Legalization music

Posted on March 27, 2014 by Pete

We haven’t hit on this for a while…

Policymic has an article: 14 Songs That Should Probably Be the Anthem for Marijuana Legalization

There are some good ones there, but I don’t know that I’d agree with all of them.

Noticeably missing is Fats Waller’s excellent rendition of “If You’re a Viper (the Reefer Song).” This recording was specifically a jab at Harry Anslinger, who had just announced a campaign to go after swing bands…

“Hey cats. It’s 4 o’clock in the morning… 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. Here it tis…

I dreamed about a reefer, five feet long. A Mighty Mezz, but not too strong. You’ll be high, but not for long, if you’re a viper.”

The term “viper” came from the sound of pulling on a joint.

…

Also, while it doesn’t count as a song for a legalization anthem, it’s hard to talk about the awareness of marijuana in this country without mentioning Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi1sBwV1-tU

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24 Responses to Legalization music

  1. Windy says:
    March 27, 2014 at 1:27 am

    When I think of songs about weed this is always the first one to come to mind:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XFYMjkFYPg

    • DdC says:
      March 29, 2014 at 8:25 pm

      Wildwood Weed Jim Stafford

      YMSB – Two Hits and the Joint Turns Brown
      Yonder Mountain String Band
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8l4lQmNMS0

      Keller Williams “Doobie in my Pocket”
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqYCraSGVBw

      Cab Calloway – Reefer Man 1932
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYFvLZJ57Ns

      Don’t Bogart That Joint!

      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 hangin 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

      Rolllllllllllllllll another one
      Just like the other one
      That one’s just about burned 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

      Everybody sing along this time

      Don’t bogart that joint, my friend
      Pass it over to me
      Don’t bogart that joint, my friend
      Pass it over to me

  4. Freeman says:
    March 27, 2014 at 5:04 am

    Heh, that Fats Waller song could be updated to “If You’re A Vape-er” these days!

    I’ve always enjoyed this anthem by The Toyes!

  5. claygooding says:
    March 27, 2014 at 7:36 am

    Chris Christie: Marijuana is a ‘gateway drug’ that I will never legalize in New Jersey

    http://tinyurl.com/o3o8r24

    During Gov. Chris Christie’s “Ask the Governor” program on New Jersey radio station WKXW-FM 101.5, he was asked by a caller whether the governor would consider legalizing marijuana to bring more tax revenue into the state.

    “Mike, I love you, baby, but it ain’t happenin’, not while I’m governor,” Christie said to the caller.

    Christie said that he understood the argument for more revenue, but said that it was wasn’t an “even exchange.”

    “I don’t believe that legalizing an illegal drug for purposes of governmental profit is something that we should be doing. I believe that this is a gateway drug into other more serious drugs, I think it sends a wrong message to our kids and I don’t think it makes anybody a better or more productive person,” he said. “end”

    No comments so I brought the entire article,,,,I can almost hear taps playing for Mr Christie.
    If he had any chance at the oval office he just shit it out the window,,his actions towards MMJ has already painted him,,he just pout 4 coats of clear on himself.(as if we didn’t know)
    Now it is up to the advocates in Jersey to start harpooning the Outlaw Jersey Whale and the rest of us to cheer them on,,,onward thru the fog!!!!

    • Duncan20903 says:
      March 27, 2014 at 2:07 pm

      .
      .

      I know I’ll be accused of making this up, but I swear that I don’t have that much fiction writing talent. Within the last few weeks I’ve learned that there are prohibitionists who believe that any tax revenue generated by a regulated retail cannabis supply chain would be nothing but an illusion. It wouldn’t be real income because everyone who chooses to enjoy cannabis is on welfare. Since the government gives us the money to buy the cannabis they also give us the money to pay the tax. Since the tax increases the cost of the cannabis it means that they have to pay more taxes. OK, I’m puzzled, how do the innumerate know how much tax they pay in a year, or if it’s more or less?

      I haven’t yet seen their explanation of why they want their tax money going to enrich organized criminal syndicates but I’m sure that they’re working overtime to come up with an “explanation” for that nonsense.

    • Windy says:
      March 27, 2014 at 3:24 pm

      He’s a perfect example of: http://goo.gl/8DkAcq

  6. Howard says:
    March 27, 2014 at 7:45 am

    OT, good article from Martin Lee regarding CBD-only legislation being passed in certain states;

    http://tinyurl.com/kwwh5oq

    Excerpt;

    “This is not medical marijuana. It’s just an oil derived from that plant,” according to Wisconsin GOP state representative John Spiros, a former police officer who voted to approve CBD-only legislation. Gage Froerer, a Utah state legislator, weighed in with similar rhetorical gimmickry about CBD: “It’s not a drug. It’s not medical marijuana.”

    This is why the fight will continue. It will continue until pols like John Spiros and Gage Froerer are rendered irrelevant.

