Cocaine Blues
Encyclopedia
"Cocaine Blues" is a Western Swing
song written by T. J. "Red" Arnall, a reworking of the tradition
al song "Little Sadie
". This song was originally recorded by W. A. Nichol's Western Aces (vocal by "Red" Arnall) on the S & G label, probably in 1947, and by Roy Hogsed
and the Rainbow Riders May 25, 1947, at Universal Recorders in Hollywood, California. Hogsed's recording was released on Coast Records (262) and Capitol
(40120), with the Capitol release reaching number 15 on the country music charts in 1948.
The song is the tale of a man, Willy Lee, who shoots his woman to death while under the influence of whiskey and cocaine
. Willy is caught and sentenced to "ninety-nine years in the San Quentin Pen
". The song ends with Willy saying:
famously performed the song at his Folsom Prison concert
, saying "Folsom" instead of "San Quentin", an event also portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix
in the Cash biographical film Walk the Line
. The film version, edited down to make it shorter, fades into the next scene before the line "I can't forget the day I shot that bad bitch down" is sung. The DVD
specials include an extended version of the song with the lyric, and the full, unedited version (apparently a different "take") is found on the soundtrack CD.
The song is also featured on Johnny Cash's Columbia album Now, There Was a Song!
under the title "Transfusion Blues" substituting the line "took a shot of cocaine" with "took a transfusion" along with some other minor lyrical changes.
(also in 1947). The music is similar, bearing a marked resemblance to 'Little Sadie", however the lyrics in Hughes' vary considerably from Arnall's. For instance, Hughes has the Cocaine Kid, not Willy Lee, killing "his woman and a rounder, too" in Tulsa, being captured in El Paso
, and sentenced to "ninety-nine years way down in Mac
." It ends with:
” and “Cocaine Habit Blues”. This song has three families of variants.
’ arrangement, an eight-bar blues in C Major
. Davis said that he learned the song in 1905 from a traveling carnival musician, Porter Irving. This version is made up of rhyming couplets, followed by a refrain "Cocaine, running all around my brain" or "Cocaine, all around my brain"). The song is sometimes known as "Coco Blues," as on Davis’ 1965 album Pure Religion and Bad Company.
Gary Davis was a key influence on the folk revival
singers of the early 1960s, including Dave Van Ronk
, who learned this version of "Cocaine Blues" from Davis (it features on his 1963 album Folksinger) and Bob Dylan
(a 1961 variant features on The Minnesota Tapes, a 1962 variant is on Gaslight Tapes and third version is on more recent compilation album
Tell Tale Signs). However, on Van Ronk’s record, the song is wrongly credited to Luke Jordan
, who recorded a completely different of the same name, see below.
Davis’ version of "Cocaine Blues" was subsequently recorded by a number of artists in the folk revival/singer-songwriter
tradition, including Richard Fariña
and Eric Von Schmidt
(1963), Hoyt Axton
(1963, on Thunder 'n Lightning), Davey Graham
(1964, on Folk, Blues and Beyond
), Nick Drake
(on Tanworth-in-Arden 1967-68), Jackson Browne
(1977, on Running on Empty), Stefan Grossman
(1978, on Acoustic Guitar), Townes Van Zandt
(1993, on Roadsongs) and Ramblin' Jack Elliott
(1995, on South Coast), as well as by the punk
band UK Subs
. "Sweet Cocaine" by Fred Neil
(1966) is loosely based on the same song.
The refrain, "Cocaine runnin’ all 'round my brain," was used by reggae
artist Dillinger
in "Cocaine In My Brain" ("I've got cocaine runnin' around my brain") and more recently in turn by hip hop
group Poor Righteous Teachers
in the song "Miss Ghetto" on the album The New World Order ("She's like cocaine, running around my brain/Miss Ghetto be like cocaine, running around your brain").
” (again often known as “Cocaine Blues”) shares chords and many rhyming couplets with this song, but with the refrain “Honey, take a whiff on me” instead of “Cocaine runnin’ all 'round my brain”. This version is most strongly associated with Lead Belly, whose version opens with “Walked up Ellum and I come down Main.” (“Ellum”, “Elem” and “Dep Elem” in various version, refers to Elm Street in Dallas, in that city’s red light district
). The song was first published by John Lomax
in 1934 as "Honey, Take a Whiff on Me". Lomax stated that its origins were uncertain.
