Take a Whiff on Me
{{Short description|Traditional song}}
{{Refimprove|date=May 2021}}
"Take a Whiff on Me" (Roud 10062) is an American folk song, with references to the use of cocaine.{{cite book
| author =Aaron Parrett
| author-link =Aaron Parrett
| title = Montana Americana Music: Boot Stomping in Big Sky Country
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Q0B8DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA64
| date = 25 July 2016
| publisher = Arcadia Publishing Incorporated
| isbn = 978-1-62585-785-9
| pages = 64–
}} It is also known as "Take a Whiff (on Me)", "Cocaine Habit", and "Cocaine Habit Blues".{{cite book
| author = Rupert Till
| title = Pop Cult: Religion and Popular Music
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=wznUAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA39
| date = 2 December 2010
| publisher = A&C Black
| isbn = 978-0-8264-4592-6
| pages = 39–
| quote = Cocaine use was common among black labourers in the Mississippi delta where blues first emerged, and was sold in various ... 'Cocaine Habit Blues (Take a Whiff on Me)', also known as 'Tell it to Me', is usually associated with Leadbelly, ...
}}
History
This song was collected by John and Alan Lomax from Iron Head and Lead Belly, as well as other sources.{{cite book
| author = Diane Holloway
| title = American History in Song: Lyrics from 1900 to 1945
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Zj5QxjMh9aAC&pg=PA329
| year = 2001
| publisher = Authors Choice Press
| isbn = 978-0-595-19331-8
| pages = 329–
| quote = Porter wasn't the only composer writing about cocaine in 1934. Huddie Ledbetter wrote a drug song called Take a Whiff On Me. "I'se got a nickel, you'se got a dime. You buy the coke and I'll buy the wine. Cocaine's for horses and not for men.
}}
The first recording appears to be the 1930 recording by Memphis Jug Band titled "Cocaine Habit Blues."{{Cite web|date=2015-09-20|title=That Cocaine Has Got All Around My Brain: 5 Classic Cocaine Blues Tunes|url=https://www.alternet.org/2015/09/cocaine-all-around-my-brain-five-classic-cocaine-blues/|access-date=2022-02-16|website=Alternet.org|language=en}}
Recordings
{{Unreferenced|section|date=May 2021}}
- Memphis Jug Band The Best of the Memphis Jug Band (titled Cocaine Habit Blues) 1930{{Cite web|title=Grateful Dead Lyric And Song Finder|url=https://www.whitegum.com/introjs.htm?/songfile/COCAINEH.HTM|access-date=2022-02-16|website=www.whitegum.com}}
- Lead Belly Leadbelly ARC and Library of Congress Recordings Vol. 1 (1934–1935)
- The Greenbriar Boys Ragged But Right! (1964)
- Jerry Garcia (with Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions) Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions (recorded 1964, released 1998)
- The Byrds (Untitled) (1970), There Is a Season (2006), and Live at Royal Albert Hall 1971 (2008)
- Mungo Jerry (as “Have a Whiff on Me”, 1971 single)
- The New Kentucky Colonels Live in Sweden (recorded 1973, released 1976)
- The Flying Burrito Brothers The Red Album (recorded c. 1975, released 2002)
- Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band (1975 Album, "Australia")
- Mission Mountain Wood Band In Without Knocking (1977)
- Lonnie Donegan's "Have a Drink on Me" on Puttin' On the Style (1978) is a sanitized version of the song, based on Charlie Poole's 1924 recording, "Take a Drink on me"
- Woody Guthrie Muleskinner Blues: The Asch Recordings, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings SFW 40101 (1997)
- The White Stripes Under Blackpool Lights (2004)
- Old Crow Medicine Show: Two versions: As "Tell It to Me" on Old Crow Medicine Show (2004) and with substantially reworked lyrics as "Cocaine Habit" on Big Iron World (2006)
Print versions
- American Ballads and Folk Songs, John Lomax and Alan Lomax, 1934 as "Honey, Take a Whiff on Me"
- Mission Mountain Wood Band, "Take a Whiff on Me", 1970
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Americanrootsmusic}}
{{Old Crow Medicine Show}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Old Crow Medicine Show songs
Category:Songs with unknown songwriters
{{folk-song-stub}}