Various Artists - Smoking Reefers and Kicking the Gong

JASMINE RECORDS

£10.49

Cat. no: JASCD1137
Format: CD
Barcode: 604988113723
Release Date: 05 Aug 2022
Genre: Blues

Whatever its nomenclature, entertainers have long enjoyed a "special relationship" with cannabis/marijuana, particularly musicians and singers, who've long delighted in extolling the joys of recreational drugs

This compilation deals with the leaf's early years, when it was generally referred to as "reefer" (sometimes, "Gage", "Pot", or "Tea"), and was pretty much the exclusive domain of jazz and blues musicians.

The oldest sides featured herein are a couple of the earliest known druggies' anthems, 'Willie the Chimney Sweeper' (an homage to smoking opium, a practice then widely known as "kicking the gong") and 'Dope Head Blues'.

Some major artistes feature on this set, notably Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, Fats Waller, Champion Jack Dupree and The Ink Spots.

Mind you, many of the song titles are a dead giveaway: 'Reefer Man', 'Sweet Marijuana Brown', 'Reefer Head Woman', 'Who Put The Benzedrine In Mrs Murphy's Ovaltine?', 'The Reefer Song (If You're A Viper)', etc.

Tracks: Stuff Smith & His Onyx Club Boys - You'se A Viper / Cab Calloway & His Cotton Club Orchestra - Reefer Man / The Harlem Hamfats - The Weed Smoker's Dream / Lucille Bogan (With Tampa Red And Cow Cow Davenport) - Pot Hound Blues / Champion Jack Dupree - Junker's Blues / Ella Fitzgerald With The Chick Webb Orchestra - When I Get Low, I Get High / Julia Lee & Her Boy Friends - The Spinach Song (I Didn't Like It The First Time) / The Cats & The Fiddle - Killin' Jive / Clarence Williams & His Washboard Band - Jerry The Junker / Victoria Spivey With Lonnie Johnson - Dope Head Blues / Adrian Rollini & His Tap Room Gang - Got A Need For You / Tampa Red & The Chicago Five - I'm Gonna Get High / Jazz Gillum & His Jazz Boys - Reefer Head Woman / The Ink Spots - That Cat Is High / Cleo Brown - The Stuff Is Here And It's Mellow / Cab Calloway & His Orchestra - The Man From Harlem / Julia Lee & Tommy Douglas' Orchestra - Lotus Blossom (Sweet Marijuana) / The Barney Bigard Sextet - Sweet Marijuana Brown / Harry 'The Hipster' Gibson - Who Put The Benzedrine In Mrs. Murphy's Ovaltine? / Bessie Smith - Gimme A Pigfoot (Gimme A Reefer) / Ernest Rodgers - Willie The Chimney Sweeper / Leadbelly - Take A Whiff On Me / Buck Washington - Save The Roach For Me / Ella Fitzgerald With The Chick Webb Orchestra - Wacky Dust / Lavern & Jackie - Think Twice (Version X) / Fats Waller - The Reefer Song (If You're A Viper)