Gnarly weed songs you need to hear to believe

“DON’T BOGART ME” by The Fraternity of Man (1968)

When you hear the pedal steel opening, you might think this song belongs on Team Americana with the other folk, country, and bluegrass weed songs. But once Stash Wagner starts singing, you quickly understand that this is something of a mock folk song, being performed by some blues rockers in an exaggerated manner.

That may be somewhat condescending, but the song is undeniably infectious with its overwrought lugubriousness and its mournful lyrics – “Roll another one – Just like the other one – That one’s just about burned to the end – So come on, be a real friend.”

Good sentiment for a band called Fraternity of Man. Unfortunately, the fraternity didn’t survive more than another year or two and they broke up. But drummer Richie Hayward brought the song to his new band, Little Feat, and they did a fun version on their live Waiting for Columbus album a decade later. Oh, and Dennis Hopper used the song in Easy Rider, so it has that going for it.

“REEFER HEADED WOMAN” by Jazz Gillum and His Jazz Boys (1938)

Gillum recorded this blues story song with the teenager George Barnes playing electric guitar back in 1938. So you get Gillum’s wailing harmonica giving it that old-timey feel and then Barnes adds a modern touch. The story is a classic lament. “I can’t see why my baby sleeps so sound – She must have smoked that reefer and it’s bound to carry her down.”

Gillum’s career was hindered by his service in the war, and then it was ended when he was shot and killed in Chicago in 1966. I know he recorded other songs, both before and after the War, but this is the only track I have ever heard.