Variants on the Lead Belly version have been recorded by Blind Jesse Harris (1937), Woody Guthrie
, Roy Bookbinder, Merle Travis
, The Byrds
(1970), Mungo Jerry
(as “Have a Whiff on Me”, 1971 single), Old Crow Medicine Show
("Cocaine Habit" from their 2006 album Big Iron World
), The White Stripes
and others.
The song “Take a Drink with Me”/”Take a Drink on Me”, recorded by white old-time music
performer Charlie Poole
in 1927 and collected by various folklorists, is a variant on “Take A Whiff On Me”, with alcohol rather than cocaine as the drug of choice. This in turn has been performed by a number of artists in the folk music
and country music
traditions, including the New Lost City Ramblers
. It shares some words with Frank Hutchison
’s 1927 ballad “Coney Isle”.
in 1930 (credited to Jennie Mae Clayton). It was a jug band
standard, later recorded by the Panama Limited Jug Band and by Jerry Garcia
in Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions in 1964. Its introductory verse is “Oh cocaine habit mighty bad”.
A version was collected (as “Cocaine”) by folklorist Mellinger Edward Henry (1873–1946) in his Folk Songs from the Southern Highlands from the singing of Barnet George, Lithonia, Georgia
, July 1931. The earliest recorded version is by white Tennessee
band The Grant Brothers in 1928 (Columbia 15332-D). It has been recorded by numerous folk revival artists, including David Grisman
and the New York City Ramblers at the Newport Folk Festival
. Grisman collaborated with the Grateful Dead in 1970, and they included it in their live repertoire at that time. It has more recently been covered by Old Crow Medicine Show and White Ghost Shivers
.
in 1927. This song was also recorded by white bluesman Dick Justice
in 1929/30. A version was recorded under the title "Good Cocaine (Mama Don't Allow It)" by the Kentucky Ramblers. David Bromberg
recorded a version as "Cocaine Blues"; it was recorded under the same name by the Holy Modal Rounders
on their 1967 album Indian War Whoop. The Luke Jordan lyrics share some lines ("Cocaine's for horses and not for men/Doctor says it'll kill you but don't know when") with "Take a Whiff on Me" as recorded by Lead Belly and the Reverend Gary Davis version of "Cocaine Blues" as recorded by Bob Dylan.
Western swing
Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the West and South among the region's Western string bands...
song written by T. J. "Red" Arnall, a reworking of the tradition
Tradition
A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...
al song "Little Sadie
Little Sadie
"Little Sadie" is a 20th Century American folk ballad in D Dorian mode. It is also known variously as "Bad Lee Brown", "Cocaine Blues", "Transfusion Blues", "East St. Louis Blues", "Late One Night", "Penitentiary Blues" and other titles. It tells the story of a man who is apprehended after shooting...
". This song was originally recorded by W. A. Nichol's Western Aces (vocal by "Red" Arnall) on the S & G label, probably in 1947, and by Roy Hogsed
Roy Hogsed
Roy Hogsed was an American country music and rockabilly singer. He is best known for his song "Cocaine Blues", which he took to number 15 on the country music charts in 1948. Although he was active in the music business for only seven years, "Cocaine Blues" has been widely covered.-Singles:...
and the Rainbow Riders May 25, 1947, at Universal Recorders in Hollywood, California. Hogsed's recording was released on Coast Records (262) and Capitol
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
(40120), with the Capitol release reaching number 15 on the country music charts in 1948.
The song is the tale of a man, Willy Lee, who shoots his woman to death while under the influence of whiskey and cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
. Willy is caught and sentenced to "ninety-nine years in the San Quentin Pen
San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin State Prison is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men in unincorporated San Quentin, Marin County, California, United States. Opened in July 1852, it is the oldest prison in the state. California's only death row for male inmates, the largest...
". The song ends with Willy saying:
- "Come all you hypes and listen unto me,
- Just lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be."
