Cocaine_(song)

Cocaine (song)

Cocaine (song)

1976 song by J.J. Cale

Not to be confused with Cocaine Blues.

"Cocaine" is a song written and recorded in 1976 by singer-songwriter J. J. Cale. The song was popularized by Eric Clapton after his version was released on the 1977 album Slowhand. J. J. Cale's version of "Cocaine" was a number-one hit in New Zealand for a single week and became the seventh-best-selling single of 1977.

Quick Facts Single by J. J. Cale, from the album Troubadour ...

Charts

More information Chart (1977–1979), Peak position ...

Eric Clapton version

Quick Facts Single by Eric Clapton, from the album Slowhand ...

Glyn Johns produced the Clapton recording, which was released on the 1977 album Slowhand. It was also released as the B-side for "Lay Down Sally".

A live version of "Cocaine" from the album Just One Night 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". AllMusic critic Richard Gilliam called it "among [Clapton's] most enduringly popular hits" and noted that "even for an artist like Clapton with a huge body of high-quality work, 'Cocaine' ranks among his best."[8]

Clapton described the song as an anti-drug song intended to warn listeners about cocaine's addictiveness and deadliness. He called the song "quite cleverly anti-cocaine", noting:[9]

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; over the years, he has added the lyrics 'that dirty cocaine' in live shows to underline the anti-drug message of the song.[10][11] A live version of the song does appear on Clapton's 1982 hits compilation Time Pieces.

Charts

More information Chart (1980), Peak position ...

Certifications

More information Region, Certification ...

See also

References

  1. [1]
    Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  2. [2]
    "J.J. Cale – Cocaine" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  3. [3]
    "J.J. Cale – Cocaine" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  4. [4]
    "J.J. Cale – Cocaine". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  5. [5]
    "J.J. Cale – Cocaine". Singles Top 100. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  6. [6]
    "J.J. Cale – Cocaine". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  7. [7]
    "Eric Clapton - Lay Down Sally".
  8. [8]
    Gilliam, Richard. "Eric Clapton – Cocaine – Song Review". AllMusic. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  9. [9]
    The Best of Everything Show, with Dan Neer
  10. [10]
    "Eric Clapton Rethinks Playing 'Cocaine'" (Press release). Fox News Channel. Associated Press. October 3, 2006. Retrieved July 9, 2010.
  11. [11]
    "Eric Clapton rethinks playing 'Cocaine'". Alcohol and Drugs History Society. October 5, 2006. Retrieved July 9, 2010.
  12. [12]
    "Top RPM Singles: Issue 0234a." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  13. [13]
    "Tipparade-lijst van week 51, 1977". Dutch Top 40. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
  14. [14]
    "Eric Clapton – Artist Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  15. [15]
    "Canadian single certifications – Eric Clapton – Cocaine". Music Canada.
  16. [16]
    "Italian single certifications – Eric Clapton – Cocaine" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Select "2017" in the "Anno" drop-down menu. Select "Cocaine" in the "Filtra" field. Select "Singoli" under "Sezione".
  17. [17]
    Härtel, Alexander (1997). Platin Songs (in German). Berlin: Kupijai & Prochnow. pp. 12–17. ISBN 3-932051-46-7.
  18. [18]
    "British single certifications – Eric Clapton – Cocaine". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved April 11, 2020.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Cocaine_(song), and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.