  7. Steve Finlay says:
    March 27, 2014 at 12:27 pm

    Don’t forget John Prine:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDrdD3wrVqQ

  8. Nebula says:
    March 27, 2014 at 1:54 pm

    Why does legalization music have to be so happy-clappy, hippie-ish and limp wristed? Where are all the people truly ANGERED by the injustices of the drug war? How about this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJBMIUydWi0

    • B. Snow says:
      March 28, 2014 at 10:55 am

      Well, If you want to go for trapped/claustrophobic – I’d have to say go with the creepy part of “Dead Skin Mask” @~4:12 mins:
      Child’s voice: “Hello? Hello, Mr. Gein. Mr. Gein? Let me outta here, Mr. Gein. Mr. Gein, I don’t wanna play anymore, Mr. Gein. Mr. Gein, it’s not any fun…”

      Although that’s not exactly topical, its got the whole injustice & confinement thing right, But – there’s the whole serial-killer vibe that doesn’t fit, I’m pretty sure The Couch = isn’t exactly a “Slayer-friendly” environment.

      Now I would link “Save Your Seeds” – but linking to Peter Wilde’s Myspace page seems passé, Mike West’s version isn’t particularly *my speed* = but you can find both on Spotify… as well as the one I kinda prefer.
      From – “Live at the 2003 Oregon Country Fair”, I’m not 100% sure who wrote it – I first heard it back in college in 95′-96′, from a Hippy-Vegan friend that had been on Phish Tour the year before = Only white guy w/ blonde dreadlocks I’ve met…

      I did a little googling and it appears to that the song was stuck onto the end of some Phish Bootleg cassettes, I smiled when I read that.
      Because that was how I’d heard it = my friend had been playing some old Phish bootleg & this came on & can’t remember if he even told me who it was – I was pretty high – who knows?
      I stumbled across it online years later, aka years ago as fate would have it…

      The lyrics are here and it’s credited to 1999 Peter Wilde
      the first verse starts out,
      “In 1937 congress bought Anslinger’s line
      they were making marijuana a sin and a crime
      now you can beat the government and the dealers too
      the answers in your hands, here’s what you can do”

      I’ve seen it pop-up on folk music videos on youtube, song by more than a few people w/ changes to certain verses -as you’d expect w/ folk music. I can’t find a good youtube link for it now. But it’s on Spotify & Amazon and it’s worth a tiny bit of googling for IMO.

      I KNOW some of y’all will appreciate it – or may already know it if you live up NW.

  9. Common Science says:
    March 27, 2014 at 9:16 pm

    A little naive on the science, but a cute ditty from the mid-seventies by Jesse Winchester:

    http://youtu.be/MwtFiF8Caag

  10. allan says:
    March 28, 2014 at 2:06 am

    Commander Cody http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGsq1K7f_yc

    David Peel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i25x_7bnK7o

    and while not a pot song, the Dead’s Blues for Allah was made for listening to whilst smoking hashish (as were all later Bea’le’s albums)

    I found my first smoke mates in Takhli, Thailand (1973) by walking around the hooch area until I heard Pink Floyd and knocked on the door. They were indeed smoking ganja while listening to Pink Floyd (that was Mike and Larry). And I’d been to their house in Clovis, NM for a party (it was probably their going away party for their transfer to Thailand!).

  11. Duncan20903 says:
    March 28, 2014 at 9:33 am

    Didn’t anyone link Don Bowman’s “Wildwood Weed”? What is wrong with your eyes?

  12. Poca says:
    March 29, 2014 at 11:20 am

    Thanks Pete! I was just able to steal some time alone w/ my old lady…DSOTM was the perfect accompaniment to our intimate session, we were coming at the climax of Time, those beautiful wails from the music were in tune with ours… It was sublime extasy, & the album directly enhanced that experience. Then Money was an excellent come down from that soaring feeling. Truly liberating!

  13. allan says:
    March 30, 2014 at 9:25 am

    actually… my choice as “our song”:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRzKUVjHkGk

  14. DdC says:
    April 1, 2014 at 12:06 am

    Rare 1960’s Original Vintage Marijuana Legalization Poster
    Presidential Candidate LBJ Rolling a Joint?

    Hyde Park London Pot Rally
    Hippies want Marijuana legalized
    newsreel PublicDomainFootage.com

    Reefer Madness By Abbie Hoffman
    The Nation, November 21, 1987

    Like the Red Menace of the early 1950’s,
    the current drug hysteria has led to a loyalty oath,
    this time, the urine test.
    ~ Abbie Hoffman, the Nation, Nov.21,1987

    Marijuana Revolution by John Sinclair
    White Panther Party Statement issued November 1, 1968

  15. DdC says:
    April 1, 2014 at 12:11 am

    Rare 1960’s Original Vintage Marijuana Legalization Poster
    Presidential Candidate LBJ Rolling a Joint?

    Hyde Park London Pot Rally
    Hippies want Marijuana legalized
    newsreel PublicDomainFootage.com

    Reefer Madness By Abbie Hoffman
    The Nation, November 21, 1987

    Like the Red Menace of the early 1950’s,
    the current drug hysteria has led to a loyalty oath,
    this time, the urine test.
    ~ Abbie Hoffman, the Nation, Nov.21,1987

    Marijuana Revolution by John Sinclair
    White Panther Party Statement issued November 1, 1968

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