        
Tweet

Email

Print
Share

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Vipers and Doobie Ashtrays: a Texan history of marijuana music

Posted By Matthew Stieb on Wed, Aug 13, 2014 at 4:07 PM

Though the slang has changed, singing about weed has been a staple of Texas music since the early hours of its recorded history. Here’s a brief (and certainly incomplete) retrospective look at songs and artists down for the marijuana sounds.

“La Cucaracha” / Traditional corrido

Most people on the North American continent know the melody of this Spanish-language folk tune, but they may not be familiar with the lyrics’ green tinge. In the Mexican Revolution, Pancho Villa’s supporters altered the first stanza to trash-talk usurping president Victoriano Huerta, a man of notorious vice. “La cucaracha, la cucaracha,” it goes, “can’t walk anymore / because it doesn’t have / marijuana to smoke.” A staple of Texan songbooks since the revolution, “La Cucaracha” has since been recorded by Piñata Protest, Doug Sahm and the Kumbia Kings.

“The Viper’s Moan” / Willie Bryant and his Orchestra feat. Teddy Wilson / 1935

Old school jive update: Viper means a weed smoker, an onomatopoetic for the psst sound of pulling from a joint, a ubiquitous noise among jazz musicians. In 1935, singer Willie Bryant laid down “The Viper’s Moan,” a lively big band tune led by the extraordinary Texan stride pianist Teddy Wilson.

“I’ve Got Levitation” / The 13th Floor Elevators / 1967

On the 13th Floor Elevators’ second LP Easter Everywhere, Roky Erickson doesn’t spell out the high, leaving listeners to guess the innuendo of levitation.

“Stoned Faces Don’t Lie” / Sir Douglas Quintet / 1971

Heavy on reverb and marijuana fumes, Doug Sahm sings the straight-up refrain on this joint from the Sir Douglas Quintet: “Stoned faces don’t lie / Baby when you’re high.” By ’71, Sahm and the quintet had returned from their five-year California exile, arriving as country champions to Austin’s cosmic cowboy scene.

“Purple Haze” / The Dicks / 1983

Texas punk legends the Dicks took up Jimi’s “Purple Haze” with fury on their ’83 sophomore release Kill From the Heart. But where the original reads as a marijuana celebration, the Dicks ramp up weed’s anxious effects, giving new meaning to the celebrated psych tune.

“Bring It On” / Geto Boys / 1993

On “Bring It On,” from the badass Till Death Do Us Part, Houston pioneers the Geto Boys tout their hard-knock lifestyle, talking weed and “40s of holy water.”

“Doobie Ashtray” / Devin the Dude / 2002

It isn’t a retrospective of Texas marijuana music without Houston weed rapper Devin the Dude. On “Doobie Ashtray,” the Dude raps a melancholy ode to the after-party, when everyone’s gone and someone took the remaining stash. “Why’d they do me that way?” asks an unfortunately clearheaded Devin.

“Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die” / Willie Nelson feat. Snoop Dogg / 2012

In 2012, on the counterculture holiday of April 20, Willie Nelson and Snoop Dogg left a living will for a very specific form of cremation.

Support Local Journalism.
Join the San Antonio Current Press Club

Local journalism is information. Information is power. And we believe everyone deserves access to accurate independent coverage of their community and state. Our readers helped us continue this coverage in 2020, and we are so grateful for the support.

Help us keep this coverage going in 2021. Whether it's a one-time acknowledgement of this article or an ongoing membership pledge, your support goes to local-based reporting from our small but mighty team.

Join the San Antonio Press Club for as little as $5 a month.

Jump to comments

« Blues Category Added to San Antonio… | 6 Shows to See this Weekend »

More SA Sound »