Johnny Cash
Johnny CashJohnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
famously performed the song at his Folsom Prison concert
At Folsom Prison
At Folsom Prison is a live album by Johnny Cash, released on Columbia Records in May 1968. Since his 1955 song "Folsom Prison Blues", Cash had been interested in performing at a prison. His idea was put on hold until 1967, when personnel changes at Columbia Records put Bob Johnston in charge of...
, saying "Folsom" instead of "San Quentin", an event also portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix
Joaquin Phoenix
Joaquin Rafael Phoenix , formerly credited as Leaf Phoenix, is an American film actor. He was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and his family returned to the continental United States four years later...
in the Cash biographical film Walk the Line
Walk the Line
Walk the Line is a 2005 American biographical drama film directed by James Mangold and based on the early life and career of country music artist Johnny Cash...
. The film version, edited down to make it shorter, fades into the next scene before the line "I can't forget the day I shot that bad bitch down" is sung. The DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
specials include an extended version of the song with the lyric, and the full, unedited version (apparently a different "take") is found on the soundtrack CD.
The song is also featured on Johnny Cash's Columbia album Now, There Was a Song!
Now, There Was a Song!
Now, There Was a Song! is the ninth album by Johnny Cash, featuring songs by Ernest Tubb, Hank Williams, and George Jones. It was released in 1960 on the Columbia label.-Track listing:...
under the title "Transfusion Blues" substituting the line "took a shot of cocaine" with "took a transfusion" along with some other minor lyrical changes.
Other artists
Several artists have recorded "Cocaine Blues", including:- Hank ThompsonHank Thompson (music)Henry William Thompson , known professionally as Hank Thompson, was an American country music entertainer whose career spanned seven decades...
(19591959 in music-Events:*January 5 – The first sessions for Ella Fitzgerald's George and Ira Gershwin Songbook are held.*January 12 – Tamla Records is founded by Berry Gordy Jr. in Detroit, Michigan....
) - Hylo BrownHylo BrownHylo Brown was a bluegrass and country music singer, guitarist and bass player.-Biography:Frank "Hylo" Brown was born in River, Kentucky and began his career as a performer on radio station WCMI in Ashland, Kentucky in 1939. Soon, he moved to WLOG in Logan, West Virginia and their "Saturday...
, Lovesick and Sorrow (19631963 in music-Events:*January 1 – The Beatles start a 5-day tour in Scotland to support the release of their new single, "Love Me Do".*January 4 – At Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy, Dalida receives a Juke Box Global Oscar for the year's most-played artist on juke boxes....
) - Led ZeppelinLed ZeppelinLed Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
played in concert at Budokan, Japan in 1971. - George Thorogood and The Destroyers (19781978 in musicThis is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1978.-January–April:*January 14 – The Sex Pistols play their final show at San Francisco's Winterland Ballroom....
) - Uncle TupeloUncle TupeloUncle Tupelo was an alternative country music group from Belleville, Illinois, active between 1987 and 1994. Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, and Mike Heidorn formed the band after the lead singer of their previous band, The Primitives, left to attend college. The trio recorded three albums for Rockville...
(live versions 1988-93) - Keith RichardsKeith RichardsKeith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...
(on Voodoo Brew) (19931993 in musicThis is a summary of significant events in music in 1993.-January–February:*January 8 – The U.S. Postal Service issues an Elvis Presley stamp. The design was voted on in February 1992....
) - Hank Williams IIIHank Williams IIIShelton Hank Williams, known as Hank 3 , is a neotraditional country and punk metal singer, drummer, bassist, and guitarist. In addition to his honky tonk recordings, Williams' style alternates among country, punk and metal...
(19991999 in music-Events:*January 7**After eight years of marriage, Rod Stewart and supermodel wife Rachel Hunter announce their separation.**Paul McCartney attends the first of his stepdaughter Heather's first housewares collection in Georgia....
) - Merle HaggardMerle HaggardMerle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...
