Not to be confused about drugs

Following the last post, I thought I would clarify a few things...namely songs which many people think are about drugs, but which have nothing to do with drugs at all.

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds - The Beatles

Likewise, with "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" many people think it is about LSD, even the title spells LSD, but John says about the title, "...I swear to God...I had no idea spelled LSD." (Rolling Stone Interviews, Wenner, Jann S. Back Bay Books, 2007) Lennon got the inspiration for the song from a drawing by John Lennon's son, Julian, which he entitled "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds".

Happiness is a Warm Gun - The Beatles

Many people think this song was written about heroin, which can make sense if lyrics are taken at face value, yet John Lennon has been quoted saying that the song is simply no more then a quote taken from the cover of a gun magazine. The term 'warm gun' simply means that you just shot something.

Purple Haze - Jimi Hendrix

Another song that is commonly thought of as a drug song, Purple Haze is thought to be about the strain of marijuana with the same name. Another interpretation is that the song is about a form of LSD common during that time which was sold in a purple capsule, called Delysid. (Miller, Richard Lawrence (2002). Drugs of abuse : a reference guide to their history and use). In fact this song is about a dream which Hendrix had in which he was walking around under the sea and his faith in Jesus saves him. An early manuscript of the song had the title as "Purple Haze, Jesus Saves." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_haze#Common_Mondegreen) "I dream a lot and I put a lot of my dreams down as songs. I wrote one called 'First Around the Corner' and another called 'The Purple Haze,' which was all about a dream I had that I was walking under the sea," said Hendrix in a 1969 interview with the New Musical Express. (Shapiro and Glebbeek, Jimi Hendrix, Electric Gypsy, 148)

Puff the Magic Dragon - Peter, Paul and Mary

The song, which was brought up in the movie "Meet the Parents", has long been thought by many people to be about smoking marijuana. Taking the lyrics, people have reinterpreted the words in the song to mean something else, such as the words 'puff' and respelling 'Dragon' as 'draggin,' both interpreted as imagery to smoking a joint. Since the beginning, the band has stated adamantly that the song is not related to drugs at all. Peter Yarrow, one of the band members has stated that "Puff" is about the hardships of growing older and has no relationship to drug-taking. He has also said of the song that it "never had any meaning other than the obvious one". ( Puff, the Magic Dragon at Snopes.com)

Drugs Don't Work - The Verve

This song is not about the lack of effect that drugs may have had on composer Richard Ashcroft, instead it is about his father and the drugs he was taking. The song talks about the use of the cancer drugs that were suppoed to be making his father better and keep him alive longer, but instead how the drugs were not working and making him worse.

-Kris