“Strike a Match and Light Another” by Cat Mother and the All-Night Newboys (probably the best marijana song ever).
“I Like Marijuana” by David Peel and the Lower East Side, part of their album Have a Marijuana. Just about all the other songs on the album has marijuana references.
“Cocaine” by Eric Clapton
“Mother’s Little Helper” by the Rolling Stones
“I Get A Kick Out of You” by Cole Porter (for the line “I get no kick from cocaine.”)
“The Needle and the Damage Done” by Neil Young
“One Toke Over the Line” by Brewer and Shipley (They admitted the phrase meant roughly, “just enough marijuana to give you a buzz”)
“Heroin” by Lou Reed
“White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane
How about Buy Now, Pay Later (Charlie No 2.) by The Whitlams?
Makes it all feel better does it?
Makes it feel like heaven does it?
You loved it and you spent accordingly
You can’t afford it now
You’ll try and you’ll fail
And love it like a little dog
And feed it on the scraps you find
And kiss it while you’re still asleep
You buy now and pay later
It’s a sad song, and part of the ‘Charlie Trilogy’, which was written by Whitlam’s singer Tim Freedman at least partly about Whitlam’s co-founder Steve Plunder who killed himself in 1996.
Let’s not forget “Hotel California”, which is more about addiction than the the drugs themselves. Cec has written a column on it, but I’m too lazy to do a search to get a link.
When I was younger (so much younger than today), it was “common knowledge” that Hey Jude was about drugs. Then again, it seems like most of the Beatles songs were thought to be about drugs. Anyway, McCartney claims that Jude=Julian and the song was meant to make him (Julian Lennon) feel better about some family problems.
It’s like that old saying “just because you’re not paranoid, doesn’t mean we’re NOT out to get you”! Well, in the defense of songs wrongfully accused of being drug-related: “Just because you’re not referring to drugs, doesn’t mean WE can’t find the inference for ya!” - Jinx
D A
Yesterday they found him on the floor of his hotel
E
Reachin’ towards the needle,Lord,that drove him down to hell
A D A
Some folks called it suicide,others blame the speed
E A
But we all called it crucified when Billy Dee O.D.'d
Just another of Kristofferson’s songs. A little less subtle than me and Bobby Magee but you’ll find he has a few drug references in his lyrics. Sure, you can argue that he was referring to a harmonica. That’s the subtlety I thought the OP was seeking. Anyone can say, “Eric Clapton…and Cocaine, was drug related”
No shit…sorry to those who did actually mention this song, I didn’t mean to be insulting. But the OP did claim to have an extensive list of blatantly obvious songs.
quote: “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.”
There ya go, that’s how Phydeaux said it.
So, I guess that’s one example since there seems to be some dispute.
Why is the title “Have a Marijuana” sending me into little giggle fits ? It sounds like it should be silkscreened onto a trendy Japanese t-shirt.
I’ve heard “And She Was” by Talking Heads was about a girl taking acid, and lyrics like “she could hear the highway breathing” kind of lead me to agree.
U2 mentions heroin in a few songs, like “Running to Stand Still” and “Desire,” but as far as the OP goes those are pretty recognizable in the lyrics.
The Straight Dope on “Smoke on the Water”: http://globalia.net/donlope/fz/docs/ten_years/07.html#Montreux http://www.inthe70s.com/generated/lyricsmeaning.shtml
“Roger Glover had the picture of the smoke spreading over the Lake Geneva in his head, and the line Smoke on the Water eventually stuck. He suggested to Ian Gillan that they should use it as a song title, but Ian shrugged it off, saying people would believe it was a drug song. Then Ritchie suddenly came up with the later hierostratically famous (and notorious!) riff, and things fell into place.”
“For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow” - not even subtle. “Which nobody can deny” - yeah, sure, puffy - have another toke.
“Auld Lang Syne” - “We twa hae run aboot the braes, And pu’d the gowans fine.” What the hell are you babbling about, Burns? Smoke some more Opium, tweaker.
“Mary Had a Little Lamb” - uh-huh. And Sarah Hale had a little ACID problem.
“White Christmas” - you’re not fooling anyone, Irving.
Paranoia, like drugs, is in songs everywhere. Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” is an explicit example. But there are unlimited numbers of paranoid songs out there if you know how to look.
Take for example:
Oh where, oh where has my little dog gone?
Oh where, oh where can he be?
With his ears cut short and his tail cut long,
Oh where, oh where can he be?
- Jinx