Cannabis Sings the Blues

Nearly 100 years ago, jazz and blues greats made up the original tea party

By Jasen T. Davis

Modern day lyrics extolling the virtues of cannabis are far from original. Blues and jazz musicians were singing about Mary Jane and every good thing she does long before Dr. Dre, the Kottonmouth Kings or Cypress Hill dropped a rhyme or grabbed a mic.

Possibly one of America’s most beloved blues performers, Louis Armstrong got started playing trumpet during the ’20s in Chicago. A self-styled “viper” (a slang term for anyone who smoked marijuana), he found himself busted several times for possession, and even wrote to President Eisenhower about legalizing cannabis.

“Song of the Vipers” and “Muggles” (a synonym for cannabis) were both tunes created by Armstrong as an inside message to his fans about how great it was to get high, be high and play high.

Pianist and singer Buck Washington started playing the blues with John W. Sublett. Together, they toured the world playing their music up until the ’50s. “Save the Roach for Me” isn’t an homage to insects, either.

A jazz and blues legend, Ella Fitzgerald’s career shined for 60 years, beginning with her first performance at the Apollo Theater in the ’30s all the way up to a visit with Ronald Reagan at the White House during the ’80s. The beauty of her voice transcends mere written words, but the message in songs like “When I Get Low, I Get High” is something we can all understand.

Benny Goodman was the King of Swing from the ’20s to the ’80s, and he and his Orchestra were a racially integrated band long before segregation stopped being the norm. “Texas Tea Party,” while being just an instrumental, is still a good song about cannabis because everyone who was down for Goodman knew that the tea wasn’t a reference to Lipton.

You can’t talk blues without talking about Muddy Waters. Born in 1913, Waters played Chicago blues like no other, and didn’t hide his preferences. “Marijuana Blues” is more than just a song about smoking—it even has a little activism: “Well you know there should be no law/On people that want to smoke a little dope.” Waters wrote another song praising the plant called “Champagne and Reefer.”

Although most of these artists thrived after the turn of the previous century, their music remains prophetic and inspirational.

Strong Medicine

“Muggles,” the song by Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra, was recorded in Chicago on Dec. 7, 1928. The 12-bar blues song—which featured Armstrong on trumpet and Fred Robinson on trombone—is considered one of Armstrong’s masterpieces and was one of the last songs he recorded before moving to New York City.