The Pusher
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| “The Pusher” | ||
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| Single by Steppenwolf from the album Steppenwolf |
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| Released | 1968 | |
"The Pusher" is a rock song written by Hoyt Axton, made popular by the 1969 movie Easy Rider which used Steppenwolf's version to accompany the opening scenes of drug trafficking.
Although ostensibly an anti-drug song, the first two lines are, unapologetically: "You know I've smoked a lot of grass / O Lord, I've popped a lot of pills". The lyrics also take great pains to distinguish between a dealer in drugs such as marijuana – who "will sell you lots of sweet dreams" – and a pusher of hard drugs such as heroin – a "monster" who doesn't care "if you live or if you die".
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[edit] Steppenwolf version
The song was made popular when rock 'n' roll band Steppenwolf released a cover version of the song on their 1968 album Steppenwolf. When performing the song publicly in the late 1960's, the repeated lyric "God Damn" was often controversial, most notoriously in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where City officials attempted to force the band to use a euphemism (such as "Gosh darn") rather than the actual lyric. Though promising not to sing the line, at John Kay's urging, the audience obliged by loudly filling in the offensive words at the appropriate places in the song[1].
Organist Goldy McJohn, who recorded the original Steppenwolf version, said the version that appears on Early Steppenwolf performed by the Sparrow in 1967 at the Matrix came about when singer John Kay and Jerry Edmonton were late for a performance:
- Nick and Mars and me started that long version of the Pusher. John and Jerry's flight was late one night at the Avalon Ballroom, so we started and then we perfected it at the "Arc" in Sausalito on New Year's Eve in 1966.[2]
[edit] Other versions
Songwriter Hoyt Axton apparently did not record "The Pusher" himself until he included it on his 1971 album, Joy to the World.
Nina Simone included a soulful version of this song on her 1974 album, It Is Finished. She was evidently untroubled by the lyrics, since she is well known for writing and recording an even fiercer song, "Mississippi Goddamn" (appearing on her 1964 album Nina Simone In Concert).
The band Blind Melon also did a more religiously charged version of "The Pusher" with a completely different opening verse, in which the chorus lyrics were changed from "God damn the pusher man" to "God damn that bible-pushing man". It can be found as the first track on their last album Nico (released in 1996).
[edit] Cultural references
- This song appeared in the movie and soundtrack Easy Rider, along with Steppenwolf's "Born to be Wild".
- In the movie Pulp Fiction by Quentin Tarantino, the character played by Uma Thurman imitates the song's line "I said God damn!" while using cocaine.
[edit] References
- ^ First Amendment Rocks Memphis, by Phillip Taylor of The First Amendment Center, www.freedomforum.org
- ^ Favorite song Jerry sang (HTML). GoldyMcJohn.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-06.
[edit] External links
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