For better or worse, drugs and popular culture are irrevocably entangled. Nowhere is the link more pronounced than in popular music, an art form that has an almost symbiotic relationship with substances. Whether drugs influence music or vice versa is a subject for debate—but few would argue that the Beatles would have transformed popular culture as they did without the influence of psychedelics; that house music would have become the behemoth it did without ecstasy culture; or that punk would have been quite the same without the relentless energy of speed and the nihilistic black hole of heroin as the twin engines that drove it.
Many might lazily assume that drug culture started in the 1960s—the era when supposedly everybody started turning on, tuning in and dropping out. But the truth is, just as human beings have been getting high since practically the dawn of time, popular musicians have been recording songs about getting high since they first started pressing 78s. To prove it, here’s my selection of amazing pre-rock ‘n’ roll tracks about shooting smack, snorting coke, getting blitzed on booze and dancing all night on speed. Ladies and gentlemen, we present your grandmothers’ favorite drug songs:
1. That Cat Is High (1938) – The Ink Spots
Active from 1934-1954, the Ink Spots were a very successful vocal group, whose close harmony style predated and influenced both doo-wop and rock’n’roll. Toward the end of their career the group fragmented into several competing factions—all laying claim to the Ink Spots moniker—but it was the classic lineup that recorded this witty homage to being wasted. Ostensibly about booze, the lyrical reference to how “hip” the subject is suggests that the song was actually a sly reference to marijuana. Indeed the “mellow as a honeydew” protagonist craves nothing more than a “home cookin’ momma with a frying pan”—an urge any stoner can surely relate to. In 1989 the original Ink Spots were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
2. Junker’s blues [1940] – Champion Jack Dupree
Legendary New Orleans boogie-woogie pianist Champion Jack Dupree recorded this ode to a life spent drunk and smashed on drugs, despite his reputation as a light drinker who didn’t do drugs. While some of the songs on this list used careful metaphor to approach the controversial subject, Champion Jack Dupree’s much-covered paean to drug use was lyrically loud and proud. Among references to needles, cocaine and reefer, Dupree at one point makes a case for quitting dangerous drugs like alcohol in favor of the more benign pleasures of pot: “Say goodbye, goodbye to whiskey / Lord and so long to gin / I just want my reefer / I just want to feel high again…” The song later became a massive smash when Fats Waller cleaned up the drug references and recorded it as “The Fat Man.” In the punk era the song turned up again as a “Junco Partner”—a punk-reggae track on The Clash’s Sandinista! album.
3. Who put the Benzedrine in Mrs. Murphy’s Ovaltine? [1947] – Harry “The Hipster” Gibson
Harry “the hipster” Gibson was a wildly successful jazz pianist, singer and songwriter. His career was kick-started when Fats Waller discovered him playing the nightclubs of Harlem back in 1939. Waller introduced the young Harry Raab to the midtown club circuit and—one quick name-change later—the legend of Harry “The Hipster” Gibson was born. Throughout the ’40s Gibson recorded witty, wild records like “Barrelhouse Boogie” and “Get Your Juices at the Deuces”. But this 1947 novelty song about a housewife who gets spiked with Benzedrine—the then-popular prescription amphetamine that was widely used by proto-beats and jazz musicians—nearly ended his career. Its risqué lyrics—which also reference Nembutals, a benzo known as “goofballs”—and glorification of drug use (Mrs. Murphy quite enjoys the speed she accidentally ingests) led to a music-industry blacklisting that finished him as a commercial prospect for the next two decades. Still, he remained a cult figure among the first wave of rock ‘n’ rollers. He staged a comeback in the 1970s, resulting in three more (very strange) albums.
4. Minnie The Moocher [1931] – Cab Calloway
“Minnie the Moocher” is one of the best known and most loved drug songs of all time. First recorded by Cab Calloway in 1931, it turned out to be one of the legendary jazz vocalist’s most enduring songs. He re-recorded it several times during his storied career. Interestingly, the drug references were often smoothed out in later versions to reflect shifting mores—it’s best to seek out the original version. Here Calloway tells the tragic story of Minnie—a “red-hot Hoochie-Coocher”—and her tragic dalliance with the grimy glory of the opium pipe. Minnie meets “Smokey Joe,” a habitual cocaine user who takes her down to Chinatown to smoke opium (or “kick the gong around”). Instantly recognizable for its call-and-response section, the song has endured for over 80 years. It spawned a bunch of sequels: Other Calloway songs to reference Minnie include “The Ghost of Smokey Joe,” “Kicking the Gong Around” and “Minnie’s a Hepcat Now.” According to the longest known version of this song, Minnie ends up dying in an insane asylum. Poor Min, indeed.
5. Cocaine Habit Blues [1930] – Memphis Jug Band
Between 1927 and 1934, the Memphis Jug Band recorded a staggering 80 commercial records. Their unique sound was down to their unusual lineup, which included harmonica, washboard, kazoo and the jug [above], alongside more traditional instruments. Based on the traditional blues number, “Take A Whiff on Me”—which had been recorded by the likes of Woody Guthrie and Lead Belly—the lyrics of “Cocaine Habit Blues” prove that drug use is indeed cyclical. “Since cocaine went out of style,” observes one verse, “ You can catch them shooting needles all the while…”—a line which could easily have been written about the heroin explosion of the early 1980s, following the ’70s cocaine fad. Hardly an anti-coke song, the track does refer to cocaine as “worst old habit I ever had” —but each verse ends with the cheerful invitation: “Honey, take a whiff on me!”
