Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)

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Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette) is a Western swing novelty song largely written by Merle Travis and originally sung in talking blues style by Tex Williams.^[1] It stayed on the charts 23 weeks, reaching #1 in July 1947. On the Popular charts it became a number one hit in August 1947 and stayed at the top of the charts for six weeks.

The song can be heard in the opening of the 2006 film Thank You for Smoking.^[2] It has also been covered by Sammy Davis, Jr., Willie Nelson, Phil Harris, Jimmy Dean, and a few others.^[3]

[edit] Critical interpretation

The ostensible narrator of the song is himself a smoker and the song is primarily complaining about cigarettes being used to delay other activities. While the line "And I don't reckon they hinder your health/I've smoked all my life and I ain't dead yet" may lead some to believe the song suggests that cigarettes are perhaps not harmful to one's health, the guitar riff that follows indicates this line is intended as a joke -- The stanza "Tell St. Peter at the Pearly Gate/That you hate to make him wait/But you just gotta have another cigarette" and the chorus, which includes the line "Puff, puff, puff and if you smoke yourself to death" demonstrate that the song carries a warning about the adverse health effects of smoking. It also makes a statement as to the addictive nature of cigarette smoking.