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Thursday, August 10, 2006
SUGAR MAN
Sixto Rodriguez
Cold Fact
Sussex : 1970
[Buy It]
THE PUSHER
Nina Simone
It is Finished
RCA : 1974
[Buy It]
ALCOHOL
The Kinks
Everybody's in Showbiz
Velvel : 1972
[Buy It]
THE POT SMOKER'S SONG
Neil Diamond
Velvet Gloves and Spit
MCA : 1968
[Buy It]
QUIT IT
Miriam Makeba
A Promise
RCA : 1974
[Out of Print]
LEGALIZE IT
Peter Tosh
Legalize It
Columbia : 1976
[Buy It]
SOUL FLOWER (REMIX)
The Pharcyde
Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde
Delicious Vinyl : 1992
[Buy It]
FLY GUY RAP
Fly Guys
P&P : c. 1980
Available on: Super Rap (Original Rap & Hip Hop From Harlem's P&P Records)
[Buy It]
To the extent that drug songs celebrate death, every drug song is equally an anti-drug song. And to the extent that each of us craves oblivion, every anti-drug song becomes its own opposite. So, despite the Astoria Bureau's position on drugs themselves, we're pretty much on the fence when it comes to songs about the same. Let us know what you think, below, and in the meanwhile, a few words on the songs you'll find above.
While "Sugar Man" - the opening track on Sixto Rodriguez's first album - was recorded in Detroit by a Mexican-American, it only became a hit in (for some reason) South Africa. After a 2nd album went all-but-unnoticed in the States, Rodriguez more or less disappeared from view. Too bad, since "Sugar Man" is as direct and piercing as psychedelic folk songs get: "Silver magic ships you carry/Jumpers, coke, sweet Mary Jame/Sugar man, you're the answer/That makes my questions disappear." Sugar man, the man, may well be a "false friend" who turned the singer's heart "to dead black coal." But then, why does "Sugar Man," the song, sound so much like a love song?
In Nina Simone's cover of Hoyt Axton's "Pusher" the dealer's a lot less ambiguous; a "monster," in fact, and not at all "a natural man." Spooky, no? As far as I know, Simone herself wasn't much of a druggie, but the old demon alcohol seemed to be something she knew a little somethin' about. Here, for instance, a chunk of Mike Zwerin's "appreciation," from the International Herald Tribune: "Wouldn't you know it, they lost her baggage. This was the time of Basque terrorism; there were a lot of people with guns in the airport. They could be really aggressive. She was beginning to lose it. I tried to keep her calm. Once we got through customs, she said she wouldn't leave for the hotel unless she got a case of champagne. I talked her into half a case." Three bottles were already empty by the time he picked her up for the sound check. She said she would not perform unless she was paid cash in advance. "The promoter was flipping out and I was trying to reason with her. After a big argument she ended up being paid. Then she said to me: 'Now that I have the money, I'm not going to do the concert.'"
It ended up being a nasty concert. This brings us, in a roundabout way, to the worst drug of all, which - "Alcohol" - is also one of the best tracks from the Kinks' often overlooked Muswell Hillbillies LP. Here, it's reworked as something you might hear at a New Orleans funeral, thus bringing to mind a Memphis friend who likened a certain someone's moving to New Orleans to "dry out" to moving into a McDonald's to "lose weight."
Like certain PSAs of old, Neil Diamond's "Pot Smoker's Song" conveys the sort of anti-drug message that's best appreciated after you've converted the kitchen sink into a gravity bong - it's the Stoned of its time. ("Quit It," which was written by Miriam Makeba's daughter, Bongi, is far more effective.) And, of course, the "Pot Smoker's Song" doesn't hold a candle to Peter Tosh's "Legalize It," which is, essentially, a series of Pro Se arguments for squatting down in pot fields and smoking gungeon out of pipes Sherlock Holmes would be proud to own. For my money, argumentative tack #3 is by far the most convincing: "Birds eat it. Ants love it. Fowls eat it. Goats love to play with it. So you got to legalize it. " Ah, to TA logic again....
Also on the positive tip, "Soul Flower," contains the following, brilliantly limerick-like lyric:I had the hydro
But they repo'd my crops-
And still,
I chills
Like scotch on the rocks (Actually, given how hard the Pharcyde fell off, this might be the most anti-drug drug song in the bunch.) And, finally, check out The Fly Guys' fly "Fly Guys Rap," in which our hero sets of in search of the perfect high, and ends up finding it - well, point being, find out for yourselves....Labels: alex
posted by Alex
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