Codeine

good dope/good fun · Post by **good dope/good fun** » Mon Jan 05, 2004 11:08 pm

The only time I've ever heard this is from the recording at the Burberries show from 1990.
Does anyone know whose song this was originally.....???
Was it played any other times that anyone is aware of.....???
Has this been answered already somewhere else and I'm gonna get grief for not searching for it.......???
one.

twentysixdollars · Post by **twentysixdollars** » Mon Jan 05, 2004 11:16 pm

I think the only time this ever got mentioned on the old message board was when I yelled at Ian G for getting his facts wrong. That being said, there have been lots of versions of this tune by singers male and female, pop and otherwise, domestic and foreign; but the authorship (and the title, properly spelled and pronounced "Cod'ine") belongs to the shrill Canadian folksinger Buffy Sainte Marie, a legendary figure in her own right but one who grates on the nerves of many. She's the same one that unleashed the rather egregious naive hippie tome "The Universal Soldier" (..."and he really is to blame") in 1964, and it appears, with the original version of Cod'ine, on her album of that year, It's My Way (Vanguard Records), recently reissued and very similar to Bob Dylan's contemporaneous The Times They are A-Blowin' In the Wind. Her voice is quite unique, not at all regal like Judy Collins nor mournful and ladylike like Joan Baez (who also recorded the song). "Universal Soldier" aside, the LP is worth buying.

will this do? · Post by **will this do?** » Mon Jan 05, 2004 11:41 pm

Never heard the Buffy Sainte Marie versh (though she crops up on the OST of Performance), but the Charlatans (US) version is for me the definitive rendition (authorship is clearly credited to the dear lady though) Readily available on Nuggets, which you should all already own, so no need to wade through acres of Canuk ersatz folk shrieking. The only other version I know was by the Monkeywrench (Mudhoney offshoot), but that is very much 'after' the Charlatans version, so...

BTW $26, this gives me the chance to ask which you find the most cheek clenchingly embarrassing version of the song 'Triad'; the Byrds, or the Jefferson Airplane? Or maybe you've managed to track down the original Bing Crosby version?

twentysixdollars · Post by **twentysixdollars** » Tue Jan 06, 2004 1:40 am

I actually like "Triad"; the melody is great and jazzy and David's vocal is pretty and kinda sexy and the lyrics work in a snotty, sticky, slurpy, Serge Gainsbourg sort of way. I don't know why the Byrds shelved it (it would have made good B-side material at least) since Crosby penned at least one larger embarassment to the earlier Byrds, "Mind Gardens", and even that's fun.

I think the Chars' version of Cod'ine is half-decent (and probably the basis for the spacer versions) but it doesn't change the fact that I don't much like the song. Buffy Sainte-Marie's earlier albums are enjoyable but that voice is, to say the least, not among the more pleasant of the folk revivial.

Starfish · Post by **Starfish** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 9:36 am

Other - good - cover versions of Codeine I've not seen mentioned yet have been made by The Barracudas (a kind of 60s punk-influenced jangly version) and Ultra Vivid Scene (a hushed whispery version as a 12" extra track).

Regards the Triad cover version question - it's an awful song really. Neither The Byrds or Jefferson Airplane manage to drag it out of the mire. And The Icicle Works certainly didn't when they had a go at it on the tribute album Time Between in the late 80s.

Starfish · Post by **Starfish** » Thu Jan 08, 2004 9:59 am

incidentally, good dope/good fun, I was at the Burburries gig in 1990* and, on the next tour, spent most of the Manchester gig very pissed with a mate shouting for them to play Codeine.
I spoke to Jason shortly after that and he said the band thought it was someone at the venue announcing he had codeine for sale.

* you don't happen to have a recording of that do you?

Silent Corner/Empty Stage · Thu Jan 08, 2004 2:55 pm

Hippie folk singer Donovan recorded a demo of Codeine in 1964. And of course also recorded Universal Soldier, what a cheezy tune.

As far as Triad goes, I guess I'm in the minority I dig the song, both Crosby and JA's versions...

sly saxon · Post by **sly saxon** » Wed Jan 14, 2004 1:22 pm

BING Crosby?!??!

Triad's a good tune - let no-one disagree, but it's the words...

I mean in the Byrds versh, you've got 'Big' Dave suggesting to you (the listener) that you join with him and his old lady in a "Manager Trois" (sic). I am a male man, and find that disturbing. I have little doubt that if I were a female lady, I would find that (as an offer) equally repellant (I mean, call me repressed, but...).

Which brings me to the Grace Slick rendition, where, speaking as a man (again), the same thing applies: am I being invited to 'share the rent' with Grace and Mr Slick, or with Grace and another lady? It matters, you know?