# What songs from the 60s really are about acid trips or drugs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 24, 2015, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-from-the-60s-really-are-about-acid-trips-or-drugs/726042 "2015-07-24T11:47:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-from-the-60s-really-are-about-acid-trips-or-drugs/726042/81 "2015-07-29T01:26:00Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > The really, really incredible thing is that title. I had no idea the song wasn’t called “Everybody Must Get Stoned” until I went to look it up. > **Rainy Day Women #12 & 35**??? > > He must have been stoned. > [@Nobody](#): > > From what I heard he wanted to call it “Everybody Must Get Stoned” but he was told that the record company wouldn’t allow it, so he was forced to change the title. Guess what the Rainy Day Women stand for… ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-from-the-60s-really-are-about-acid-trips-or-drugs/726042/82 "2015-07-29T02:52:40Z")
> [@Shearer](#): > > The Charlatans - Codeine Written by Buffy Sainte-Marie. Also covered by Quicksilver Messenger Service and The Litter. But the Charlatans’ version is my favorite. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-from-the-60s-really-are-about-acid-trips-or-drugs/726042/83 "2015-07-29T03:21:55Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > The Small Faces’ “Itchycoo Park” sure sounds like it’s about playing hooky from school and going off to smoke some weed in the park. And their album “Odgens’ Nut Gone Flake”…that wasn’t flake \*tobacco \*they were referring to! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-from-the-60s-really-are-about-acid-trips-or-drugs/726042/84 "2015-07-29T03:33:15Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Guess what the Rainy Day Women stand for… did I miss something? What do they stand for? ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-from-the-60s-really-are-about-acid-trips-or-drugs/726042/85 "2015-07-29T16:03:38Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > From what I heard he wanted to call it “Everybody Must Get Stoned” but he was told that the record company wouldn’t allow it, so he was forced to change the title. OK. That makes some sense. It’s a way of saying Everybody Must Get Stoned without the record company seeing that it says Everybody Must Get Stoned. > [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Guess what the Rainy Day Women stand for… > [@drad\_dog](#): > > did I miss something? What do they stand for? #12 & 35? ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-from-the-60s-really-are-about-acid-trips-or-drugs/726042/86 "2015-07-29T16:29:45Z")
That makes sense? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-from-the-60s-really-are-about-acid-trips-or-drugs/726042/87 "2015-07-29T16:34:13Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > You have to look for certain key words. SNOW for instance means cocaine; HORSE means heroin. “Grandmother” = the pusher or drug dealer. “Over the river”=Mexico, where a lot of drugs are procured. “Through the woods” – directions, obviously means some kind of trip. Etc. This got the Osmonds (the _Osmonds!_) into trouble later when some folks assumed their rather weird song “Crazy Horses” was about heroin. It’s actually about **cars**. ---
**Author:** ![alted315](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/cc9497/32.png) [@alted315](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alted315)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-from-the-60s-really-are-about-acid-trips-or-drugs/726042/88 "2015-07-29T16:45:52Z")
Lake Shore Drive by ?, Alliota & Hayes you can say it’s about the famous Chicago thoroughfare but ithas the line Trippin’ along on LSD. Your Honor, I rest my case. ---
**Author:** ![alted315](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/cc9497/32.png) [@alted315](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alted315)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-from-the-60s-really-are-about-acid-trips-or-drugs/726042/89 "2015-07-29T16:58:54Z")
Some velvet morning by Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood. the most smacked out non rock and roll song I’ve ever heard ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-from-the-60s-really-are-about-acid-trips-or-drugs/726042/90 "2015-07-29T17:25:55Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Yes! > > Brother Tosh had a bug up his ass about right-turn-on-red, which was not legal in Jamaica prior to Tosh’s campaign. He said it was good for Glaucoma in the song. That’s not right on red is it? ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-from-the-60s-really-are-about-acid-trips-or-drugs/726042/91 "2015-07-29T17:52:40Z")
Kenny Rogers & The First Edition had a hit with Mickey Newberry’s [Just Dropped In](https://youtu.be/yZ8k6fVe25k). Kenny’s brother Lelan ran Houston’s crazed [International Artists](http://www.lysergia.com/LamaWorkshop/IAlabel/IAstory.htm) record label. Most notorious on IA were the Thirteenth Floor Elevators; a few of whose songs were \*not \*about drugs, although every performance was drenched in acid. (They covered Dylan’s _Baby Blue_–a tender song about a relationship that had ended.) Most psychedelic? [Slip Inside This House](https://youtu.be/nwSA0Tckwbk)? The first recorded use of “psychedelic” (or “psycho-delic”) was heard in the Holy Modal Rounders’ rendition of the old jazz/swing tune [Hesitation Blues](https://youtu.be/qzZ2q0NUEZQ). Another drug-drenched group (they loved their speed!), their cover of [Euphoria](https://youtu.be/c8S2hCUVisg) (by Robin Remailly) is also recommended. Mickey Newberry, mentioned above, recommended that Houston folkies Townes Van Zandt & Guy Clark move to Nashville to become songwriters. Townes’s first “serious” song, written before he left town, was “Waitin’ Round to Die.” About Codeine. Let [John Nova Lomax](http://www.houstonpress.com/music/codeine-country-6549564) give some historical perspective: > [@](#): > > On Sunday, April 17, the centerpiece story in the Arts and Entertainment