Cocaine Blues

"Cocaine Blues" Based on "Little Sadie"
Written by	T. J. "Red" Arnall
Language	English
Form	Western swing
Original artist	W. A. Nichol's Western Aces
Recorded by	Roy Hogsed Johnny Cash see also (Other artists)
Performed by	Johnny Cash at his Folsom Prison Concert

"Cocaine Blues" is a Western Swing song written by T. J. "Red" Arnall, a reworking of the traditional 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.^[1]

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:

"Come all you hypes and listen unto me,

Just lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be."

Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash 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.

Other artists

Several artists have recorded "Cocaine Blues", including:

• Hank Thompson (1959)
• Hylo Brown, Lovesick and Sorrow (1963)
• Led Zeppelin played in concert at Budokan, Japan in 1971.
• George Thorogood and The Destroyers (1978)
• Uncle Tupelo (live versions 1988-93)
• Keith Richards (on Voodoo Brew) (1993)
• Hank Williams III (1999)
• Merle Haggard (2011)

Other versions

Arnall is also sometimes credited with the version of "Cocaine Blues" written and recorded by Billy Hughes (also in 1947).^[2] 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:

For you'll become an addict and blow your lid.
Take a look at what it did to the Cocaine Kid.

Other songs named "Cocaine Blues"

"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 Me” 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 Davis’ arrangement, an eight-bar blues in C Major. Davis said that he learned the song in 1905 from a traveling carnival musician, Porter Irving.^[3][4] This version is made up of rhyming couplets, followed by a refrain "Cocaine, running all around my brain" or "Cocaine, all around my brain").^[5] 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^[6] 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.^[7][8]

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.^[9] "Sweet Cocaine" by Fred Neil (1966) is loosely based on the same song.^[10]

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").

"Take a Whiff on Me"

Secondly, “Take a Whiff on Me” (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).^[11] The song was first published by John Lomax in 1934 as "Honey, Take a Whiff on Me". Lomax stated that its origins were uncertain.^[12]

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.^[13]

"Take a Drink on Me"

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,^[14] 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.^[15] It shares some words with Frank Hutchison’s 1927 ballad “Coney Isle”.^[16]

"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 Band in 1930 (credited to Jennie Mae Clayton).^[17] 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.^[18] Its introductory verse is “Oh cocaine habit mighty bad”.^[19]

“Tell It to Me”

“Tell It to Me”, another traditional song of unknown authorship, is often known as “Cocaine Blues”.^[20] Also called "Let The Cocaine Be", some musicologists see a relationship to "Take A Whiff On Me" since some versions share the same lines.^[21] 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”),^[22] 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, July 1931.^[23] The earliest recorded version is by white Tennessee band The Grant Brothers in 1928 (Columbia 15332-D).^[24] It has been recorded by numerous folk revival artists,^[25][26] 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.^[22] It has more recently been covered by Old Crow Medicine Show and White Ghost Shivers.

"Cocaine"

Another song of the same title (sometimes called simply "Cocaine" or "Simply Wild About My Good Cocaine") was recorded by bluesman Luke Jordan in 1927.^[27][28] This song was also recorded by white bluesman Dick Justice in 1929/30.^[29] 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.

