I put this here because I think the answer I’m looking for is a musician or other prominent counterculture figure from the 1960s, but I could very well be wrong. And I don’t have much to offer by way of clarification, but I vaguely remember that some person was notorious for introducing the phrase around the time when marijuana and other illegal drugs began to be big news in the mid 1960s. Does anyone remember this?
I turned 12 in 1970, so my memories of the era are those of a child who really didn’t comprehend everything that’s going on, but was just beginning to be aware of things.
David Peel, he of ‘and The Lower East Side’ - was a self-styled hippie celebrity in New York. When John Lennon first came over to NY to live, he got mixed up with Peel, and had him signed to Apple Records. Then, he proceeded to make one of the worst albums ever committed to vinyl. One of the songs was “Have A Marijuana.”
Allmusic.com was a bit more charitible in its evaluation of this record, but considering the unevenness of Apple’s non-Beatles output*–it probably truly is a case of charity.
*Even Apple’s Beatles output was pretty damn dicey. If you don’t believe me just go back and listen to Rocky Racoon, Honey Pie, and others.