The 1980′s. Remember? Designer version of the 1950s? Miami Vice pink and aqua everywhere you looked? Ronald Raygun the Sincere? Coffee Achievers? Iran-Contra? De Lorean? Yuppies? Cocaine?
I’m old enough to remember that decade when cocaine became the recreational pharmaceutical of fashion (though I’d rather forget most of it). One thing about it I had managed to totally forget was this song, which I most likely wrote as a result of the onset of middle-age. Oddly, it was the untimely death of singer Whitney Houston in March, 2012 that dredged it up from the depths. (Although she didn’t die from a coke overdose, the blow was reported to be a contributing factor).
Reading the headlines triggered the thought “Hey, I once wrote a song about doing cocaine!” The gears started churning and by the end of the day I had the lyrics written down and started working out the guitar chords. Human RAM is an amazing thing because it all came flooding back and within a couple of days I had the guitar and vocal tracks you hear on this recording.
There’ no banjo in this one. It just didn’t work. I may be banjo-centric these days, but I’m not banjo obsessive-compulsive (although some might argue that point).
Although the song pokes fun at the zaniness of the 80s, it must actually have been written in the early 1990s because the politician verse was definitely inspired by the story of the then mayor of Washington D.C. Marion Barry. Despite having everything going for him, he went in for doing coke, got busted, went to the slammer. That was in 1990, so the song was written somewhere around that time.
LISTEN TO DOIN’ COCAINE:
The Rude, Bad, Evil Version
During the recording sessions I added another verse to the song. It contains some rude language that would get a movie a PG-13 rating. Why? Because I was feeling cranky, ornery. Why? I’d been following the Republican primary elections in the U.S.
OK, so now you’re warned about it. And you still want it?
AUDIO STREAM
LYRICS & DOWNLOADS
Happy April Fools Day!
It’s a year to the day since this fool launched this foolish little venture. Didn’t manage to do everything I’d hoped to do when I started, but did more than I thought I actually would. It’s been fun so far, and there is more to come. I’d like to personally thank everyone who became a faithful fan during this first year of my coming out as a songwriter. One of these days I swear I’m gonna buy you both a beer!