Cocaine (song)

For other songs with the same or similar title, see Cocaine (disambiguation).

"Cocaine"
Song by JJ Cale from the album Troubadour
Released	September 1976
Recorded	1976
Genre	Rock
Length	2:48
Label	Mercury
Writer	JJ Cale
Producer	Audie Ashworth
Troubadour track listing
Hold On (5) "Cocaine" (6) I'm a Gypsy Man (7)

"Cocaine"
Single by Eric Clapton
from the album Slowhand
Released	November 1977
Recorded	May 1977
Genre	Blues rock
Length	3:41
Label	Polydor
Writer(s)	JJ Cale
Producer	Glyn Johns

"Cocaine" is a song written and recorded by JJ Cale in 1976 and most widely known in a cover version recorded by Eric Clapton. Allmusic calls the latter "among [Clapton's] most enduringly popular hits" and notes that "even for an artist like Clapton with a huge body of high-quality work, 'Cocaine' ranks among his best."^[1]

Glyn Johns, who had previously worked with The Who, Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones, produced the Clapton recording, which was released on Clapton's 1977 album Slowhand and as a single in 1980. The live version of "Cocaine" charted on the Billboard Hot 100 as the B-side of "Tulsa Time", which was a No. 30 hit in 1980. "Cocaine" was one of several of Cale's songs recorded by Clapton, including "After Midnight" and "Travelin' Light".

Charts

J. J. Cale version

Chart (1977)	Peak position
Australia (ARIA)[2]	45 [3]
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 75)[4]	5
Germany (Media Control AG)[5]	22
New Zealand (RIANZ)[6]	1
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[7]	10
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[8]	2

Eric Clapton version

Chart (1980)	Peak position
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[9]	3
US Billboard Hot 100[10]	30

Analysis

Eric Clapton describes "Cocaine" as "an anti-drug-song. The fans only listen to the refrain: ‘She don’t lie, she don’t lie, she don't lie, cocaine.’ But it says, ‘If you wanna get down, down on the ground, cocaine.’"^[11] The song also contains the lyric: "Don't forget this fact, you can't get it back".^[12] Clapton has called the song "quite cleverly anti-cocaine", noting:^[13]

"It’s no good to write a deliberate anti-drug song and hope that it will catch. Because the general thing is that people will be upset by that. It would disturb them to have someone else shoving something down their throat. So the best thing to do is offer something that seems ambiguous—that on study or on reflection actually can be seen to be ‘anti’—which the song "Cocaine" is actually an anti-cocaine song. If you study it or look at it with a little bit of thought... from a distance... or as it goes by... it just sounds like a song about cocaine. But actually, it is quite cleverly anti-cocaine."

Because of its ambiguous message, Clapton did not perform the song in many of his concerts; however, over the years, Clapton has added the lyrics 'that dirty cocaine' in live shows to underline the anti-drug message of the song.^[14][15]

Other cover versions

A live cover by the Scottish rock band Nazareth appears on their albums The Fool Circle and Snaz. Guitarist Andy Taylor of Duran Duran recorded it for his 1990 solo album Dangerous.

In 2008, country singer Gretchen Wilson quoted the melody from the tag end of the chorus ("she don't lie, she don't lie, she don't lie") for her song "Work Hard, Play Harder" (which also borrowed from The Black Crowes). The hard rock band Black Robot covered the song on their 2010 self-titled album. Post-Grunge band Puddle of Mudd included a cover as a bonus track for their 2011 covers-album Re:(Disc)overed.

In popular culture

The song was featured in the 2004 film Starsky & Hutch, and in the 2005 film Lord of War.

References

Notes

1. ^ Song Review of Clapton's cover of "Cocaine" by Allmusic
2. ^ "Australian-charts.com – J.J. Cale – Cocaine". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Hung Medien.
3. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. 
4. ^ "J.J. Cale – Cocaine – Austriancharts.at" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Hung Medien.
5. ^ "Die ganze Musik im Internet: Charts, News, Neuerscheinungen, Tickets, Genres, Genresuche, Genrelexikon, Künstler-Suche, Musik-Suche, Track-Suche, Ticket-Suche - musicline.de" (in German). Media Control Charts. PhonoNet GmbH.
6. ^ "Charts.org.nz – J.J. Cale – Cocaine". Top 40 Singles. Hung Medien.
7. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – J.J. Cale – Cocaine". Singles Top 60. Hung Medien.
8. ^ "J.J. Cale – Cocaine – swisscharts.com". Swiss Singles Chart. Hung Medien.
9. ^ "RPM 100 Singles" (PHP). RPM Vol. 33 (No. 24): 9. September 6, 1980. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.0234a&type=2&interval=20&PHPSESSID=m89iq841abagb37ld9c0fdc1f3. Retrieved March 28, 2011. 
10. ^ "Eric Clapton: Chart & Awards – Billboard Singles". Allmusic. United States: Rovi Corporation. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p64692/charts-awards/billboard-singles. Retrieved March 28, 2011. 
11. ^ Stern magazine, Germany, 1998
12. ^ J J Cale Guitar Styles and how to play them | J J Cale / Columbia Pictures Publications, 1980
13. ^ The Best of Everything Show, with Dan Neer
14. ^ "Eric Clapton Rethinks Playing'Cocaine'". Fox News Channel. October 3, 2006. http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2006Oct03/0,4670,PeopleEricClapton,00.html. Retrieved July 9, 2010. 
15. ^ "Eric Clapton rethinks playing 'Cocaine'". Historyofalcoholanddrugs.typepad.com. October 5, 2006. http://historyofalcoholanddrugs.typepad.com/alcohol_and_drugs_history/2006/10/eric_clapton_re.html. Retrieved July 9, 2010.