6. Dope Head Blues [1927] – Victoria Spivey
Although the term “dope” was originally applied to the opium that was popular in the 19th century, by the time Victoria Spivey recorded “Dope Head Blues” it could refer to any number of drugs. Examination of the lyrics suggests that she was most likely singing about cocaine—especially the artificial feelings of omnipotence, confidence and strength that coke is known for. “Feel like a fighting rooster, feel better than I ever felt…” Spivey sings, “Got double pneumonia and still I think I got the best health.” Sprivey was a hardworking veteran of the blues scene, who performed with the likes of Louis Armstrong, Lonnie Johnson and Bob Dylan during her four-decade career. She gained a reputation for outré lyrics which often referenced drugs, crime and sex.
7. Reefer Head Woman [1938] – Jazz Gillum and his Jazz Boys
Jazz Gillum’s distinctive harmonica sounds graced many classic-era blues tracks. In his heyday he contributed his trademark harp sound to a number of legendary blues tracks, most of which were produced by the legendary Lester Melrose for RCA subsidiary Bluebird. But it’s this song, recorded in 1938, that earns him a spot in our hall of fame. Reefer Head Woman tells the story of a doomed romance between the song’s narrator and a woman who “sleeps all day,” thanks to her love of pot. Should Gillum have tried to switch her over to an invigorating strain of Sativa, instead of the Indicia she was obviously using?
8. Bad Bad Whiskey [1950] – Amos Milburn
It seems that Amos Milburn was no stranger to the real-life delights and horrors of “bad, bad whiskey”. Throughout his 30-year career he recorded a number of booze-themed tracks, including “One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer,” “Good, Good Whiskey” and “Vicious, Vicious Vodka”. According to Allmusic, alcoholism would later take Milburn down hard, lending these songs a sense of grim irony. The lyrics offer an internal monologue that will be familiar to anyone who has wrestled with addiction: After singing about how “bad, bad whiskey” made him lose his happy home, the narrator suffers through a number of failed attempts to avoid getting drunk. “I passed up all the pool halls / Gave the boys the slip / Before the night was over / I started in to sip…” By the 1960s Millburn’s career was all but over. A series of strokes finished him off, and he died in 1980, aged 52.
9. Here Comes The Man With the Jive [1936] – Stuff Smith and his Onyx Club Boys
A good 30 years before the Velvet Underground wrote “I’m Waiting For The Man,” Stuff Smith and his Onyx Club Boys turned out this homage to waiting for your dealer to show up. While the jazz violinist is best known for his swing-era work, he also collaborated with space-jazz legend Sun Ra on his 1973 album Deep Purple. “Here Comes The Man With The Jive” is a bouncy, good natured ode to the local pot merchant: “Whenever you’re feelin’ small / Don’t care for this life at all / Light up and get real tall / Here comes the man with the jive!” It’s a wonderful little track imbued with the freewheeling spirit of the era, that makes this listener long for the marijuana prices of yesteryear: “How much is your jive? / Three for a half! / Three for a half, don’t make me laugh / Well, four for a dollar! / Woah, I’m going to holler!”
10. The Reefer Song [1943] – Fats Waller
Fats Waller recorded his definitive version of Stuff Smith’s weed anthem “If You’re A Viper” in 1943. “Viper” was Harlem slang for a pot smoker (reputedly the term came from the hissing sound when you inhale) and the song captures the anti-establishment vibe of the time. Indeed Waller’s version was cut a mere two weeks after drug war godfather, notorious racist and all-around blowhard Harry J. Anslinger vowed to crack down hard on pot-smoking musicians, calling for the arrest of “swing musicians” in particular. In response, Waller cut this side with an intro that cheekily baited Anslinger’s boot boys: “Hey, cats, it’s four o’clock in the mornin’. I just left the V-Disc studio. Here we are in Harlem. Everybody’s here but the police, and they’ll be here any minute. It’s high time, so catch this song…” “The Reefer Song” is a hilarious ode to pot smoking—as subversive and controversial as anything Snoop Dogg has recorded and packed with antique drug references. The “Mighty Mezz” mentioned in the first verse is a reference to Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, the Jewish clarinet player who moved to Harlem after the end of prohibition and became as well known for his pot dealing as for his playing among uptown hipsters. As well as all the usual references to “feeling high”, and fantasies of “five-foot-long” reefers, the song mentions getting the munchies: “When your throat gets high / You know you’re high / Everything is dandy / Just truck on down to the candy store / Bust your conk on peppermint candy”. Sadly, Waller would die later that year after contracting pneumonia, at the age of 39. He left us a musical legacy of such classics as “Ain’t Misbehaving” and “Honeysuckle Rose.”
Tony O’Neill is a frequent contributor to The Fix, where he’s written about subjects like sensational drug documentaries and the world’s best drug laws. He’s the author of Digging the Vein, Down and Out on Murder Mile and Sick City, and co-authored the New York Times bestseller Hero of the Underground (with Jason Peter) and the Los Angeles Times bestseller Neon Angel (with Cherie Currie).