100 songs about overdosing...can it be done?

99. The Ramones - Love Kills

98. TMBG - Til My Head Falls Off (I guess?)

97. Spacemen 3 "Call the Doctor"
96. Acen "Overdose"
95. Funkadelic "Superstupid"

94. Neil Young "Tonight's The Night"

i feel like 93. Spacemen 3 - "Suicide" might be what an overdose is like

92. many a Low song

91. Bad Company - "Shooting Star"

90. Hüsker Dü - "Pink Turns To Blue"

89. Cheap Trick - "Oh Candy"

Neil Young - The Needle and the Damage Done

87. jane's addiction - '...then she did'

86 Lou Reed - Street Hassle

Teddy sniffing glue, he was 12 years old
Fell from the roof on East Two-nine
Cathy was 11 when she pulled the plug
On 26 reds and a bottle of wine
Bobby got leukemia, 14 years old
He looked like 65 when he died
He was a friend of mine

Those are people who died, died
They were all my friends, and they died

G-berg and Georgie let their gimmicks go rotten
So they died of hepatitis in upper Manhattan
Sly in Vietnam took a bullet in the head
Bobby OD'd on Drano on the night that he was wed
They were two more friends of mine
Two more friends that died

Those are people who died, died
They were all my friends, and they died

Mary took a dry dive from a hotel room
Bobby hung himself from a cell in the tombs
Judy jumped in front of a subway train
Eddie got slit in the jugular vein
And Eddie, I miss you more than all the others
And I salute you brother

Those are people who died, died
They were all my friends, and they died

Herbie pushed Tony from the Boys' Club roof
Tony thought that his rage was just some goof
But Herbie sure gave Tony some bitchen proof
"Hey," Herbie said, "Tony, can you fly?"
But Tony couldn't fly, Tony died

Those are people who died, died
They were all my friends, and they died

Brian got busted on a narco rap
He beat the rap by rattin' on some bikers
He said, "Hey, I know it's dangerous, but it sure beats Riker's"
But the next day he got offed by the very same bikers

Those are people who died, died
They were all my friends, and they died

Teddy sniffing glue, he was 12 years old
Fell from the roof on East Two-nine
Cathy was 11 when she pulled the plug
On 26 reds and a bottle of wine
Bobby got leukemia, 14 years old
He looked like 65 when he died
He was a friend of mine

Those are people who died, died
They were all my friends, and they died

G-berg and Georgie let their gimmicks go rotten
So they died of hepatitis in upper Manhattan
Sly in Vietnam took a bullet in the head
Bobby OD'd on Drano on the night that he was wed
They were two more friends of mine
Two more friends that died

Those are people who died, died
They were all my friends, and they died

Mary took a dry dive from a hotel room
Bobby hung himself from a cell in the tombs
Judy jumped in front of a subway train
Eddie got slit in the jugular vein
And Eddie, I miss you more than all the others
And I salute you brother

Those are people who died, died
They were all my friends, and they died

Eels - Elizabeth on the Bathroom Floor

89. Cheap Trick - "Oh Candy"

This is not about overdose; it's about suicide. The lyrics: "You didnt stick a needle in your vein / You just got so damned depressed"

However, I would propose Cheap Trick's "Heaven Tonight" as a substitute.

83. Eminem: My Fault

82. Steely Dan: Charlie Freak

81. 4 Hero - "Mr. Kirk's Nightmare"

80. Alice Cooper - "Dead Babies"

70 Black Sabbath-Hand of Doom

79 I meant

78. Does Motley Crue's "Kickstart My Heart" count?

77. New Radicals- "I Hope I Didn't Just Give Away the Ending"

thought the coke was Sweet N' Low!

76. Rolling Stones/Marianne Faithfull-"Sister Morphine"

Replacements - Johnny's Gonna Die

74. the Who - "I Like Nightmares"

73. Hank Jr. - O.D.'d in Denver
72. Dead Kennedy's - Too Drunk to Fuck
71. Kingston Trio - Scotch and Soda
70. Electric Prunes - Too Much to Dream Last Night

Wait... does "overdosing" include getting really wasted or does it only refer to fatal or near-fatal consumption?

I gotta think it's the latter...

4 Hero - "Mr. Kirk's Nightmare"

Surely his nightmare was about Klingon bastards and not heroin.