(2011)
Other versions
Arnall is also sometimes credited with the version of "Cocaine Blues" written and recorded by Billy HughesBilly Hughes (musician)
Everette Ishmael "Billy" Hughes was a Western Swing musician and songwriter. Born in Sallisaw, Oklahoma, he left for California during the Okie exodus of the 1930s. Billy Hughes and His Buccaroos performed during the 1940s and early 50s. He also owned an independent recording company, Fargo Records...
(also in 1947). The music is similar, bearing a marked resemblance to 'Little Sadie", however the lyrics in Hughes' vary considerably from Arnall's. For instance, Hughes has the Cocaine Kid, not Willy Lee, killing "his woman and a rounder, too" in Tulsa, being captured in El Paso
El Paso
El Paso, a city in the U.S. state of Texas, on the border with Mexico.El Paso may also refer to:-Geography:Colombia:* El Paso, CesarSpain:*El Paso, Santa Cruz de TenerifeUnited States:...
, and sentenced to "ninety-nine years way down in Mac
Oklahoma State Penitentiary
The Oklahoma State Penitentiary is located in McAlester, Oklahoma, on . It is a prison of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections. Opened in 1908 with 50 inmates in makeshift facilities, today the prison holds more than 1,200 male offenders, the vast majority of which are maximum-security inmates...
." It ends with:
For you'll become an addict and blow your lid.
Take a look at what it did to the Cocaine Kid.
"Cocaine Habit Blues"/"Take a Whiff on Me"
Another song is often known as “Cocaine Blues” but is completely different; it also known, in its different versions, as “Take a Whiff on MeTake a Whiff on Me
"Take a Whiff on Me" is an American folk song, with references to the use of cocaine. It is also known as "Take a Whiff ", "Cocaine Habit", and "Cocaine Habit Blues".-History:...
” and “Cocaine Habit Blues”. This song has three families of variants.
"Cocaine Blues"/"Coco Blues"
One of the most familiar, usually known as "Cocaine Blues," is Reverend Gary DavisReverend Gary Davis
Reverend Gary Davis, also Blind Gary Davis, was an American blues and gospel singer and guitarist, who was also proficient on the banjo and harmonica...
’ arrangement, an eight-bar blues in C Major
C major
C major is a musical major scale based on C, with pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature has no flats/sharps.Its relative minor is A minor, and its parallel minor is C minor....
. Davis said that he learned the song in 1905 from a traveling carnival musician, Porter Irving. This version is made up of rhyming couplets, followed by a refrain "Cocaine, running all around my brain" or "Cocaine, all around my brain"). The song is sometimes known as "Coco Blues," as on Davis’ 1965 album Pure Religion and Bad Company.
Gary Davis was a key influence on the folk revival
American folk music revival
The American folk music revival was a phenomenon in the United States that began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, and performers like Josh White, Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Richard Dyer-Bennett, Oscar Brand, Jean Ritchie, John Jacob...
singers of the early 1960s, including Dave Van Ronk
Dave Van Ronk
Dave Van Ronk was an American folk singer, born in Brooklyn, New York, who settled in Greenwich Village, New York, and was eventually nicknamed the "Mayor of MacDougal Street" ....
, who learned this version of "Cocaine Blues" from Davis (it features on his 1963 album Folksinger) and Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
(a 1961 variant features on The Minnesota Tapes, a 1962 variant is on Gaslight Tapes and third version is on more recent compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
Tell Tale Signs). However, on Van Ronk’s record, the song is wrongly credited to Luke Jordan
Luke Jordan
Luke Jordan was an American blues guitarist and vocalist of some renown in his local area of Lynchburg, Virginia....
, who recorded a completely different of the same name, see below.
Davis’ version of "Cocaine Blues" was subsequently recorded by a number of artists in the folk revival/singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
tradition, including Richard Fariña
Richard Fariña
Richard George Fariña was an American writer and folksinger.-Early years and education:Richard Fariña was born in Brooklyn, New York, of Cuban and Irish descent. He grew up in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn and attended Brooklyn Technical High School...
and Eric Von Schmidt
Eric Von Schmidt
Eric "Rick" Von Schmidt was an American singer-songwriter and Grammy Award recipient. He was associated with the folk/blues revival of the 1960s and a key part of the East Coast folk music scene that included Bob Dylan and Joan Baez.-Background and associations with Dylan:Von Schmidt's father,...
