# 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:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mbossa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@Mbossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mbossa)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/41 "2006-08-02T03:13:25Z")
A fairly obvious one is Ben Harper’s “Burn One Down”: _Now herb is the gift that’s from the earth, And what’s from the earth is of the greatest worth, So before you knock it, try it first, And you’ll see it’s a blessing and it’s not a curse._ ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/42 "2006-08-02T03:22:57Z")
“Panama Red” by NRPS \*Everybody’s looking out for him 'Cause they know Red’s satisfies Little girls love to listen to him Sing and tell sweet lies But when things get too confusing, honey You’re better off in bed And I’ll be searching all the joints in town for Panama Red\* ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/43 "2006-08-02T03:46:06Z")
Wait, does marijuana even count? My vote is that no, no it doesn’t count. Pro-pot rock lyrics are slightly more controversial than pro-whiskey country lyrics. Only slightly. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/44 "2006-08-02T04:22:20Z")
[QUOTE=Zebra] I don’t thing the Simon and Garfunkle song “Kodachrome” is about color positive film. [/QUOTE] You ever have those “duh” moments when you realise something you should have realised years ago? Yeah, I just had one. I always thought that song _was_ about color positive film! ---
**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 2, 2006, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/45 "2006-08-02T04:32:33Z")
“Legalize It” by Peter Tosh is about as explicit as a song can get… _Some call it tampee Some call it the weed Some call it marijuana Some of them call it ganja Never mind Got to legalize it_ ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/46 "2006-08-02T04:48:14Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Not intentionally. Rent a video of [_Imagine._](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0095360/) [/QUOTE] I’ve always found it funny that JL fans can go on and on about his genius, and then assume that he didn’t notice that his trip-upon-trip song arguably had the initials L.S.D. Can we really decide that JL didn’t know even after the fact that people might interpret this song this way? ---
**Author:** ![noodlehaus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@noodlehaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/noodlehaus)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/47 "2006-08-02T05:01:45Z")
[QUOTE=Eonwe] You ever have those “duh” moments when you realise something you should have realised years ago? Yeah, I just had one. I always thought that song _was_ about color positive film! [/QUOTE] I dunno. I just looked at the lyrics and there’s nothing there to suggest that its about anything other than color positive film. OOO…I just thought of the greatest pro-speed anthem of all time…The Hawkwind/Motorhead classic “Motorhead”! “Sunrise, wrong side of another day, Sky high and six thousand miles away, Don’t know how long I’ve been awake, Wound up in an amazing state, Can’t get enough, And you know it’s righteous stuff, Goes up like prices at Christmas…” ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/48 "2006-08-02T05:30:32Z")
“Let’s Get High and Have Fun” “Marijuana In Your Brain” both by Lords of Acid “Marijuana in your brain, takes more time to ejaculate, roll up a spliff and drowse away the day with marijuana in your brain” Ditto for “Let’s Get Fucked Up” by the Cramps and add “Dopefiend Boogie.” “Devil Went To Jamaica” by David Allan Coe ---
**Author:** ![SailBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@SailBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SailBunny)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/49 "2006-08-02T14:04:49Z")
John Prine: Illegal Smile _Ah but fortunately I have the key to escape reality And you may see me tonight with an illegal smile It don’t cost very much, but it lasts a long while Won’t you please tell the man I didn’t kill anyone No I’m just tryin’ to have me some fun Well done, hot dog bun, my sister’s a nun_ ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/50 "2006-08-02T16:58:10Z")
How can we get this far without a mention of **Puff the Magic Dragon**? ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/51 "2006-08-02T17:24:03Z")
For its promotion of the magical properties of weed over anything else, I have always enjoyed **Pato Banton’s** _No Sniff Coke_. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/52 "2006-08-02T17:34:14Z")
[QUOTE=simster] How can we get this far without a mention of **Puff the Magic Dragon**? [/QUOTE] This one really is not a drug song, [Is 'Puff the Magic Dragon' About Marijuana? | Snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/puff.htm) . As for Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Paul McCartney is now saying it was definately about LSD (in an Uncut interview) and here [BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Sir Paul reveals Beatles drug use](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/3769511.stm) but I’ll admit Snopes still says it isn’t [Is 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' Code for LSD? | Snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com/music/hidden/lucysky.htm) ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/53 "2006-08-02T17:53:11Z")
[QUOTE=Bippy the Beardless] This one really is not a drug song, [Is 'Puff the Magic Dragon' About Marijuana? | Snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/puff.htm) . As for Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, Paul McCartney is now saying it was definately about LSD (in an Uncut interview) and here [BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Sir Paul reveals Beatles drug use](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/3769511.stm) but I’ll admit Snopes still says it isn’t [Is 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' Code for LSD? | Snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com/music/hidden/lucysky.htm) [/QUOTE] [in the car listening to “Puff the Magic Dragon”] Greg Focker: Who’d have thought it wasn’t about a dragon. Jack Byrnes: Huh? Greg Focker: Well some people think that ‘to puff the magic dragon’ means to… puff… smoke… a marijuana cigarette. Jack Byrnes: Puff is just the name of the boy’s magical dragon… You a pothead, Focker? Greg Focker: No, I pass on grass always. Well not always. Jack Byrnes: Yes or no? Greg Focker: No, um, yes, um… ---
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/54 "2006-08-02T19:39:51Z")
Jefferson Airplane’s _Blue Eskimo Day_ or David Peel’s _Lower East Side_, _Legalize Marijuana_ or _I Like Marijuana_ ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/55 "2006-08-02T20:30:22Z")
Doesn’t the entire genre of Psychedelic Rock from the 60s and 70s constitute “pro-drug” music? For example, the Moody Blues’ **Legend of a Mind** , a trippy ode to [the former Harvard prof](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Leary) who told the Flower Power generation to “tune in, turn on, drop out”? > [@](#): > > Timothy Leary’s dead… > No, no no no no, he’s outside, looking in. > > He’ll fly his astral plane, > Takes a trip around the bay, > Brings you back the same day, > Timothy Leary… Timothy Leary > > Along the coast youll hear them boast > About a light they say that shines so clear > So raise your glass, we’ll drink a toast > To the little man who sells you thrills along the pier And in terms of more recent music, hip-hop and reggae is rife with references to weed, ganja, indonesia, the chronic, etc. Snoop Dogg’s _The Next Episode_ comes right out and says: _ **smoke weed every day** _. Guess that counts as “pro-drug”, eh? ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841/56 "2006-08-02T22:09:25Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] “Panama Red” by NRPS [/QUOTE] I don’t think “Panama Red” is all that pro-drug. The chorus says, “He’ll steal your money and he’ll rob your head.” [QUOTE=robardin] And in terms of more recent music, hip-hop and reggae is rife with references to weed, ganja, indonesia, the chronic, etc. Snoop Dogg’s The Next Episode comes right out and says: smoke weed every day. Guess that counts as “pro-drug”, eh? [/QUOTE] Since we’re talking hip-hop, you can pretty much add the entire Cypress Hill catalogue (e.g., “Insane in the Brain”). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pro-drug-message-in-rock/366841.md?page=2)