If that's so, then axe 72, 71, and 70.

Everclear - Heroin Girl
Detention - Dead Rock'n'Rollers (what about you Jim Carroll? All your friends have - what are you waiting for! DO IT!)

69. (?) TVOD - The Normal

The Misfits - Who Killed Marilyn?

67. Huey Lewis & The News: I Want a New Drug ('one that won't make me sick, one that won't make me crash my car' etc.)

68 or 71, depending: "Mother's Little Helper" by the Rolling Stones (overdose death mentioned in the last verse)

oops. screwed up the numbering.

Fugazi - Shut The Door

Great job people! To clarify, by overdosing we're talkin' death or near death...

Steely Dan is a fertile source for this type of material...

The Boston Rag

Alice Cooper - Disgraceland

hahaha are we saving "Heroin" for number 1 or something?

is there an overdose in that one?

Elliott Smith -- "Needle in the Hay" ("falling out, 6th and Powell")

"thank god that I'm good as dead"/"be the death of me" = close enough

fair nuff.

David Bowie - Time

Time - In Quaaludes and red wine
Demanding Billy Dolls
And other friends of mine
Take your time

The sniper in the brain, regurgitating drain
Incestuous and vain, and many other last names
I look at my watch it say 9:25 and I think "Oh God I'm still alive"

Metallica - Master of Puppets

Gil-Scott Heron - Angel Dust

Kurt.

Thanks, and the Monster album was dedicated to River. Always got it mixed up.

NOFX - "Whoops, I OD'ed"

I think Dr Wu is about waiting for a fix

Dr. Wu overdoses. "can you hear me Dr? Are you with me Dr?"

20. Velvet Underground-"Foggy Notion"

Sorry, korn, but why wouldn't Dr Wu be asking the narrator, "Can you hear me?" But then, it's always been unclear who's doin what to whom in this song...

My impression about Dr. Wu was that the narrator's dope connection had flaked on him. The narrator has "been waiting for the taste you said you'd bring to me." He's trying to score and the dealer is taking his sweet time or ignoring his client for various dope-dealerish reasons.

The whole "can you hear me/are you with me, doctor" motif represents the narrators imagined internal dialog with his connection. He's so strung out that he's praying to his dealer, trying to convey how badly he needs his fix.

Kornrules brings an interesting perspective to the song though.

And there's some kind of love triangle in there with Wu and Katy. Thanks, Kong!

Pearl Jam - 4/20/02
Sarah McLachlan - Angel

Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Bye Bye (they found him slumped up against the drain/with a whole lot of trouble yeah running through his veins)

Living Colour, Elvis Is Dead (When the king died, he was all alone/I heard that when he died, he was sitting on his throne)

C'mon people 15 to go!

15. Tonight - Iggy Pop

(oh and earlier upthread - Space Oddity is more about overdosing than it is about space travel, it couldn't be more blatant if it stopped the song halfway through ans said "space travel = drugs -> major tom = junkie" )

Perfect Day is more about maintaining a drugs habit that actually ODing ("I'm glad I spent it with you" or "You just keep me hanging on" or "You made me forget myself" or well nearly every line in the song...

20. Velvet Underground-"Foggy Notion"

Explain?

14. The Only Ones, Why Don't You Kill Yourself?

"I heard you had your stomach pumped four times already this week"

13. Sublime - Pool Shark

12. Loverboy - Teenage Overdose

Bert Jansch - Needle of Death (Though I've only actually heard the YLT cover)

Perfect Day is more about maintaining a drugs habit that actually ODing ("I'm glad I spent it with you" or "You just keep me hanging on" or "You made me forget myself" or well nearly every line in the song...

seeing as how there are no specific drug references or even drug slang in the lyrics, I think this interpretation is stretching it. Not that its entirely invalid, but obviously interpretation of the term "you" is quite subjective. Full lyrics:

Just a perfect day,
Drink sangria in the park,
And then later, when it gets dark,
We go home.
Just a perfect day,
Feed animals in the zoo
Then later, a movie, too,
And then home.

Oh its such a perfect day,
Im glad I spent it with you.
Oh such a perfect day,
You just keep me hanging on,
You just keep me hanging on.

Just a perfect day,
Problems all left alone,
Weekenders on our own.
Its such fun.
Just a perfect day,
You made me forget myself.
I thought I was someone else,
Someone good.

