I almost forgot about “Lit Up” by Buckcherry. Now that’s a song to get a party started.
D12’s Purple Pills [lyrics site link] is about just about every drug you can find, including coke and heroin.
Cocaine Blues, made famous by Johnny Cash.
The Dead Milkmen have a song called My Best Friend Is a Junkie [link to lyrics site] which isn’t exactly about heroin but a quick punk romp about having a friend who’s a junkie.
Oh, and I’m pretty sure Afroman is just a pot smoker. (re: post #9)
Chinese Rocks was written by Dee Dee Ramone but The Ramones originally didn’t want to do it because of the drug content, so The Heartbreakers recorded it. Later The Ramones did a version with the title changed to “Chinese Rock”.
Elliot Smith’s song “Needle in the Hay” is about shooting up.
Damn. I hadn’t expected quite so many responses. Keep 'em coming.
Oh, and it’s no big deal, but just FYI: cocaine isn’t an opiate. Pretty much the polar opposite, actually.
Thanks. I have always liked that song, although it does seem like they are suggesting Cocaine is a good sub for Heroin. :eek:
How about Jefferson Airplane’s White Rabbit?
They don’t go into exactly what’s in that hookah the caterpillar is smoking, but I think it’s a bit stronger than tobacco…
“Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth” by the Dandy Warhols.
I read somewhere that Black Magic Woman by Santana is about smoking opium - “magic sticks.”
Cindy’s Crying and Hooker by Tom Paxton
How do you spend your days?
How do you spend your days?
When you can sleep no more
How do you spend your days?
I rise at four in the afternoon.
I take a match and a kitchen spoon.
I wrap my arm in an old necktie
And I find religion on the very first try.
Black Magic Woman was written by Peter Green and was first performed by Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac - which of course evolved into the FM we know and love. Santana covered the song as an homage to Peter Green, just like Clapton covered Freddie King’s Hide Away with the Bluesbreakers - and Clapton took his cover to much greater popularity, just like Santana did with his…
Santana worships Peter Green - with good reason; he sounds exactly like Peter Green with a bit of Latin influence added. Unfortunately, Green went 'round the bend, another 60’s drug casualty, like Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd. To my knowledge, he was an acid casualty, but I have no problem seeing opium / opiates involved - I just can’t find a specific reference to this song…
Don’t forget Minnie The Moocher and Kicking The Gong Around performed by Cab Calloway in the 1930s. There were surprisingly many drug related songs in that era.
The only one that’s coming to me off the top of my head, that hasn’t been mentioned is:
Styx - Snow Blind
The Prodigy named an entire section of their second album (Music for the Jilted Generation) for opiates, The Narcotic Suite; it was made up of *3 Kilos, Skylined * and The Claustrophobic Sting.
There aren’t actually any lyrics, though, so I don’t know if you’d count that.
Also, Bug Powder Dust by Bomb the Bass includes the quote ”I think it’s time to discuss the philosophy of drug use as it relates to artistic endeavour” from The Naked Lunch, but doesn’t really go into drugs much in the lyrics (well, it might but it’s virtually impossible to figure out what most of the lyrics are.)
Third Eye Blind - Semi-Charmed Life
Carmelita- Waren Zevon
Rush - A Passage to Bangkok
No, it’s pretty explictly about actual drugs.
Breathe it in and breathe it out
Pass it on, it’s almost out…
[…]
The deeper you stick in in your vein
The deeper the thoughts, there’s no more pain…
One of my favorite songs:
‘I Love You’ - Ass Ponys
"As my habit forms, the morphine drips
Lean on over and read my lips…
…I love you"
If you ask me, Clint Eastwood by the Gorillaz is all about heroin.
(ETA: I should explain this, since most people ask.
The whole stanza screams “heroin” to me, but the parts I bolded are especially key. Lots of drugs come in bags, but the only one with enough euphoric, carefree lift for anyone to call it “sunshine” with a straight face is heroin, IMO. And “my future is coming on” sounds to me like the nostalgia-twinged apathy of the last few minutes of heroin’s effect, when it slowly dawns on you that you’ll be coming back to the world of emotions and needs soon enough. Tough to explain to anyone who hasn’t been on heroin. Oh, and “I’m useless, but not for long” sounds to me like a rough translation of “my high is wearing off”, in general. YMMV.)
Um…opiates? You sure about that?
Nope.
Nope…
And Bridget Burke, AIUI, it’s dextromethorphan, not codeine, that’s such a heavy influence on Houston’s music scene. It’s not an opiate per se, although it has many opiate-like effects–even, IIRC, strongly resembling codeine in brain scans.
It is, actually. It’s quite a bit less addictive, generally more pure, much less expensive and less dangerous (generally because of the first three reasons). Did you see the movie Ray? Remember when Ray got his first shot of heroin and his junkie players were trying to convince him not to do it, saying, “This ain’t no lady”? “Lady” is short for “the white lady”, a (then-)common slang term for cocaine (“white girl(s)” or just “girl” is more common these days). The implication is that Mr. Charles had been openly using cocaine and was fully in control of it, which is quite a contrast to what heroin eventually did to him.
Lean/purple drank/ten-other-slang-names is prescription codeine/promethazine cough syrup.