The eras that defined America’s cultural and legal relationship with marijuana

By John Garvey

There’s no telling how momentous a role Bob Dylan played in shaping rock music simply by introducing the Beatles to weed in August of 1964, or to what extent Louis Armstrong’s frequent cannabis use enhanced his creativity. (A disclaimer: Weed won’t make you creative, or pinch hit for anything whatsoever.) But it is fair to say that the influence of cannabis on the last 100 years of American music is profound.

I’ve split marijuana-themed American music into 4 ½ eras, which provide a framework, I hope, that is both well-reasoned and fascinating. The intersection of cannabis and music is surprisingly relevant to our overall culture. Every one of the songs in the list below is culturally relevant, and many are treasures.

Reefer Songs (1920s - early 1940s)

That marijuana had a strong influence on jazz, the most uniquely American art form, is beyond dispute. Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Fats Waller, and many others in that cohort of great American musicians enjoyed weed.

Marijuana wasn’t that controversial until the mid- to late-1930s, and was openly referenced in music.

Louis Armstrong: Muggles
1928
Lyrics: Instrumental
No discussion about cannabis and music would be complete without a nod to the beloved Louis Armstrong. High Times reports that this instrumental track was “Armstrong’s most famous song about reefer.” Muggles was a slang term for cannabis in the jazz community during the 1920s.

Cab Calloway: Reefer Man
1932
Lyrics: Have you ever met that funny reefer man,
Have you ever met that funny reefer man (reefer man!)
If he said he swam to China, and he sell you South Carolina
Then you know you’re talkin’ to that reefer man
One of the best known “reefer songs” of the early jazz era. Drugs were not as feared or vilified at the time compared to the second half of the 20th century.

Stuff Smith: You’se a Viper, a.k.a., Reefer Song
1936
Lyrics: I dreamed about a reefer of five feet long
A mighty mizz but not too strong
You’d get high, but not for long
If you’re a viper
Viper was slang for toker (which I realize is itself an outdated term). This would not have been subtle at the time and appeared in many jazz lyrics and song titles.

Intermission: The Low Years (1941 - 1964)

Marijuana-themed music and culture practically disappeared from public view during this period. Genres like bebop that emerged during this time were influenced by cannabis, but cannabis wasn’t top-of-mind. You don’t need to be a history professor to know that we were pretty focused on killing fascists and trying to get on with things.

Vietnam War Era & Counterculture (1964 - 1971)

The second era of American marijuana songs began around the time of the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, escalating U.S. actions in Southeast Asia. It ended with the general dissolution of the hippie counterculture and the Nixon era. This era was marked by the emergence of psychedelics as “consciousness-expanding” recreational drugs. This led to increased musical experimentation and growth across folk, rock, soul and other genres. One of the most interesting things about this era is the nature of censorship by broadcasters and government bodies. Some songs, such as “Puff the Magic Dragon” and “Purple Haze” that are widely considered to be drug songs, were not about drugs.

Bob Dylan: Rainy Day Women #12 & 35
1966
Lyrics: Everybody must get stoned
According to American Songwriter, “The song was banned on many radio stations in both the States and abroad. … Despite the partial ban, it managed to reach #2 on the charts.”

The Beatles: Got to Get You Into My Life
1966
Lyrics: I was alone, I took a ride
I didn’t know what I would find there
Another road where maybe I
Could see another kind of mind there
Paul McCartney, who wrote this gem, made it explicit in interviews that this song was about his relationship with cannabis.

Jimi Hendrix: Purple Haze
1967
Lyrics: Excuse me while I kiss the sky (Not “kiss this guy,” but the joke never gets old.)
Purple Haze is one of the most celebrated “drug songs” in history. But it probably wasn’t about drugs. NPR reports that: “Fans and critics have spent years trying to decipher the song’s meaning. Hendrix himself pointed to the one line at the end of the second verse: ‘Never happy or in misery / Whatever it is, that girl put a spell on me.’”