Oh its such a perfect day,
Im glad I spent it with you.
Oh such a perfect day,
You just keep me hanging on,
You just keep me hanging on.

Youre going to reap just what you sow,
Youre going to reap just what you sow,
Youre going to reap just what you sow,
Youre going to reap just what you sow...

If that song is about OD'ing, then so is the "Star Spangled Banner"

did you know that practially every one of the top 40 records being played on every radio station in the united states is a communication to the children to take a trip, to cop out, to groove? The psychedelic jackets on the record albums have their own hidden symbols and messages as well as the lyrics to all the top rock songs and they all sing the same refrain: its fun to take a trip, put acid in your veins.

SUPERNAUT!

??????????????

10. Okkervil River, "The Next Four Months"

"Maybe we could break your ankle, clean and unsuspiciously. An ER trip, a doctor's slip and you could share your pills with me. Won't it feel so good, though, when we're lying side by side, when you can't move, when I'm not trying? 2000 milligrams each. A hotel by the pharmacy with drinking straws in toothpaste tubes. Stash them with your toiletries and I will share my pills with you. Little Michael sleeping in the child safety seat, lying with the windows rolled up, in the August heat. 3000 milligrams each, 4000 milligrams. We're driving down the interstate, you're feeling great, you scratch your wrist, and we pretend your kids, your husband, all you left does not exist. When in some motel that night we're lying, I can barely whisper �it's like dying. Baby, do you know what I mean? Baby, did you hear me? Baby, you fell asleep. I know I'm weak, I don't deny we'll see our trial sometime soon. But when we know we're fucked, I'll half the pile and share my pills with you. Cause we've felt fully in our bodies, and we've felt totally alive, so we're prepared to float above this dirty bed where we both lie. Where we lie, lie, lie. Will we be fine? Not this time."

GG Allin - Convulsions

20. Velvet Underground-"Foggy Notion"

Explain?

I read an essay once (maybe by Paul Williams)* wherein he describes the lines,

"She's over by the corner
Got her hands by her sides
They hit her harder harder harder
Till they thought she might die"

as chronicling not a S & M situation, but instead someone trying to prevent a woman from overdosing. It is a purely theoretical assumption.

*I checked and yes, it has Paul. Here's a plagarized version of said essay from a blog

8. Gn'R, "Coma" (I've always thought, at least)

wat about 7. Leonard Cohen - Famous Blue Raincoat

Is Mr. Bungle's "Pink Cigarette" about committing suicide by drug overdose? (damn, that's a good song-- probably the best Julee Cruise/David Lynch homage I've ever heard)

Oooohh, I know:

6. Think, "Once You Understand"

http://musical-guru.blogspot.com/2005/07/worst-hit-song-of-all-time.html

can't believe I forgot...

5. James Brown "King Heroin"

bump cmon we're almost done =)

4. Several ODs in The Jim Carroll Band's 1980 single 'People Who Died'

... it's been done

3. suicidal tendencies - suicidal failure

"i overdosed on heroin but i'm still not dead!"

3. Tim Hardin - Eulogy to Lenny Bruce

I've lost a friend
And I don't know why
But never again
Will we get together to die.
And why after every last shot
Was there always another?
Why after all you hadn't got
Did you leave your life to your mother?

2. Lambchop, Soaky in the Pooper. Maybe...

Hear the faucet dripping
As his brain is slipping into mud
Man i think he's tripping
Better pull his head out of the bowl

"Say Hello 2 Heaven"

Close but not there yet. The list so far, I think:

100. Steely Dan - "Turn That Heartbeat Over Again"
99. The Ramones - Love Kills
98. TMBG - Til My Head Falls Off (I guess?)
97. Spacemen 3 "Call the Doctor"
96. Acen "Overdose"
95. Funkadelic "Superstupid"
94. Neil Young "Tonight's The Night"
93. Spacemen 3 - "Suicide" might be what an overdose is like
92. many a Low song
91. Bad Company - "Shooting Star"
90. Hüsker Dü - "Pink Turns To Blue"
89. Neil Young - The Needle and the Damage Done
88. jane's addiction - '...then she did'
87. Lou Reed - Street Hassle
86. Jim Carroll - People Who Died
85. Eels - Elizabeth on the Bathroom Floor
84. Cheap Trick - Heaven Tonight
83. Eminem: My Fault
82. Steely Dan: Charlie Freak
81. Alice Cooper - "Dead Babies"
80. Black Sabbath-Hand of Doom
79. Does Motley Crue's "Kickstart My Heart" count?
78. New Radicals- "I Hope I Didn't Just Give Away the Ending"
77. Rolling Stones/Marianne Faithfull-"Sister Morphine"
76. Replacements - Johnny's Gonna Die
75. the Who - "I Like Nightmares"
74. Hank Jr. - O.D.'d in Denver
73. Everclear - Heroin Girl
72. Detention - Dead Rock'n'Rollers
71. TVOD - The Normal
70. The Misfits - Who Killed Marilyn?
69. Huey Lewis & The News: I Want a New Drug
68. The Rolling Stones - Mother's Little Helper
67. Fugazi - Shut The Door
66. Steely Dan - The Boston Rag
65. Alice Cooper - Disgraceland
64. Elliott Smith -- "Needle in the Hay"
63. David Bowie - Time
62. Metallica - Master of Puppets
61. Gil-Scott Heron - Angel Dust
60. Spacemen 3 - OD Catastrophe
59. Primal scream - shoot speed/kill light
58. Lynyrd Skynyrd - That Smell
57. Sex Pistols - New york
56. John Prine - Sam Stone
55. D.R.I. - Dead in a Ditch
54. Throbbing Gristle, Weeping
53. The Clash, "The Right Profile"
52. Iggy Pop, Kill City
51. The Fall, Bingo Master's Breakout
50. Blue Oyster Cult-OD'd on Life Itself
49. megadeth - addicted to chaos
48. Demolition Doll Rods- I Wanna OD
47. major problems - overdose (the final trip)
46. ac / dc - overdose
45. The Smiths - Asleep
44. Twista - Overdose
43. Gary Numan - OD Receiver
42. Versus - River
41. Sonic Boom - "Angel"
40. Beastie Boys - Negotiation Limerick File
39. Townes Van Zandt - Waitin' Around to Die
38. Curtis Mayfield - Freddie's Dead
37. Guns 'n' Roses - My Michelle
36. Gravediggaz - 1-800-SUICIDE
35. Alice Cooper - "Serious"
34. Alice Cooper - Hey Stoopid
33. hold steady - chillout tent
32. hold steady - hot soft light
31. Anthrax- Discharge
30. Steppenwolf-"Snowblind Friend"
29. Suicide Bag by Action Pact - possibly stretching it a bit but contains lines such as "I don't wanna see you dead"...
28. Alice In Chains - Would?
27. Natalie Merchant - River
26. NOFX - "Whoops, I OD'ed"
25. Pearl Jam - 4/20/02
24. Sarah McLachlan - Angel
23. Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Bye Bye
22. Living Colour, Elvis Is Dead
21. Tonight - Iggy Pop
20. The Only Ones, Why Don't You Kill Yourself?
19. Sublime - Pool Shark
18. Loverboy - Teenage Overdose
17. Bert Jansch - Needle of Death
16. Gn'R, "Coma" (I've always thought, at least)
15. Leonard Cohen - Famous Blue Raincoat
14. Mr. Bungle's "Pink Cigarette"
13. Think, "Once You Understand"
12. James Brown "King Heroin"
11. suicidal tendencies - suicidal failure
10. Tim Hardin - Eulogy to Lenny Bruce
9. Lambchop, Soaky in the Pooper. Maybe...
8. Temple of the Dog - "Say Hello 2 Heaven"

I'll add:
7. Cheap Trick - Surrender (Just the other day I heard of a soldier's falling off/Some Indonesian junk that's going round)

And for those keeping score at home:

Contested but supported - you be the judge:
Velvet Underground - Heroin (Is there an overdose in that one?) ("thank god that I'm good as dead"/"be the death of me" = close enough)
Steely Dan - Dr. Wu (I think Dr Wu is about waiting for a fix) (Dr. Wu overdoses.)
David Bowie - Space Oddity (Space Oddity is more about overdosing than it is about space travel, it couldn't be more blatant if it stopped the song halfway through ans said "space travel = drugs -> major tom = junkie" )
Velvet Underground-"Foggy Notion" (Explain???) (Paul Williams essay - It is a purely theoretical assumption