section of _The New York Times_ was a story about how, via the Slim Thug/Mike Jones/Paul Wall hit single “Still Tippin’,” Houston’s homegrown screw music was poised to take over the hip-hop nation. Screw – the slowed-down hip-hop invented by DJ Screw as music for people to enjoy while high on codeine cough syrup – was presented as something new, weird and uniquely Houstonian. > > All of which it indubitably is – at least for hip-hop. But it’s mostly forgotten today that Screw was really the second Houston codeine aficionado to revolutionize a local scene. Back in the late '60s and early '70s, Townes Van Zandt turned Houston’s folk and country/Americana music on its head, thanks in no small part to his appreciation for the drug that is today called lean. > > I told former Houstonian and Texas songwriting legend Guy Clark about screw music – which he had never heard of – and here is what he had to say: "Some things never change. You can always count on Houston’s codeine heads… > > “As far back as Lightnin’, everybody in Houston had a codeine song,” Clark says. “It’s such a down drug, and Houston always seemed to have that down, kinda heroin vibe anyway.” (Clark rattles off a list of Houston musicians he knew to be heroin users, a list that neither Clark nor our lawyers would let us print.) “I was always around heroin and codeine – it was kind of pervading. Codeine kinda matches the weather down there.” So, how about a couple of cheerful tunes? Bob Franks “[She Pawned Her Diamond For Some Gold](https://youtu.be/Y7XoYE7PvDk).” And the Rainy Daze “[Acapulco Gold](https://youtu.be/F7A7Hkwqyfw).” Oh–surely the _ **L** _egendary _ **S** _tar_ **D** _ust Cowboy counts? He recorded [Paralyzed](https://youtu.be/9EEZAivzl1Q) in Fort Worth, with a very young T-Bone Burnett on drums. Yes, it got some radio airplay. Note: I can’t check the links well from here; lunchtime in the office. Hope they work! ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-from-the-60s-really-are-about-acid-trips-or-drugs/726042/92 "2015-07-29T21:48:24Z")
Snowblind by Black Sabbath. (Oops, sorry. 1970s…) ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2015, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-from-the-60s-really-are-about-acid-trips-or-drugs/726042/93 "2015-07-29T23:48:45Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > did I miss something? What do they stand for? Sorry to come back so late, but I once read that the rainy day women were just joints, but that was a long time back, so I can’t really vouch for that and have no cite. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-from-the-60s-really-are-about-acid-trips-or-drugs/726042/94 "2015-07-30T00:55:39Z")
I’m pretty sure I’ve posted about this before, and the song is from the Seventies. I had heard the song on the radio countless times … and then, one day, when I was 42, I heard it again and suddenly realized that The Eagles’ _Life in the Fast Lane_ is all about a cocaine bender. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-from-the-60s-really-are-about-acid-trips-or-drugs/726042/95 "2015-07-30T01:10:05Z")
I neglected to add Townes van Zandt’s [codeine song](https://youtu.be/l4zfEkKs2ZM) to my previous post; here it is. More in the “spirit” of the OP–here’s Jefferson Airplane, [Won’t You Try/Saturday Afternoon.](https://youtu.be/rSDIC1etsFM) [A personal favorite](https://youtu.be/iguLpoV0SXc) from Little Feat. Sing along on the chorus! ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-from-the-60s-really-are-about-acid-trips-or-drugs/726042/96 "2015-07-30T03:49:09Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > “Legend of a Mind” by the Moody Blues is a tribute to Timothy Leary and LSD trips. Most of the album _ **In Search Of The Lost Chord** _ seems to be a tribute to LSD. As do much of their first seven albums, not counting the album _ **Go Now** _ was on. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-from-the-60s-really-are-about-acid-trips-or-drugs/726042/97 "2015-07-30T04:18:16Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > You have to look for certain key words. SNOW for instance means cocaine; HORSE means heroin. “Grandmother” = the pusher or drug dealer. “Over the river”=Mexico, where a lot of drugs are procured. “Through the woods” – directions, obviously means some kind of trip. Etc. So “Over the river and through the woods, to grandmother’s house we go!” is more sinister than we thought, eh? Bastards! ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-from-the-60s-really-are-about-acid-trips-or-drugs/726042/98 "2015-08-02T04:41:46Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > Anyone else remember the rumors about Peter, Paul, and Mary’s “Puff the Magic Dragon”? Are you a pothead, **bordelond**? ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-from-the-60s-really-are-about-acid-trips-or-drugs/726042/99 "2015-08-02T05:57:00Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > I’m fairly sure America’s “Horse With No Name” is about a drug trip in the desert. > > I’m less sure about The Who’s “Magic Bus.” Randy Newman said that Horse with no name is “about a kid who thinks he’s taken acid” ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-from-the-60s-really-are-about-acid-trips-or-drugs/726042/100 "2015-08-02T11:33:07Z")
Small Faces - Here Comes The Nice. (1967) The nice is the drug dealer. _Here come the nice lookin’ so good He makes me feel like no one else could He knows what I want, he’s got what I need He’s always there if I need some speed_ Donovan - Sunny Goodge Street (1965) _On the firefly platform on sunny Goodge Street Violent hash-smoker shook a chocolate machine_ Animals - A Girl Named Sandoz (1967) Sandoz was the name of the laboratory where LSD was first synthesized. Bert Jansch - Needle Of Death (1965) Somewhat obvious. The Smoke - My Friend Jack (1967) Eats sugar lumps. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-from-the-60s-really-are-about-acid-trips-or-drugs/726042.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-songs-from-the-60s-really-are-about-acid-trips-or-drugs/726042.md?page=6)