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Davey Moore · 08-30-2010, 06:03 PM

Five Great Drug Songs, or Five Songs to Listen to While High:

1. Heroin by The Velvet Underground(1967)

An act of hypnotism, plain and simple, with no deeper or loftier ways to describe it. A sonic trance. Complete pleasure inside dank rat infested rooms. That's the image conjured by the drug, at least. For me it was a college dorm room. This really is the best song to listen to on heroin, by the way. The few times I've done it are enough for me, though. Heroin works too well. It's the perfect drug, and you really can fall in love with it after one use. Addicted even. Maybe not once, but it's awfully f*cking enticing. Nobody writes drug songs quite like Lou Reed, who in his best works can be classified as the coolest f*cking guy in music behind Bob Dylan circa 66 all hopped up on uppers. A hipness flows from him that is unbelievable from a white guy. The Velvet Underground from the start were the kind of band that writers and artists love. Everything is perfect, from their name, their attitude and their dress. The Velvet Underground are the pinnacle of the darker, New York focused, anti-hippie, counter-culture art scene in the 60s. Which was an infinitely cooler scene than the hippies, by the way. After the Velvet Underground, I feel like rock was allowed to be serious, edgy and artistic in ways unimaginable. Many bands owe a debt to them.

YouTube - The Velvet Underground - Heroin (song only)

2. Vitamin C by Can(1972)

Hey you! A song with amazing rhythm, it sounds like nothing I've heard, and I doubt I'll hear anything like it again, from anybody. Can were that sort of band. Shockingly original and experimental, with a funky beat that simmers and crawls, and shoots in unexpected directions. This might be a German band, and lyric sites claim this is in English, and I'll trust that, but the words are barely comprehensible, yet Damo's singing during the verses, sounds like his voice is half-mumbling, half-prancing along with the rhythm. He sounds like a man possessed, not with any emotional fervor, but with an overwhelming coolness. His shouts are desperate somehow, and what can I say, you can dance to the thing too, which says a lot for such an original song.

YouTube - CAN - Vitamin C

3. Ramble on Rose by The Grateful Dead(Live 70s Versions)

This is me and my friends' favorite drinking song. Something about it is so groovy, so hip, it's really quite irresistible. It could even make a K-holed man dance. Okay, probably not. There was a time where I wouldn't listen to anything by the Dead, even though I hadn't heard a single thing by them, and I really don't know why, but in college that changed. This wasn't the song that converted me, but it's a song that'll make me stay on their side. A toast, to the Dead.

YouTube - Grateful Dead - Ramble On Rose

4. Catch the Wind(alternate version) by Donovan(1969)

Oh, what a different song this is from the original. What's so deceptive and brilliant about this song is it's ultimately about futility, which is something every druggie knows. It's never as great as it seems to be. There's always something out there, something that if you just had it, everything would be amazing. Look at these lyrics from the perspective of an addict or a scorned lover, which are very similar things in my eyes, and you'll see what a sad song this is. And this version builds to an amazing, emotional climax. To try and explain how great this version is... ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind.

YouTube - Donovan - Catch The Wind (mellow version)

5. The State I Am In by Belle and Sebastian(1996)

There's something to be said for a song where it's greatest strength is how amazingly the beat and music contrast with the vocals, which stay static and constant in tone and mood. Simply put, this song has an amazing flow. The vocals couldn't be bothered to change, and they become an island of calm as the band becomes more and more frantic. It's paced like a trip, an immaculate sense of coming up, and trying to stay calm because you know you're coming up and you don't want to freak out, the vocals are the anchors, like an inner monologue, and music is the madman, freaking out and spiraling and constantly building tension. And it comes and goes pretty quickly as well. Many were the times when I listened to this, in the dead of night, with a friend as we toked.

YouTube - The State That I Am In - Belle & Sebastian

08-30-2010, 06:03 PM	#4 (permalink)
Davey Moore The Great Disappearer Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: URI Campus and Coventry, both in RI Posts: 462	Five Great Drug Songs, or Five Songs to Listen to While High: 1. Heroin by The Velvet Underground(1967) An act of hypnotism, plain and simple, with no deeper or loftier ways to describe it. A sonic trance. Complete pleasure inside dank rat infested rooms. That's the image conjured by the drug, at least. For me it was a college dorm room. This really is the best song to listen to on heroin, by the way. The few times I've done it are enough for me, though. Heroin works too well. It's the perfect drug, and you really can fall in love with it after one use. Addicted even. Maybe not once, but it's awfully fcking enticing. Nobody writes drug songs quite like Lou Reed, who in his best works can be classified as the coolest fcking guy in music behind Bob Dylan circa 66 all hopped up on uppers. A hipness flows from him that is unbelievable from a white guy. The Velvet Underground from the start were the kind of band that writers and artists love. Everything is perfect, from their name, their attitude and their dress. The Velvet Underground are the pinnacle of the darker, New York focused, anti-hippie, counter-culture art scene in the 60s. Which was an infinitely cooler scene than the hippies, by the way. After the Velvet Underground, I feel like rock was allowed to be serious, edgy and artistic in ways unimaginable. Many bands owe a debt to them. YouTube - The Velvet Underground - Heroin (song only) 2. Vitamin C by Can(1972) Hey you! A song with amazing rhythm, it sounds like nothing I've heard, and I doubt I'll hear anything like it again, from anybody. Can were that sort of band. Shockingly original and experimental, with a funky beat that simmers and crawls, and shoots in unexpected directions. This might be a German band, and lyric sites claim this is in English, and I'll trust that, but the words are barely comprehensible, yet Damo's singing during the verses, sounds like his voice is half-mumbling, half-prancing along with the rhythm. He sounds like a man possessed, not with any emotional fervor, but with an overwhelming coolness. His shouts are desperate somehow, and what can I say, you can dance to the thing too, which says a lot for such an original song. YouTube - CAN - Vitamin C 3. Ramble on Rose by The Grateful Dead(Live 70s Versions) This is me and my friends' favorite drinking song. Something about it is so groovy, so hip, it's really quite irresistible. It could even make a K-holed man dance. Okay, probably not. There was a time where I wouldn't listen to anything by the Dead, even though I hadn't heard a single thing by them, and I really don't know why, but in college that changed. This wasn't the song that converted me, but it's a song that'll make me stay on their side. A toast, to the Dead. YouTube - Grateful Dead - Ramble On Rose 4. Catch the Wind(alternate version) by Donovan(1969) Oh, what a different song this is from the original. What's so deceptive and brilliant about this song is it's ultimately about futility, which is something every druggie knows. It's never as great as it seems to be. There's always something out there, something that if you just had it, everything would be amazing. Look at these lyrics from the perspective of an addict or a scorned lover, which are very similar things in my eyes, and you'll see what a sad song this is. And this version builds to an amazing, emotional climax. To try and explain how great this version is... ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind. YouTube - Donovan - Catch The Wind (mellow version) 5. The State I Am In by Belle and Sebastian(1996) There's something to be said for a song where it's greatest strength is how amazingly the beat and music contrast with the vocals, which stay static and constant in tone and mood. Simply put, this song has an amazing flow. The vocals couldn't be bothered to change, and they become an island of calm as the band becomes more and more frantic. It's paced like a trip, an immaculate sense of coming up, and trying to stay calm because you know you're coming up and you don't want to freak out, the vocals are the anchors, like an inner monologue, and music is the madman, freaking out and spiraling and constantly building tension. And it comes and goes pretty quickly as well. Many were the times when I listened to this, in the dead of night, with a friend as we toked. YouTube - The State That I Am In - Belle & Sebastian __________________ The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over.