(1963), Hoyt Axton
Hoyt Axton
Hoyt Wayne Axton was an American country music singer-songwriter, and a film and television actor. He became prominent in the early 1960s, establishing himself on the West Coast as a folk singer with an earthy style and powerful voice. As he matured, some of his songwriting efforts became well...
(1963, on Thunder 'n Lightning), Davey Graham
Davey Graham
David Michael Gordon "Davey" Graham, originally spelled Davy Graham, , was a British guitarist and one of the most influential figures in the 1960s British folk revival...
(1964, on Folk, Blues and Beyond
Folk, Blues and Beyond
Folk, Blues and Beyond is the second studio album by British musician Davey Graham, originally released in 1964.It has been considered Graham's most groundbreaking and consistent work and a defining record of the 20th century...
), Nick Drake
Nick Drake
Nicholas Rodney "Nick" Drake was an English singer-songwriter and musician. Though he is best known for his sombre guitar based songs, Drake was also proficient at piano, clarinet and saxophone...
(on Tanworth-in-Arden 1967-68), Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....
(1977, on Running on Empty), Stefan Grossman
Stefan Grossman
Stefan Grossman is an American acoustic fingerstyle guitarist and singer, music producer and educator, and co-founder of Kicking Mule records.-Early life and influences:Born in Brooklyn, New York, to Herbert and Ruth Grossman...
(1978, on Acoustic Guitar), Townes Van Zandt
Townes Van Zandt
John Townes Van Zandt , best known as Townes Van Zandt, was an American Texas Country-folk music singer-songwriter, performer, and poet...
(1993, on Roadsongs) and Ramblin' Jack Elliott
Ramblin' Jack Elliott
Ramblin' Jack Elliott is an American folk singer and performer.-Life and career:Elliot Charles Adnopoz was born in Brooklyn, New York to Jewish parents in 1931. Elliott grew up inspired by the rodeos at Madison Square Garden, and wanted to be a cowboy...
(1995, on South Coast), as well as by the punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band UK Subs
UK Subs
The U.K. Subs are an English punk rock band, among the earliest in the first wave of British punk. Formed in 1976, the mainstay of the band has been vocalist Charlie Harper, originally a singer in Britain's R&B scene. They were also one of the first street punk bands.-Career:The U.K...
. "Sweet Cocaine" by Fred Neil
Fred Neil
Fred Neil was an American folk singer-songwriter in the 1960s and early 1970s. He did not achieve commercial success as a performer, and is mainly known through other people's recordings of his material – particularly "Everybody's Talkin'", which became a hit for Harry Nilsson after being...
(1966) is loosely based on the same song.
The refrain, "Cocaine runnin’ all 'round my brain," was used by reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
artist Dillinger
Dillinger (musician)
Dillinger is a reggae artist.-Biography:As a young man growing up in Kingston, Dillinger would hang around Dennis Alcapone's El Paso sound system...
in "Cocaine In My Brain" ("I've got cocaine runnin' around my brain") and more recently in turn by hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
group Poor Righteous Teachers
Poor Righteous Teachers
Poor Righteous Teachers is a hip hop group from Trenton, New Jersey, founded in 1989. Often referred to as PRT by its fans, Poor Righteous Teachers are known as pro-Black conscious hip hop artists, with musical content inspired by the teachings of the Nation of Gods and Earths. Wise Intelligent, as...
in the song "Miss Ghetto" on the album The New World Order ("She's like cocaine, running around my brain/Miss Ghetto be like cocaine, running around your brain").
"Take a Whiff on Me"
Secondly, “Take a Whiff on MeTake a Whiff on Me
"Take a Whiff on Me" is an American folk song, with references to the use of cocaine. It is also known as "Take a Whiff ", "Cocaine Habit", and "Cocaine Habit Blues".-History:...
