Song Lyrics: Post Them

Using the power of google I've proved myself wrong.

America was formed in England by sons of US servicemen who were stationed there. Lead singer Dewey Bunnell wrote this when he was 19. He based the images in the lyrics on things he saw while visiting the US.

The band says it has nothing to do with drugs.

 

Arrrgh!!!! Now I've got the song stuck in a continual loop in my brain.

 

Me. too. But I like the song. I don't think the lyrics are drug-related either.

Drug use usually means the musician's career is about to end because drug users are not very creative or productive. Popular myth, as usual, is bullshit.

 

And then there are songs that are definitively about drugs:

Clean this mess up else we'll all end up in jail
Those test tubes and the scale
Just get it all out of here

Steely Dan, "Kid Charlemagne"

 

My statement is based on the actual history of real rock stars. OTOH, I DID state it5 as an absolute. SOME drug use may not be that detrimental.

What you said would correctly apply to any new experience.

 

Some of our best jazz musicians, blues singers and rock musicians were heavy drug users. Think of Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Coltrane, Janis Joplin, Ray Charles and numerous others. The very term "cool" came from the type of jazz that users of heroin played.

Artists and writers also are known for heavy drinking and drug use. Or actual insanity, in some cases. One thing people tend to overlook, is that many historical artists and writers were under the influence of some type of drug, but in their day drugs like opium, hashish and cocaine were not illegal, were commonplace.

I agree with Gaear. I don't use drugs, or drink either, nor do I advocate the use of drugs or heavy drinking, but I cannot write well unless I am "out there" from something...sometimes it's emotional pain...most of the time it's emotional pain. Less often, it is joy or passion. And I don't think I am unusual in that respect.

I think that saying artists are less creative or productive under the influence of drugs/alcohol is a finding that the government was very interested in putting out there. And spent money to research it, specifically to arrive at that finding. IMO.

 

I once heard an interview with I think Ornet Coleman who said he started taking heroin because he thought it would help him play like Charlie Parker. When he told Charlie Parker this Parker's reply was that the first thing he should do was stop useing heroin as he played like he did inspite of heroin not because of it.

 

That's interesting.

So maybe my opinion is totally offbase. Wouldn't be the first time.

 

As I said, drug use helping creativity, or any other mental process, is a popular myth. It definitely CAN occur, but the preponderous of truth seems to say otherwise.

Shockingly, the brain seems to work best in it's natural states. But there are a LOT of those.

"Captain Jack will get you high tonight
And take you to your special island
Captain Jack will get you by tonight
Just a little push, and you'll be flying..."

 

Heh. I saw an interview with Sting a few months back. They asked him what his pet peeves were. One of the first things out of his mouth was "People who think Every Breath You Take is a love song." Yes, it's about stalking.

 

I don't think drugs make you any more creative than normal but its certainly true that they change your perspective on things. You may think of things that would never occur to you when you are sober.

 

I'll have to agree on this one. There is a narrow range of influence where inhibitions on conscious thought are reduced and 'nonsense' is no longer being quashed. The mind has been 'freed'. 'Creative' and 'new' ideas are then available to be considered and formed into rational concepts. Nonetheless, the facilities to perform these processes are being impaired.

My complaint is that the prescence of the HABIT of using these substances usually means that creativity, and more so productivity, are going away. What energy there is is now focused on something else.

(Puts down the pipe, throws back another shot, then reaches for the loaded syringe with one hand and the pill bottle with the other, still not being to find the remote control that's on the table in front of him, while thinking(?) "CHEESE!")