Merle Haggard: Okie from Muskogee
1969
Lyrics: We don’t smoke marijuana in Muskogee
We don’t take no trips on LSD
We don’t burn our draft cards down on Main Street
This was not a pro-drug song or a protest song. In a way, it was an anti-counterculture song that brought about its own controversy. Country Music Project reports: “The song’s controversial elements led it to being banned from several radio stations that rejected its lyrics, but never stopped it from becoming a cultural touchstone for country music and arguably the biggest hit of Merle Haggard’s career.”

The “Up Yours” Years (1971 - 2002)

We mark the beginning of the “Up Yours” Era of cannabis-themed songs with the signing of the Controlled Substances Act in 1971. Weed remained taboo, and legalization a fringe issue, through these three decades. But pot smokers mainly wanted to be left alone, not overthrow institutions.

Peter Tosh: Legalize It
1976
Lyrics: Doctors smoke it
Nurses smoke it
Judges smoke it
Even lawyer too
So you’ve got to legalize it
And, uh, don’t criticize it
As far as messages go, it was about as on-the-nose as they come, but the rhetoric was gentle. Too bad it didn’t stem the tide of drug war hysteria that continued for decades.

Rick James: Mary Jane
1978
Lyrics: I’m in love with Mary Jane, I’m not the only one
If Mary wanna play around, I let her have her fun
She’s not the kind of girl that you can just tie down
She likes to spread her love and turn your head around
James’ delightful “Mary Jane” falls between the hippie counterculture era and the hip hop and grunge era. So it helped carry the torch. A goofy ode to Mary Jane without the over-the-top “smoke weed every day” bullshit.

Tom Petty: You Don’t Know How It Feels
1994
Lyrics: Let’s get to the point
Let’s roll another joint
And let’s head down the road
There’s somewhere I gotta go
“The sentiment made the folks at MTV uneasy; but rather than ban the song’s video, they simply ran an edited version that played the word “joint” backwards.” – Rolling Stone

Cypress Hill: Hits from the Bong
1994
Lyrics: There’s water inside don’t spill it
It smells like sh*t on the carpet
Still it
Goes down smooth when I get a clean hit
Of the skunky, phunky, smelly green sh*t
With hip hop and (to a lesser extent) grunge, weed references again grew more common in music.

Dave Matthews Band: Jimi Thing
1996
Lyrics: Lately I’ve been feeling low
Remedy is what I’m looking for cooking for
So I take a taste of what’s below
Come away …
If you could keep me floating just for a while
‘Till I get to the end of this tunnel mummy
If you could keep floating jut for a while
I’ll get back to you something better
This is a fact: no song ever written captures the essence of a great sativa high as well as “Jimi Thing.” As the man says, embodying the sentiment of the last pre-legalization era, “I don’t care if you don’t like it.”

The “not even trying to hide it” years (2002 - present)

The decade leading up to the voter-approved legalization of recreational cannabis in Colorado and Washington state in 2012 was marked by every kind of drama. Obvious examples include the Iraq War and the day-to-day casual hostility of emergent social media. For various reasons and to differing degrees, however, conservatives and liberals became less resistant/more favorable to drug policy reforms. These reforms have dramatically accelerated the public’s acceptance of recreational and medical marijuana, which helped shape the policies of today.

Toby Keith: Weed with Willie
2003
I always heard that his herb was top shelf
And I just could not wait to find out for myself
Marijuana was still naughty back in ‘03. When Keith stepped out and played this, it was seen as ornery and many were delighted.

Amy Winehouse: Addicted
2006
When you smoke all my weed man
You gotta call the green man
So I can get mine and you get yours
An entertaining cannabis etiquette callout delivered with soul.

Billy Strings (feat. Willie Nelson): California Sober
2023
Can’t stay out and party like I did back in the day/
So I’m California sober as they say
Going “California sober” means abstaining from alcohol but not weed.

This story is in our March-April print issue. Click here to read the full magazine.

John Garvey is a storyteller, freelance writer, illustrator, and nerd. You can see more of his creative ventures at clippings.me/johngarvey and CreativeFollies.com.