” (again often known as “Cocaine Blues”) shares chords and many rhyming couplets with this song, but with the refrain “Honey, take a whiff on me” instead of “Cocaine runnin’ all 'round my brain”. This version is most strongly associated with Lead Belly, whose version opens with “Walked up Ellum and I come down Main.” (“Ellum”, “Elem” and “Dep Elem” in various version, refers to Elm Street in Dallas, in that city’s red light district
Red Light District
Red Light District may refer to:* Red-light district - a neighborhood where prostitution is common* The Red Light District - the title of the 2004 album by rapper Ludacris* Red Light District Video - a pornography studio based in Los Angeles, California...
). The song was first published by John Lomax
John Lomax
John Avery Lomax was an American teacher, a pioneering musicologist and folklorist who did much for the preservation of American folk songs...
in 1934 as "Honey, Take a Whiff on Me". Lomax stated that its origins were uncertain.
Variants on the Lead Belly version have been recorded by Blind Jesse Harris (1937), Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
, Roy Bookbinder, Merle Travis
Merle Travis
Merle Robert Travis was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and musician born in Rosewood, Kentucky. His lyrics often discussed the life and exploitation of coal miners. Among his many well-known songs are "Sixteen Tons", "Re-Enlistment Blues" and "Dark as a Dungeon"...
, The Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
(1970), Mungo Jerry
Mungo Jerry
Mungo Jerry is an English rock group whose greatest success was in the early 1970s, though they have continued throughout the years with an ever-changing line-up, always fronted by Ray Dorset. They are remembered above all for their hit "In the Summertime". It remains their most successful and most...
(as “Have a Whiff on Me”, 1971 single), Old Crow Medicine Show
Old Crow Medicine Show
Old Crow Medicine Show is an old-time string band based in Nashville, Tennessee. Their music has been called bluegrass, Americana, and alt-country, in addition to old-time. Along with original songs, the band performs many pre-World War II blues and folk songs...
("Cocaine Habit" from their 2006 album Big Iron World
Big Iron World
Big Iron World is an album by folk/country/old timey band Old Crow Medicine Show, released on August 29, 2006. The album was produced by David Rawlings who is most famously known for being Gillian Welch's musical partner...
), The White Stripes
The White Stripes
The White Stripes was an American rock band, formed in 1997 in Detroit, Michigan. The group consisted of the songwriter Jack White and drummer Meg White . Jack and Meg White were previously married to each other, but are now divorced...
and others.
"Take a Drink on Me"
The song “Take a Drink with Me”/”Take a Drink on Me”, recorded by white old-time music
Old-time music
Old-time music is a genre of North American folk music, with roots in the folk music of many countries, including England, Scotland, Ireland and countries in Africa. It developed along with various North American folk dances, such as square dance, buck dance, and clogging. The genre also...
performer Charlie Poole
Charlie Poole
Charlie Poole was an American old time banjo player and country musician and the leader of the North Carolina Ramblers, an American old-time string band that recorded many popular songs between 1925 to 1930.-Biography:...
in 1927 and collected by various folklorists, is a variant on “Take A Whiff On Me”, with alcohol rather than cocaine as the drug of choice. This in turn has been performed by a number of artists in the folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
and country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
traditions, including the New Lost City Ramblers
New Lost City Ramblers
The New Lost City Ramblers is a contemporary old-time string band that formed in New York City in 1958 during the Folk Revival. The founding members of the Ramblers, or NLCR, are Mike Seeger, John Cohen, and Tom Paley...
. It shares some words with Frank Hutchison
Frank Hutchison
Frank Hutchison was an early country blues and piedmont blues musician.-Biography:...
’s 1927 ballad “Coney Isle”.
"Cocaine Habit Blues"
A third, very closely related to this version is the one also commonly known as “Cocaine Habit Blues”, recorded by the Memphis Jug BandMemphis Jug Band
The Memphis Jug Band was an American musical group in the late 1920s and early to mid 1930s. The band featured harmonicas, violins, mandolins, banjos, and guitars, backed by washboards, kazoo, and jugs blown to supply the bass; they played in a variety of musical styles...
in 1930 (credited to Jennie Mae Clayton). It was a jug band
Jug band
A Jug band is a band employing a jug player and a mix of traditional and home-made instruments. These home-made instruments are ordinary objects adapted to or modified for making of sound, like the washtub bass, washboard, spoons, stovepipe and comb & tissue paper...
standard, later recorded by the Panama Limited Jug Band and by Jerry Garcia
Jerry Garcia
Jerome John "Jerry" Garcia was an American musician best known for his lead guitar work, singing and songwriting with the band the Grateful Dead...
in Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions in 1964. Its introductory verse is “Oh cocaine habit mighty bad”.
