The deeper meaning, symbology, and keys to unlocking the song "Cocaine" by JJ Cale/Eric Clapton.
I must stress that I haven't tried the drug cocaine, and that this is all hypothetical.
I kind of see this song as a direct symbolic representation
of the experience one would go through on the drug cocaine. When one first
hears the song one assumes this song is glamorising cocaine, the first line
reinforces this assumption enough when followed by the second for the listener
to assume the following lyrics are glamorising too, and one switches off and
enjoys the song based on this.
But the second line when listened to more closely opens up
the possibility the song isn’t so positive about the drug “If you wanna get
down” Yes I do. “down on the ground” not really, but I’ll ignore that. So on
these terms the experience of the song is analogous to the experience of taking
the drug.
The song for me is one designed to convince you that at
first, it is indeed glamorising the drug cocaine, and obviously if one likes to
take cocaine and enjoys it then one is likely to assume a positive spin
on this song, and enjoy the song as such. But after a few years of using the drug
cocaine one is going to be in no doubt that habitual use is not positive, one
may even revisit this song with negative feelings about cocaine, and then look
at the song in a different way, and reassess it as being not so positive. And then
realisation of the ambiguousness of the lyrics causes this person to dig
deeper, look for deeper meaning here and realise that this song is in fact an
anti-cocaine ditty. I may be wrong, but I have a sneaky suspicion that this is
why Clapton chose to cover the song; because it is clever and evolves in the mind of the listener/drug taker much as the evolution of one's attitude towards a drug addiction that is turning from great at first, to inevitably negative and bad.
It evolves from verse to verse. From listening to listening. And possibly from year to year throughout addiction if the listener doesn't hear its truth until they experience that truth for themselves (a bit like peoples inability to empathise until they have experienced pain for themselves).
The song is very intelligent and perfectly or luckily
weighted; bravo JJ!
Here follows my personal interpretation of the lyrics; which kind of provides the keys to unlocking the deeper -negative- meaning of the song. "Cocaine" is definitely an anti-cocaine song.
If you wanna hang out youve got to take her out; cocaine.
If you want to go out, you’ve got to cut it out (stop taking)
If you want to kill yourself, you’ve
got to take plenty
If you wanna get down, down on the ground; cocaine.
If you want depression, to be on your knees
She don't lie, she don't lie, she don't lie; cocaine.
It’ll expose all your weaknesses
If you got bad news, you wanna kick them blues; cocaine.
If you have problems, and you want to ignore them,
sweep under carpet (make worse)
When your day is done and you wanna run (on); cocaine.
When you have a really serious big problem And you want
to run away from it
When you have a really serious big
problem and you want to perpetuate it
She don't lie, she don't lie, she don't lie; cocaine.
It’ll enhance all your weaknesses
If your thing is gone and you wanna ride on; cocaine.
If your mojo is gone, and you want this situation to
continue
Don't forget this fact, you can't get it back; cocaine.
Understand, you won’t get your mojo back
She don't lie, she don't lie, she don't lie; cocaine.
It’ll show your darker side
She don't lie, she don't lie, she don't lie; cocaine.
No place to hide
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