Contested entries that no one argued for yet:
Cheap Trick - "Oh Candy" (This is not about overdose; it's about suicide.)
Dead Kennedy's - Too Drunk to Fuck + Kingston Trio - Scotch and Soda + Electric Prunes - Too Much to Dream Last Night (Wait... does "overdosing" include getting really wasted or does it only refer to fatal or near-fatal consumption?)
4 Hero - "Mr. Kirk's Nightmare" (Surely his nightmare was about Klingon bastards and not heroin.)
Perfect Day - Lou Reed (If that song is about OD'ing, then so is the "Star Spangled Banner")
Prince - "Sign O' The Times" (that is AIDS)
R.E.M's "Let Me In" (Kurt.)
SUPERNAUT! (??????????????)

4 hero - I just checked up on that one. There's another part of the sample that says "He died of an overdose." So that one should be counted.

"Mr. Kirk's Nightmare": "Mr. Kirk, you'd better come down to the station house...your son is dead...dead?...h-h-h-how?...he died of a drug overdose...you'd better come down to the station house"

those are basically the only lyrics in the entire song...

Yeah, I think that I was thinking of a remix or something.

How could I forget perhaps my favourite song of all time?

6. The Flaming Lips, Waterbugs.

Definitely about an OD, albeit a non-fatal one - look it says so right there in the between-verse commentary! :-

(I'll I'll I'll... you, you lead into it. Yeah?)

My brother's at the store
A genius when he's bored
He contemplates his consciousness
He feels his hands, they sweat
He can't connect it yet
And he pools all his resources
And he calls up the insects he commands
And the waterbugs
Attack the policeman

(So anyway what... apparently what had happened is that like I said he took these drugs and he went into the store, and he buys all this stuff and he comes back out to his car. And apparently that's when the er, the drugs really started to kick in, and he goes back into the store, re and he buys er, buys the stuff again, and he goes back out to his car and as he's trying to drive out of the parking lot he passes out, in his car. And er, the security guard calls the police, and the police come and they don't know what's wrong with him, they think he's had a heart attack or something, and they take him down to the hospital. And this next section of the song is like a little er, it's like his drugged out interpretation of what's happened to him.)

My brother's at the morgue
He gets up off the floor
He contemplates...his escape
But a guard waits at the door
And he feels his powers soar
As he pools all his resources
and he calls up the insects he commands
and the waterbugs attack the policeman

(Take it away!)

(Ok and then this last part of the story is sort of where, where er I came into it at, his wife, um, said, er, gave me a call and said that er, that er she gets a call from the hospital and I should go down there and see what's wrong with my brother. And er I immediately thought that he, er, y'know, was in a car accident or had gotten shot or something. So we went down there, and er whoever it was that was there, these doctors or whoever it was that was looking at him, they said that apparently he had overdosed on some kind of drug, and that er when he woke up they'd give us a call, and we'd come down and get him. And apparently he woke up later, and er, found his way home somehow, and um, when I asked him about it later he never remembered anything about it! And this is, this is sort of the... and it's a true story! And of course everyone knows that we, we add in the part about the bugs being able to attack the er, y'know the authoritive figures. Here we go...)

He tries to make it home
He stops to use the phone
But he can't remember where the house is
But a cop waits at his car
So he needs his friends once more
And he pools all his resources
And he calls up the insects he commands
And the waterbugs attack the policeman
Yeah the waterbugs attack the policeman

5. Stephen Malkmus - "Church on White"

4. Grateful Dead - "Bird Song"

For the backstory on "Church on White" see the Robert Bingham page on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bingham

So let's just say that this counts:
3. 4 Hero - Mr. Kirk's Nightmare

And since it looks like I skipped a couple above:
2. Okkervil River - The Next Four Months
1. GG Allin - Convulsions

Our work is done here.

Our work is done here.

:-)

Hey, dad A? YOU ARE MY HERO, BRO!!!! F%^&in' A, How'd you gather all that together? Someone who must love makin lists more than me, that's for sure....hope you didn't "OD" on that task...WELL DONE and thanks

Not sure whether to feel pride or shame about getting so wrapped up in this list, so - thanks! It was a fun challenge, that's for sure.

Pride, buddy, pride...I always drift off trying to think of good topics and I was very pleased with this one, so thanks