“Tell It to Me”
“Tell It to Me”, another traditional song of unknown authorship, is often known as “Cocaine Blues”. Also called "Let The Cocaine Be", some musicologists see a relationship to "Take A Whiff On Me" since some versions share the same lines. It has a similar structure to “Take A Whiff”/”Cocaine Habit Blues”, and some versions share couplets (e.g. “Cocaine's [dose] is not for a man/Doctor said will kill you, but he don't say when” and “You know I walked down Fifth and I turned down Main/Looking for a nickel for to buy cocaine”), but the refrain is darker: “Cocaine that killed my honey dead”.A version was collected (as “Cocaine”) by folklorist Mellinger Edward Henry (1873–1946) in his Folk Songs from the Southern Highlands from the singing of Barnet George, Lithonia, Georgia
Lithonia, Georgia
Lithonia is a suburban town in eastern DeKalb County, Georgia, incorporated as a city. Lithonia's population was 1,924 at the 2010 census.-Geography:...
, July 1931. The earliest recorded version is by white Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
band The Grant Brothers in 1928 (Columbia 15332-D). It has been recorded by numerous folk revival artists, including David Grisman
David Grisman
David Grisman is an American bluegrass/newgrass mandolinist and composer of acoustic music. In the early 1990s, he started the Acoustic Disc record label in an effort to preserve and spread acoustic or instrumental music.-Biography:Grisman grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey...
and the New York City Ramblers at the Newport Folk Festival
Newport Folk Festival
The Newport Folk Festival is an American annual folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the previously established Newport Jazz Festival...
. Grisman collaborated with the Grateful Dead in 1970, and they included it in their live repertoire at that time. It has more recently been covered by Old Crow Medicine Show and White Ghost Shivers
White Ghost Shivers
White Ghost Shivers is an eclectic American band based in Austin, Texas which claims cabaret, jazz, vaudeville, hokum, western swing, hillbilly, jugband and ragtime as its inspiration...
.
"Cocaine"
Another song of the same title (sometimes called simply "Cocaine" or "Simply Wild About My Good Cocaine") was recorded by bluesman Luke JordanLuke Jordan
Luke Jordan was an American blues guitarist and vocalist of some renown in his local area of Lynchburg, Virginia....
in 1927. This song was also recorded by white bluesman Dick Justice
Dick Justice (singer)
Dick Justice was an American blues and folk musician, who hailed from West Virginia, United States.Born Richard Justice, he recorded ten songs for Brunswick Records in Chicago in 1929. Unlike many contemporary white musicians, he was heavily influenced by black musicians, particularly Luke Jordan...
in 1929/30. A version was recorded under the title "Good Cocaine (Mama Don't Allow It)" by the Kentucky Ramblers. David Bromberg
David Bromberg
David Bromberg is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter. Bromberg has an eclectic style, playing bluegrass, blues, folk, jazz, country and western, and rock and roll equally well. He is known for his quirky, humorous lyrics, and the ability to play rhythm and lead guitar at the...
recorded a version as "Cocaine Blues"; it was recorded under the same name by the Holy Modal Rounders
Holy Modal Rounders
The Holy Modal Rounders were an American folk music duo from the Lower East Side of New York City which started in the early 1960s, consisting of Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber. Their unique blend of folk music revival and psychedelia gave them a cult-like following from the late 1960s into the 1970s...
on their 1967 album Indian War Whoop. The Luke Jordan lyrics share some lines ("Cocaine's for horses and not for men/Doctor says it'll kill you but don't know when") with "Take a Whiff on Me" as recorded by Lead Belly and the Reverend Gary Davis version of "Cocaine Blues" as recorded by Bob Dylan.