Everybody Must Get Stoned by Bob Dylan?
Or was he referring to public executions on the order of Saint Stephen?
Sam Stone - by John Prine
*Sam Stone
Came home
To his wife and family,
After serving in the conflict overseas
And the time that he served,
Had shattered all his nerve,
And left a little shrapnel in his knee.
But the morphine eased the pain,
And the grass grew round his brain,
And gave him all the confidence he lacked -
With a purple heart, and a monkey on his back…
There’s a hole in daddy’s arm,
Where all the money goes…*
That Smell - Lynyrd Skynyrd
This would have been a good point, if you were able to follow up with Kristofferson’s lyrics, and show they fit with the “joint” interpretation rather than with the harmonica interpretation. But they don’t.
and while he may be “an admitted heroin junkie from back then”, he’s also a musician.
While I don’t have a site…yeah I know, Kris’s girlfriend (Bobby)died in Arizona IIRC, of a heroin overdose, before he and Janet started hanging out. Harpoon is slang for syringe and Kris is very good at subtlety when he feels like it.
If I’m mistaken, then that’s cool too. I’d like to believe he was sweet and innocent once. That this was simply a little diddy…
enough…uncle already…
t-keela
How 'bout this one…“Snortin whiskey…” next line please,
“Drinkin’ cocaine!”
Billy Joel, in We Didn’t Start the Fire:
“AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz…”
In Los Angelinos"
“With the Mexican reefer…”
In I’ve Loved These Days:
“With fine cocaine…”
Oh, and Billy Joel’s song Laura, off of The Nylon Curtain, is about drug abuse.
“Laura calls me, when she needs a good fix…”
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Sam Stone *
**Sam Stone - by John Prine
Damn, I was hoping to beat Sam to the punch with that one :D., so I will add “Waiting for My Man” by the Velvet Underground.
A goodly number of Alice in Chains songs are about drugs, for example:
From “Junkhead”,
From “Godsmack”,
There are others by AIC, but even many of the songs that aren’t about drug use depict the mind set of a junkie.
Also, don’t forget the heroin reference in “Smells Like Teen Spirit”,
Taste is another name for injecting under the skin but not IV, also called skin popping.
Sugar Town by Nancy Sinatra is one of the more subtle ones, as is her and Lee Hazlewood’s Some Velvet Morning, and possibly the other two songs in the trilogy - Summer Wine and Sand (they’re at least about being intoxicated).
I can’t remember if it’s an urban legend or not, but I remember people always used to say that the phrase ‘Ride the snake …’ in The End by The Doors referred to an acid trip.
Why are people listing Velvet Underground songs? If you listen to their first two albums you’ll find about as many songs about drugs as songs NOT about drugs. 
I believe the song:
“We’re gonna lay around the shanty, momma
And put a good buzz on”
might just have something to do with pot.
And then there’s
“Purple Haze” by Jimi Hendrix. Not sure what drug produced the haze … does it matter?
And the Doobie Brothers … I’m sure they were up to something …
Sunshine Superman by Donavan … LSD
Mellow Yellow by Donavan … not sure what drug he was talking about here, pot probably
White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane
There are a lot of other songs which have a druggy feel to them without referencing drugs in any identifiable way, such as Tuesday Afternoon by the Moody Blues, but that’s another thread …
Well I’ll be damned. I guess I was wrong then!
Just in case anyone’s interested in testing this theory:
Sunday Morning - Amphetamine (paranoia from staying up all night)
Waiting For The Man - Heroin: Reed’s first experience with the drug
Femme Fatale - About Edie Sedgwick, who died of an overdose
Venus In Furs - Nup - about Sado Masochism
Run, Run, Run - cocaine
All Tomorrow’s Parties - not directly, but what was happening at the parties?!?
Heroin - you can guess…
There She Goes Again - No (nasty girlfriend song)
I’ll Be Your Mirror - No
Black Angel’s Death Song - Could be … lots of things mentioned in the lyrics which could mean anything
European Son - Hinted at, but very indirectly - drug lifestyle, rather than drugs
White Light/White Heat - An ode to methamphetamine
The Gift - Nope - a short story for Lou’s college girlfriend
Lady Godiva’s Operation - A sex change operation gone wrong, but no drugs
Here She Comes Now - Again, dirty sex, not drugs
I Heard Her Call My Name - Meth again
Sister Ray - And even more meth
Also the other songs of the time:
Guess I’m Falling In Love - Quotes Dylan’s line "I Got My Fever In My Pocket*, and seems to be about drugs in some way
Stephanie Says - Not in the song, but inspired by a girl whose heart exploded after taking too much speed
Temptation Inside Your Heart - Nope
Hey, Mr Rain - Hard to say
There Is No Reason and I’m Not Too Sorry and - I don’t think so
It’s Alright (The Way That You Live) - maybe
Prominent Men - Nope
Sweet Sister Ray - Almost certainly
I think that’s most of the Cale Velvets covered.
Stats:
Songs with a drug link: 13
Songs with no drug link: 10
Uncertain: 3
I think I’ve messed up my tally… Hmmm. Hard to be scientific about these things
For my money, there’s not a more chilling drug song than Steely Dan’s Time Out Of Mind . It’s not the most familiar of tunes–doesn’t get much airplay–but I believe it was a minor hit.
Remember that–as Joey P noted earlier in this thread–‘chasing the dragon’ refers to heroin use.
The upbeat vibe and the positive, almost religious tone the narrator takes in describing the experience is appalling and great. It’s made all the more poignant when you consider that this song was recorded during Walter Becker’s nadir of smack use.
Of course, that’s one of the things that make Steely D great–the contrast between the truly f*cked-up worlds they often describe vs the shiny slick packages in which they’re delivered.
Proud Mary…“I pumped a lot of pain, down in New Orleans”