# Captain Jack and Other Drug References
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/captain-jack-and-other-drug-references/152300
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 2, 2003, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/captain-jack-and-other-drug-references/152300 "2003-02-02T14:06:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Phydeaux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phydeaux)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2003, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/captain-jack-and-other-drug-references/152300/1 "2003-02-02T14:06:33Z")
Hello all -
My wife and I were listening to the radio and Billy Joel’s Captain Jack came on the radio. The song is obviously about heroin. The lyrics “Just a little push and you’ll be flying” and “Captain Jack will get you high tonight,” are pretty hard to miss.
We begin speaking about other drug reference songs that were not quite as blatant. For example:
\*\*Happiness is a Warm Gun (Beatles) - Heroin
\*\*Mellow Yellow (Donovan) - Smoking the inner peel of Bananas.
\*\*Puff the Magic Dragon - Smoking grass
So - two quick questions:
1. Neither of us had ever heard of heroin being named “Captain Jack.” How did that reference come about?
2. What are some other veiled drug references in songs? I can come up with a bunch of blatant ones. I’m looking for those clever one that might even be disputed by those that hear it.
Thanks -
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### Author:  [@Phydeaux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phydeaux)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2003, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/captain-jack-and-other-drug-references/152300/2 "2003-02-02T14:08:13Z")
Sorry - spell that subject line “Captain.”
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### Author:  [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2003, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/captain-jack-and-other-drug-references/152300/3 "2003-02-02T15:25:47Z")
First, “Captain Jack” is not a slang term for drugs. I read an interview years ago in which Billy Joel said “Captain Jack” was the name of a Long Island pusher that some his his friends used to buy drugs from.
Second, while many Beatle songs DID have drug references (some blatant, some disguised), I’m pretty sure “Happiness Is a Warm Gun” Wasn’t one of them. You may recall that Charles “Peanuts” Schulz had a popular comic collection called “Happiness Is a Warm Puppy (the cover featured Charlie Brown hugging Snoopy).” Well, some NRA, gun loving nut put out a poster, inspired by that book, saying “Happiness is a warm gun.” Lennon saw that poster, marvelled at its sickness (the idea that someone could find happiness in shooting and killing someone or something), and wrote a (mostly) nonsensical song inspired by those sentiments.
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### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2003, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/captain-jack-and-other-drug-references/152300/4 "2003-02-02T15:33:13Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*\*Puff the Magic Dragon - Smoking grass
Peter Paul and Mary have always explicitly denied that Puff had anything to do with drugs.
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### Author:  [@Alescus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alescus)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2003, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/captain-jack-and-other-drug-references/152300/5 "2003-02-02T15:52:37Z")
I’ve always thought The Corrs’ “So Young” is a reference to MDMA:
\*We’re spending all of our nights just
A - laughing and kissing, yeah
(Laughing and kissing, kissing and laughing)
And it really doesn’t matter that we don’t eat
And it really doesn’t matter if we never sleep
No it really doesn’t matter, really doesn’t matter at all
Coz we are so young now, we are so young, so young now
And when tommorow comes, we can do it all again\*
To me, that’s quite blatant, but I’ve never heard anyone else mention it. I’d also like to know which drug, if any, Don’t You Worry 'Bout A Thing by (most recently?) Incognito refers to.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2003, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/captain-jack-and-other-drug-references/152300/6 "2003-02-02T16:00:56Z")
[Grazing in the Grass](http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/g/grazinginthegrass.html)
If this song isn’t about pot, I’ll eat my monitor. (and it’s a big monitor)
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### Author:  [@TelcontarStorm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TelcontarStorm)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2003, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/captain-jack-and-other-drug-references/152300/7 "2003-02-02T19:13:25Z")
One that always sounded like a reference to me is in “Levon” by Elton John.
**Levon sells cartoon ballons in town He makes alot they say.
Spends his days counting in a garage by the motor way"**
Cartoon baloons is reference to drug, I imagine it to be heroin. And why would you keep your money in a garage? Placement close to the Expressway makes for a pretty easy get away.
Or, maybe I just have listened to too much Elton John.
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### Author:  [@lucwarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lucwarm)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2003, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/captain-jack-and-other-drug-references/152300/8 "2003-02-02T19:17:39Z")
I’d always heard that “Captain Jack” was a slang term for Jack Daniels whiskey.
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2003, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/captain-jack-and-other-drug-references/152300/9 "2003-02-02T19:20:42Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Phydeaux \*
> \*\*Hello all -
> \*\*Puff the Magic Dragon - Smoking grass
> Thanks - \*\*
If this is a drug reference, I’d imagine it would be heroin, not grass. When people smoke heroin, they put it on a peice of foil and heat it with a lighter from the bottom. Then they would take a straw and inhale the smoke coming off the top. This is called “chasing the dragon.” I always assumed that this is what the song referenced if it referenced anything.
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### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2003, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/captain-jack-and-other-drug-references/152300/10 "2003-02-02T20:05:36Z")
“She fell in love with a bloke named Smokey,
She loved him though he was cokey.
He took her down to Chinatown
And showed her how to kick the gong around . . .”
–“Minnie the Moocher,” c1929; hardly subtle!
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### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2003, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/captain-jack-and-other-drug-references/152300/11 "2003-02-02T20:11:47Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Joey P \*
> \*\*If this is a drug reference, I’d imagine it would be heroin, not grass. When people smoke heroin, they put it on a peice of foil and heat it with a lighter from the bottom. Then they would take a straw and inhale the smoke coming off the top. This is called “chasing the dragon.” I always assumed that this is what the song referenced if it referenced anything. \*\*
Well, the rumor was always that it was about pot, but as snopes tells us [here](http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/puff.htm) it is meant to be about the end of childhood innocence.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Duality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Duality)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2003, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/captain-jack-and-other-drug-references/152300/12 "2003-02-02T20:17:59Z")
“Panama Red” is the name of a potent variety of pot, and also a song done by who knows how many artists.
