the drugs have it

[michael hagerty]

In 1966 a lot of stations refused to play Kicks because they thought it was a pro-drug song. It was an anti-drug song. Maybe those dum-dum music directors could have listened to the song first?

Don't Bogart Me by the Fraternity Of Man was a Los Angeles hit in 1968. It got to only #133 nationally but was featured in the 1969 Easy Rider movie. The lyrics urged a marijuana smoker to pass his joint to his friends instead of keeping it to himself. The expression was adapted from film star Humphrey Bogart's common practice of keeping a cigarette in his mouth.

Easy Rider also included Steppenwolf's version of Hoyt Axton's The Pusher. Because today is Sunday, I'll be reverent and not quote the main line of the song. A performance of The Pusher is on good ol' YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fb3nicduLfM

Those were GMs, not MDs, banning "Kicks".

And as for "Bogart", other than KPPC and KMET, who was playing it?

 

[michael hagerty]

Now, may I add Wasted On The Way Crosby, Stills & Nash? Considering the lyrical reminiscing, you gotta believe the threesome were were
not promoting, but regretting their roles in the substance abuse culture of the '60s & '70s.

Only if you completely disregard the lyrics. It's about the passage of time and opportunities missed:

Look around me, I can see my life before me
Running rings around the way it used to be
I am older now I have more than what I wanted
But I wish that I had started long before I did

And there's so much time to make up everywhere you turn
Time we have wasted on the way
So much water moving underneath the bridge
Let the water come and carry us away

Oh when you were young did you question all the answers
Did you envy all the dancers who had all the nerve?
Look round you know, you must go for what you wanted
Look at all my friends who did and got what they deserved

So much time to make up everywhere you turn
Time we have wasted on the way
So much water moving underneath the bridge
Let the water come and carry us away

So much love to make up everywhere you turn
Love we have wasted on the way
So much water moving underneath the bridge
Let the water come and carry us away
Let the water come and carry us away

 

[Thomps2525]

KPPC and KMET were probably the only Los Angeles-area stations playing Don't Bogart Me. Maybe I should have said the song was an underground hit. The quintet was from Los Angeles and the song sold well enough here and in San Francisco to make it to #133 on Billboard's Bubbling Under chart.

How about Feel Good Hit Of The Summer by Queens Of The Stone Age? "Hit"---get it? It was released by Interscope Records in 2000 and the cover showed the title spelled out with different kinds of pills.

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

Sugartown by Nancy Sinatra

I've never heard suspicious lyrics from Sugartown. 'Splain please. In the interest of disclosure, until posts to the contrary on R/D persuaded me otherwise, Some Velvet Morning never picked my suspicion either.

Hmmm....in those days the choice delivery method for lsd was the sugar cube, and it was not made illegal until 1966, if I recall.
There were always songs that somehow make it under the radar.
Now go listen to the song again.

Ok, I'll give it an earful and get back to you.

 

[jfrancispastirchak]

Are you trying to imply that when Archie and Reggie and Betty and Veronica sang Sugar Sugar, they were really singing about LSD? Oh no, this is too disillusioning and too horrible to think about!

Relax. All four of them now live in a commune that teaches rebuke of all drugs, especially LSD. You can write to them at Drugs-Ain't-Us-No-More, c/o DAUNM, Jerry Garcia Way, Big Sur, CA. No zip code, no Titter, no facebook. Gotta trust the spirits.

 

[hornet61]

From Zoot Suit

Marijuana Boogie - Lalo Guererro
pusher man -steppenwolf

 

[Silkie]

That Smell - Lynyrd Skynyrd

 

[CTListener]

Six Days on the Road -- Dave Dudley. ("I'm taking little white pills and my eyes are open wide.")

 

[Silkie]

Fresh Air - Quicksilver Messenger Service