Elliott Smith - " A Fond Farewll "
@bill_graham: I stand by what I said about Sabbath advocating cocaine use and how pitiful it is. I don't care what the time frame was, or how you interpret those lyrics. You had a VERY audible voice right there or record whispering "COCAINE" as if enticing the listener to use. That's hideous.
I posted Marvin Gaye's "Flyin' High In The Friendly Sky". Gaye never mentions coke but it's very much common knowledge that cocaine was his drug of choice. Flyin' High is a desperate cry by someone in the throes of serious addiction. And ultimately Gaye years later was SO out of it that according to his biographer David Ritz, by the time his Father shot him he was pretty much begging him to pull the trigger, Marvin was such a complete mess. Gaye was crying out in pain in that tune, which is the opposite of advocating coke use.
That's only one of MANY that coke has destroyed. Stevie Nicks blew a huge hole in the septum of her nose that required surgery. F*ck Sabbath for not acknowledging the danger and for persuading kids to go there. That sickens me and 50 years later it still does.
Goin' Down Slow vaguely references bad choices when young, and to me, seems a testament to bad living of some flavor.
As a personal trainer, alcohol is hands down the thing I see affecting peoples health and stability. As a social and community observer, I see meth and heroin as growing problems. Cocaine is hardly ever mentioned. But regularly, road and crime deaths that tie to alcohol are the thing I read about locally as the biggest fatality issue, violent crime issue, and home wrecker issue.
@aiq: You are still being cryptic, but hey man, whatever floats your boat.
Not trying to be. In the GD song Garcia sings in the voice of someone who meets a street person, August West, who tells his tale. August is a wino and this thread is about addiction songs.
“Old man down
Way down, down, down by the docks of the city
Blind and dirty
Asked me for a dime, a dime for a cup of coffee
I got no dime but I got some time to hear his story,
Switch to POV of August:
My name is August West, and I love my Pearly Baker best more than my wine
More than my wine
More than my maker, though he's no friend of mine
So much so the Wharf Rats are the name of a group of loosely-organized sober Deadheads, patterning themselves roughly on the Alcoholics Anonymous model of a twelve-step program to maintain sobriety in the often slippery atmosphere of a Grateful Dead concert. Their motto is "One show at a time." They put out a newsletter, and may be reached at:
P.O. Box 357
Haddon Heights, NJ 08035
Not affiliated just aware of them.
Like Dangerfield says if you have to explain it it’s no good.
@aiq: Thanks. Not NEARLY enough of a Deadhead to have been aware of ANY of this.
She Talks to Angels
Song by The Black Crowes
Dust in a Baggie
Billie Strings
