Song Of The Day 7/18/2014: Derek Paul - "Drugtaker"

Young Blood International!: First of all, let's acknowledge a very real anthropological truth: It must have been onerously difficult to record a cautionary anti-drug pop song in 1972. Contraband's Q rating in '72 was as high as Cheech & Chong. (Errr, I mean, Cheech & Chong's Q rating.) (Well, that other thing too.) There was also the problem that all the marshals of the anti-drug movement were not, in philosophical terms, "with it." They were fairly convincingly "without it." There existed a very submerged plane (or maybe it was elevated, I have to review the era's geological reports) (or maybe their meterological reports) (look, I do this blog FOR FREE) of greater understanding and intangible analytics, and if you weren't willing to give that eximious realm a fair shake you weren't "with it." And how did one get "with it"? By taking drugs, of course. It's a one-sided, circular argument, much like a call to Comcast customer service.

But give Young Blood, Miki Dallon and Derek Paul credit: They tried to make their case for not taking drugs, with an attractive musical backdrop that sorta sounds like Up With People doing "A Whiter Shade of Pale." "Drugtaker, beware: You'll never make it," Paul sings. There are more bullet points supporting Paul's counsel but I couldn't really understand the verses. If you deign to attempt to rescue a generation hurtling towards its chemical demise you probably shouldn't sound asleep. I prescribe caffeine for that. Or maybe a nice fistful of bennies! Listen, dude, the recording engineer knows this guy who can hook you up...