SOURCE: "If Blues Was Reefers," in Living Blues, Autumn, 1970, pp. 13-18.

In the following essay, Garon traces the use of drugs as related in the lyrics of blues songs.

What follows is intended only as a short and incomplete survey of references to drugs that occur in the blues. Although the lyrics can be revealing, care must be taken not to misconstrue what exactly is being revealed. One must presuppose the various singers' familiarity with drugs and the drug scene of the time, but it would be erroneous to assume that all singers who mentioned drugs in their songs were habitual drug users. Contrary to the opinion of some, it is probably true that there are some singers who sang songs about drugs without ever having used drugs at all.

All of this is not to suggest that a study of such lyrics is useless. Rather, much can...