Songs about drugs

Many people love the rock n' roll lifestyle because of the image it portrays. The saying 'sex, drugs and rock n' roll' have held a certain mystique with the "ordinary" people, always wondering what the rockers life would be like. But that saying has put sex and drugs before the music, and many rock stars of our time have done just that with their lives, and have told us about it through their lyrics, giving us a glimpse into the rockers world for at least one song. The following is a list of popular rock songs that have been written about drugs and drug use.

White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane

One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all

When logic and proportion
Have fallen sloppy dead
And the White Knight is talking backwards
And the Red Queen's "off with her head!"
Remember what the dormouse said:
"Feed your head
Feed your head
Feed your head"

The lyrics obviously point to the use of psychedelic drugs, and compares the hallucinogenic nature of these drugs, such as magic mushrooms, with images from the books by Lewis Carol, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass." Grace Slick, who wrote the song, said it was a response toward parents who asked their kids why they were taking drugs.

Jane Says - Jane's Addiction

This song is about a heroin addict who used to live with the lead singer of Jane's Addiction. The song talks about this addict who, by day, works in an office, and by night, uses heroin. Their are references to drugs in the song, such as "kick," which means to stop using.

Scar Tissue - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Although this song may not at first seem like it has to do with drugs, their is an underlying interpretation. The song deals with the celebration of death and rebirth, and talks about the bands situation before they released Californication when their guitarist, John Frusciante, left the group and spent the following six years as a drug addict, at one point almost dying, before he became clean and rejoined the group.

Mother's Little Helper - The Rolling Stones

Kids are different today, I hear ev'ry mother say
Mother needs something today to calm her down
And though she's not really ill, there's a little yellow pill
She goes running for the shelter of a mother's little helper
And it helps her on her way, gets her through her busy day

This song was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and deals with the darker side of prescription drugs and the housewives who were abusing them.

Last Dance With Mary Jane - Tom Petty

The lyrics in this song talk about Mary Jane, a slang term often used to talk about marijuana. Although many people think this song was written deliberately about smoking weed, when asked, guitarist Mike Campbell said, "My take on it is it can be whatever you want it to be. A lot of people think it's a drug reference, and if that's what you want to think, it very well could be, but it could also just be a goodbye love song." (http://www.songfacts.com/int/2008/01/mike-campbell.html)

Got to Get You Into My Life - The Beatles

Unfortunately, this song is not a love song to some girl. Instead, this song is about marijuana and Paul McCartney wanting to bring a little more of the drug into his life.

Cocaine - Eric Clapton

Don't confuse this song as Eric Clapton's way of telling people to use drugs, it is not. In fact, this song is actually an anti-drug statement, adding the line 'that dirty cocaine' into his live shows to emphasize the anti-drug message. Clapton says, "It’s no good to write a deliberate anti-drug song and hope that it will catch. Because the general thing is that people will be upset by that. It would disturb them to have someone else shoving something down their throat. So the best thing to do is offer something that seems ambiguous—that on study or on reflection actually can be seen to be ‘anti’—which the song "Cocaine" is actually an anti-cocaine song. If you study it or look at it with a little bit of thought... from a distance... or as it goes by... it just sounds like a song about cocaine. But actually, it is quite cleverly anti-cocaine." (The Best of Everything Show, with Dan Neer)

The Doors

Although not a song, the bands name itself is related to drugs. The name 'The Doors' is a reference to a book originally written by Aldous Huxley named "The Doors of Perception." Huxley wrote this book about his experiences with the drug mescaline.

Although there are hundreds of songs written about drugs and drug use, it is beyond the scope of this blog to detail them all. However, someone has done it for you, and if you are interested to read into it more, you can check out Mojo Magazine's Top 100 drug songs of all time at this link: http://rateyourmusic.com/lists/list_view?list_id=171187&show=25&start=75.

-Kris