Three Druggie Songs That The Songwriters Swear Are Definitely Not About Drugs
And three that are definitely about drugs
Rainy Day Women #12 & 35, Bob Dylan (1966)
Believe it or not, Bob swears he meant stoned as in the Bible, not stoned as in weed.
Well, they’ll stone you when you’re trying to be so good
They’ll stone you just like they said they would
They’ll stone you when you’re trying to go home
And they’ll stone you when you’re there all alone
But I would not feel so all alone
Everybody must get stoned
Well, they’ll stone you when you’re walking on the street
They’ll stone you when you’re tryin’ to keep your seat
They’ll stone you when you’re walkin’ on the floor
They’ll stone you when you’re walkin’ to the door
But I would not feel so all alone
Everybody must get stoned
They’ll stone you when you’re at the breakfast table
They’ll stone you when you are young and able
They’ll stone you when you’re tryin’ to make a buck
Then they’ll stone you and then they’ll say “good luck”
Tell ya what, I would not feel so all alone
Everybody must get stoned
Well, they’ll stone you and say that it’s the end
Then they’ll stone you and then they’ll come back again
They’ll stone you when you’re riding in your car
They’ll stone you when you’re playing your guitar
Yes, but I would not feel so all alone
Everybody must get stoned alright
Well, they’ll stone you when you walk all alone
They’ll stone you when you are walking home
They’ll stone you and then say you are brave
They’ll stone you when you are set down in your grave
But I would not feel so all alone
Everybody must get stoned
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Bob Dylan
Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 (Take 1, Rehearsal and Finished Track) lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, The Beatles (1967)
Lennon, looking all innocent, swears it was inspired by a drawing of his daughter’s, and he didn’t even realize the title’s initials are LSD.
Picture yourself in a boat on a river
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes
Cellophane flowers of yellow and green
Towering over your head
Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes
And she’s gone
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Ah
Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain
Where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies
Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers
That grow so incredibly high
Newspaper taxis appear on the shore
Waiting to take you away
Climb in the back with your head in the clouds
And you’re gone
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Ah
Picture yourself on a train in a station
With plasticine porters with looking glass ties
Suddenly someone is there at the turnstile
The girl with the kaleidoscope eyes
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Ah
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Ah
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: John Lennon / Paul McCartney
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Horse With No Name, America (1971)
The band says the song is literal, just about travelling through the desert, but many read it as horse = heroin.
On the first part of the journey
I was looking at all the life
There were plants and birds and rocks and things
There was sand and hills and rings
The first thing I met was a fly with a buzz
And the sky with no clouds
The heat was hot and the ground was dry
But the air was full of sound
I’ve been through the desert on a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert you can’t remember your name
’Cause there ain’t no one for to give you no pain
La la la la la la…
After two days in the desert sun
My skin began to turn red
And after three days in the desert fun
I was looking at a river bed
And the story it told of a river that flowed
Made me sad to think it was dead
You see I’ve been through the desert on a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert you can’t remember your name
’Cause there ain’t no one for to give you no pain
La la la la la la…
After nine days I let the horse run free
’Cause the desert had turned to sea
There were plants and birds and rocks and things
There was sand and hills and rings
The ocean is a desert with its life underground
And a perfect disguise above
Under the cities lies a heart made of ground
But the humans will give no love
You see I’ve been through the desert on a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert you can’t remember your name
’Cause there ain’t no one for to give you no pain
La la la la la la…
Thank you all very much
Take care of yourselves, take care
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Dewey Bunnell
A Horse With No Name lyrics © Warner/chappell Music Ltd
Let’s also do three…
Druggie Songs That Are Definitely About Drugs
Don’t Bogart Me, Fraternity of Man (1969)
Don’t bogart that joint, my friend
Pass it over to me
Don’t bogart that joint, my friend
Pass it over to me
Roll another one
Just like the other one
You’ve been hanging on to it
And I sure would like a hit
Don’t bogart that joint, my friend
Pass it over to me
Don’t bogart that joint, my friend
Pass it over to me
Roll another one
Just like the other one
That one’s just about burnt to the end
So come on and be a real friend
Don’t bogart that joint, my friend
Pass it over to me
Don’t bogart that joint, my friend
Pass it over to me
Don’t bogart that joint, my friend
Pass it over to me
Don’t bogart that joint, my friend
Pass it over to me
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Elliot Ingber / Larry Wagner
Don’t Bogart Me lyrics © Music Sales Corporation, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Cocaine, J. J. Cale (1976)
You probably know the 1977 cover by Erik Clapton. It sounds exactly the same as J. J.’s original.
If you want to hang out, you’ve gotta take her out, cocaine
If you want to get down, down on the ground, cocaine
She don’t lie, she don’t lie, she don’t lie
Cocaine
If you got bad news, you want to kick them blues, cocaine
When your day is done, and you want to run, cocaine
She don’t lie, she don’t lie, she don’t lie
Cocaine
If your day is gone, and you want to ride on, cocaine
Don’t forget this fact, you can’t get it back, cocaine
She don’t lie, she don’t lie, she don’t lie
Cocaine
She don’t lie, she don’t lie, she don’t lie
Cocaine
Cocaine
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: JJ Cale
Cocaine lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Smoke Two Joints, The Toyes (1983)
You might know the more famous 1992 cover version by Sublime
I smoke two joints in the morning
I smoke two joints at night
I smoke two joints in the afternoon
It makes me feel all right
I smoke two joints in time of peace
And two in time of war
I smoke two joints before I smoke two joints
And then I smoke two more
Smoked cigarettes ’til the day she died
Toke a big spliff of some good sinsemilla
Smoked cigarettes ’til the day she died
Toke a big spliff of some good sinsemilla
Eazy-E, were ya ever caught slippin’?
Hell no
Daddy, he once told me
“Son, you be hard workin’ man”
And momma, she once told me
“Son, you do the best you can”
But then one day I met a man
Who came to me and said
“Hard work good and hard work fine”
“But first take care of head”
Whoa, rock me tonight
For old time’s sake
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Chris Kay / Michael A Kay
Smoke Two Joints lyrics © Bug Music, Wishes & Dreams Music