References

1. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2008). Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008. Record Research, Inc. p. 191. ISBN 0-89820-177-2. 
2. ^ Kienzle, Southwest Shuffle, p. 76 "... Billy Hughes, composer of 'Tennessee Saturday Night' and 'Cocaine Blues,' ..."
3. ^ GtrWorkShp. "Stefan Grossman teaches "Cocaine Blues"". Youtube.com. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHR1xk8Rp5k. Retrieved 2011-11-20. 
4. ^ "CBN Black History Section biog of Davis". Cbn.com. 1972-05-05. http://www.cbn.com/special/blackhistory/bio_garydavis.aspx. Retrieved 2011-11-20. 
5. ^ Kemper Kokaine song Nr.020, p.288
6. ^ Dylanbase.com
7. ^ See Waltz and Engle "Cocaine Blues (I)" in the Traditional Ballad Index
8. ^ Kemper Kokaine Songs Nr.020 (Davis), 022 (Van Ronk), 023 (Dylan), 024 (Van Ronk), 025 (Tom Rush)
9. ^ Kemper Kokaine Song Nr.122, p.326
10. ^ Kemper Kokaine Song Nr.050
11. ^ Waltz and Engle “Deep Elem Blues”
12. ^ Lomax, American Ballads and Folk Songs, p. 186: "The origin of this cheerful ditty of the dope-heads is doubtful. At any rate the Southern barrel-house Negroes sing it and have made it their own."
13. ^ "Take a Whiff On Me" [Me II-Z26] on Folk Music Index at Ibiblio.org
14. ^ Waltz and Engle “Take a Drink on Me”
15. ^ "Take a Drink on Me" [Me II-Z26] on Folk Music Index at Ibiblio.org
16. ^ Waltz and Engle “Coney Isle”
17. ^ Kemper Kokaine song Nr.004, p.283
18. ^ ""Cocaine Habit Blues" on". Deaddisc.com. http://www.deaddisc.com/songs/Cocaine_Habit_Blues.htm. Retrieved 2011-11-20. 
19. ^ ""Cocaine Habit Blues" at Grateful Dead Lyric & Song Finder". .clearlight.com. http://www3.clearlight.com/~acsa/introjs.htm?/~acsa/songfile/COCAINEH.HTM. Retrieved 2011-11-20. 
20. ^ Tullos, Long Journey Home, p. 11: "... The Grant Brothers, from nearby Bristol, recorded a song called 'Tell It To Me,' known widely today as 'Cocaine Blues' ..."
21. ^ Waltz, "Take a Whiff on Me": "I'm joining them primarily because many versions of "Tell It to Me" include the 'Honey, take a whiff on me" refrain, but a case could also be made for splitting'."
22. ^ ^{a b} ""Tell It To Me" at Grateful Dead Lyric & Song Finder". .clearlight.com. http://www3.clearlight.com/~acsa/introjs.htm?/~acsa/songfile/TELLITTO.HTM. Retrieved 2011-11-20. 
23. ^ "Folk Songs from the Southern Highlands". Traditionalmusic.co.uk. http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/folk-song-southern/folk-song-southern%20-%200540.htm. Retrieved 2011-11-20. 
24. ^ Russell, Country Music Records, p. 377. Collected on My Rough and Rowdy Ways, Vol. 1, Yazoo 2039, 1998.
25. ^ "Tell It to Me" [Me II-Z27] on Folk Music Index at Ibiblio.org
26. ^ ""Tell It To Me" at". Deaddisc.com. http://www.deaddisc.com/songs/Tell_It_To_Me.htm. Retrieved 2011-11-20. 
27. ^ "Cocaine Blues, Luke Jordan". Mudcat.org. http://www.mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=8060. Retrieved 2011-11-20. "Luke Jordan 'Cocaine Blues' Vi 20176. Recorded Tuesday 16 August 1927 in Charlotte NC. Reissued on Various Artists The Roots of Rap Yazoo CD 20218. Dick Justice recorded "Cocaine Blues" on 20 May 1930 in Chicago Ill. It is reissued on Old-time Music from West Virginia Document DOCD-8004." 
28. ^ Paul Oliver Songsters and Saints: Vocal Traditions in Race Records, Cambridge University Press, 1984; Wolf-Reinhard Kemper Kokain in der Musik: Bestandsaufnahme und Analyse aus kriminologischer Sicht Song Nr.002-3, p.282
29. ^ "Cocaine - Dick Justice (1929)". Cocaine.org. http://www.cocaine.org/cocaine.htm. Retrieved 2011-11-20. 

Bibliography

• Kemper, Wolf-Reinhard. Kokain in der Musik: Bestandsaufnahme und Analyse aus kriminologischer Sicht'. Berlin-Hamburg-Münster: LIT Verlag , 2001 ISBN 3825853160, ISBN 9783825853167
• Kienzle, Rich. Southwest Shuffle: Pioneers of Honky Tonk, Western Swing, and Country Jazz. New York: Routledge, 2003. ISBN 0-415-94102-4
• Lomax, John A. American Ballads & Folk Songs. 1934.
• Russell, Tony. Country Music Records: A Discography, 1921-1942. Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN 0195139895
• Tullos, Allen. Long Journey Home: Folklife in the South. Southern Exposure, 1977.
• Waltz, Robert B; David G. Engle. "Take a Whiff on Me". The Traditional Ballad Index: An Annotated Bibliography of the Folk Songs of the English-Speaking World. Hosted by California State University, Fresno, Folklore, 2007

External links

• Covers and Permutations