Another one where the songwriter denies it’s about drugs but where there is reason to wonder:
Mr. Tambourine Man
Space Oddity - David Bowie (Major Tom’s a junkie!)
People continue to insist that the 1992 song smoke two joints in the morning has something to do with drug use, but that’s been effectively proven incorrect.
The “What will we do there? We’ll get high!” bit doesn’t leave much room for doubt.
I would venture The Pusher by Steppenwolf qualifies.
They also had a song “Wild Tyme (H)” with the lyric “I’m doing things that haven’t got a name yet” - writer Paul Kantner has gone on record stating that is a reference to the vast variety of mind-altering drugs available during the time, and that he and fellow bandmates were routinely sampling chemical compounds that hadn’t even been given street names. (Note the song title - it was originally supposed to be “Wild Thyme”, but the label balked at that.)
She Said She Said was inspired by a comment Peter Fonda made to Lennon while they were both tripping heavily - “I know what it’s like to be dead.”
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bordelond - I think EVERYONE in the world knows the rumor about “Puff the Magic Dragon”, but the three members of PP&M have steadfastly maintained for about 50 years now that this is NOT a drug song, that it’s about the loss of childhood innocence. I think this is one we just have to accept that.
Not until Ashes to Ashes he wasn’t, and by then it was 1980.
If you mean Bowie didn’t CONFIM the song was abut drugs until 1980, I guess you’re right. But everybody interpreted the song as a drug metaphor long before that. It just so happens that, THIS time, “everybody” was right.
Sometimes, of course, songs “everybody” knows are about drugs really aren’t.
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.
Probably “Magic Carpet Ride”, as well.
“Cocaine”, by Eric Clapton, although he claims it is an anti-drug song.
“Incense and Peppermints”, by Strawberry Alarm Clock
Marrakesh Express and maybe Purple Haze.
Sorry to nitpick, but that’s a J. J. Cale original and not by Clapton, and as an aside, his version is way better than Clapton’s.
Casey Jones, by the Grateful Dead, was “driving that train, high on cocaine.”
Frank Zappa, who was anti-drug, had any number of songs on the subject, including Cocaine Decisions, Charlie’s Enormous Mouth, and Pygmy Twylyght.
Yes!
And here’s the two of them together, four years ago.
Yeah, I know, but Clapton made it a hit. Actually, that was in the 70s, so it doesn’t fit the OP anyway.
“Along Comes Mary” by the Association is purportedly about marijuana, not a woman
In an interview with Uncut magazine, Sir Paul begs to differ. In his own words:
"A song like 'Got to Get You Into My Life,’ that’s directly about pot, although everyone missed it at the time,” McCartney said.
“‘Day Tripper,’ that’s one about acid (LSD). 'Lucy in the Sky,’ that’s pretty obvious."
I think I’ve heard Lennon finally admit “Lucy” was about LSD. The Beatles were under a contract with their record label. There may have been some kind of morality clause about not admiting to (or advocating) drug use so they just made up a story about Lucy being a little girl in a kids book.
The Byrds certainly weren’t against singing about drugs, the most obvious example is Artificial Energy, about amphetamines.
To me Lennon has the right to say Lucy is not “about” LSD. We just all know that he was being influenced at the time by tripping. It’s tacky and obvious to take it out of his hands though, like it’s not his song.
Listen to “Something happened to me yesterday.” from Between the Buttons by the Stones. That’s my best example. It also is the first solo vocal turn by Keith Richards.
Well, there is an actual picture drawn or painted by Julian Lennon that depicts his actual schoolmate named Lucy who appears to be in the sky with some diamond-type shapes, so apparently the original explanation is true.
David Gilmour of Pink Floyd owns the original artwork today.