Lucy In the Sky with Diamonds = LSD.
Ever listen to the group “Cypress Hill”? Marijuana is the theme of most of their songs.
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### Author:  [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2003, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/captain-jack-and-other-drug-references/152300/13 "2003-02-02T20:19:52Z")
[Mary Jane’s Last Dance](http://fathom.org/jjtm/lyrics/MaryJanesLastDance.txt) by Tom Petty.
“Last dance with Mary Jane, one more time to kill the pain.”
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### Author:  [@brianmelendez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianmelendez)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2003, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/captain-jack-and-other-drug-references/152300/14 "2003-02-02T20:36:03Z")
I have heard, more than once, that the “silver girl” in “Bridge over Troubled Water” was a reference to a hypodermic needle. I googled the lyrics and found this excerpt:
> [@](#):
>
> Consider the vogue for Wilson Bryan Key, an itinerant journalism professor who, in two books published in the 1970s, “Subliminal Seduction” and “Media Sexploitation,” maintained that media images were loaded with subliminal messages. . . . To Key, Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge over Troubled Water” was a song about a drug trip, complete with hypodermic syringe (“Sail on, silver girl”).
From Todd Gitlin, _Media Unlimited_, excerpted at [http://www.mediachannel.org/views/oped/gitlin.shtml](http://www.mediachannel.org/views/oped/gitlin.shtml). But I also remember seeing that view rebutted and, unfortunately, I can’t remember where.
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### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2003, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/captain-jack-and-other-drug-references/152300/15 "2003-02-02T20:56:03Z")
Just because a song has the word “puff” in the lyrics doesn’t mean it’s a drug song. Read the [lyrics](http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/lyrics/puff.htm)
It’s about a little boy and his toy dragon. There was a follow-up song where Jackie’s son find’s Puff stored away (in his cave), IIRC.
“Bridge Over Troubled Water”, now _there’s_ a drug song. 😉
Peace,
mangeorge
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### Author:  [@Jiminy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jiminy)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2003, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/captain-jack-and-other-drug-references/152300/16 "2003-02-02T21:02:39Z")
I take it that this threads about drug references, so how about H.R. Puff N’ Stuffing
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### Author:  [@sleeping](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeping)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2003, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/captain-jack-and-other-drug-references/152300/17 "2003-02-02T21:55:29Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by brianmelendez \*
> \*\*I have heard, more than once, that the “silver girl” in “Bridge over Troubled Water” was a reference to a hypodermic needle…
> From Todd Gitlin, _Media Unlimited_, excerpted at [http://www.mediachannel.org/views/oped/gitlin.shtml](http://www.mediachannel.org/views/oped/gitlin.shtml). But I also remember seeing that view rebutted and, unfortunately, I can’t remember where. \*\*
[This site](http://www.inthe70s.com/generated/lyricsmeaning.shtml) explains the matter:
> [@](#):
>
> Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water”
> Technically, they were a band of the 60’s, but this album was released Jan. 26, 1970. My dad told me that this song was about “shooting up” or IV drug use. He said the part where they say “Sail on Silver Girl, sail on by, you’re time has come to shine…” is about the needle. I don’t know how true this is but when you listen to the rest of the lyrics you could see how they might be singing about using drugs to escape the pain of the world.
>
> Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water”
> As a DEVOTED Simon and Garfunkel fan I must right your wrong and tell you what the REAL meaning behind the “silvergirl” lyric is! I’ve seen countless interviews w/Paul Simon and he explains it as follows: “My girlfriend at the time was particularly saddened upon finding a few grey hairs in her brush, lamenting that she was getting older. I wrote that lyric as a tribute and inside joke to her. I don’t know how the heroin connection rumor got started. The song is basically about friendship.” Also, Mother and Child Reunion-the title was taken from a dish Paul Simon had in chinese restaraunt of chicken and eggs (Mother and Child Reunion.) And the song of “I can’t for the life of me remember a sadder day.” was inspired by the death of his dog.
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### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2003, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/captain-jack-and-other-drug-references/152300/18 "2003-02-02T22:14:12Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Mr. Duality \*
> \*\*Lucy In the Sky with Diamonds = LSD.
>
> \*\*
LOL. The classics are always the best. As snopes explains [HERE](http://www.snopes.com/music/hidden/lucysky.htm) the title is a coincidence taken from a drawing that Julian had done at school.
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### Author:  [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)
#### Post date: [February 2, 2003, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/captain-jack-and-other-drug-references/152300/19 "2003-02-02T22:44:56Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Mellow Yellow (Donovan) - Smoking the inner peel of Bananas.
I [doubt](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/020426.html)it.
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### Author:  [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2003, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/captain-jack-and-other-drug-references/152300/20 "2003-02-03T01:38:10Z")
The Association caught a lot of flak in the '60s because some uptight squares who really needed to get a life accused their song “Along Comes Mary” of being secretly about marijuana.
There are several songs that are quite explicitly about _Cannabis sativa_, and the lyrics are only very thinly disguised.
Black Sabbath, “Sweet Leaf”
Kevin Ayers, “Stranger in Blue Suede Shoes” (the cleverest marijuana song ever)
Brownsville Station, “The Martian Boogie”
Then there are Bob Marley’s songs that are openly about ganja, without the slightest attempt to disguise it, like “Kaya”. Also “Legalise It” by Peter Tosh.
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