cocaine.org/cocaine-ericclapton.html) \* Cocaine\* [Dick Justice](http://www.cocaine.org/cocaine.htm) _Cocaine_ (1929) [Grateful Dead](http://www.cocaine.org/cocaine-gratefuldead.html) _Cocaine_ [Pulp](http://www.cocaine.org/cocaine-socialism.html) _Cocaine Socialism_ [Johnny Cash](http://www.cocaine.org/cocaineblues-johnnycash.html) _Cocaine Blues_ [Memphis Jug Band](http://www.cocaine.org/cocaine-habit.html) _Cocaine Habit Blues_ (1930) The 1929 and 1930 songs can’t be classified as rock, but they all seem relevant to this topic. You decide. ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/20 "2006-08-01T14:44:07Z")
> [@Chez Guevara](#): > > How about a sextet of pro-cocaine ditties Make that a quintet by excluding the Johhny Cash song. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841.md?page=2)