Almanac Music: ‘Doctor, My Eyes’ – Songs Involving Medicine
Louis Armstrong, 1936. [Wikimedia Commons.]
Almanac Music: ‘Doctor, My Eyes’ – Songs Involving Medicine
Hi, Almanackers! This piece in my long-running series about key popular song themes concerns songs involving medicine. By this, I mean medicine in a broad sense – words like doctor, nurse and hospital might appear in the lyrics, as could names of specific medicines or branches of medicine. Add a few words of explanation to your chosen song if you feel it’s necessary.
So, dear readers, please put your relevant ‘medicine’ songs in the ‘Comments’ section. Below, as usual, are some examples from me to get the ball rolling.
‘St James Infirmary’, emerged from folk traditions, performed by Louis Armstrong & His Savoy Ballroom Five (1928)
‘Love Potion No. 9’, written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, performed by The Clovers (1959)
‘Doctor Robert’, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney (mainly John), performed by The Beatles (1966)
‘Sister Morphine’, written by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Marianne Faithfull, performed by The Rolling Stones (1971)
‘Doctor, My Eyes’, written and performed by Jackson Browne (1972)
‘The Hospital Song’, written by Lol Crème and Kevin Godley, performed by 10cc (1973)
‘Medicine Jar’, written by Jimmy McCulloch and Colin Allen, performed by Wings (1975)
‘Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)’, written by Moon Martin, performed by Robert Palmer (1979)
‘Like A Surgeon’, written by ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic, Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg, performed by ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic (1985)
‘Bad Medicine’, written by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora and Desmond Child, performed by Bon Jovi (1988)
…………………………………………………………………
Now, dear readers / listeners – it’s over to you. Your responses to this topic are warmly welcomed. In the ‘Comments’ section, please add your own choice of a song (or songs) connected to medicine, along with any other relevant material you wish to include.
[Note: as usual, Wikipedia has been a solid general reference for this piece, particularly in terms of checking dates and other details.]
Read more from Kevin Densley HERE
Kevin Densley’s latest poetry collection, Please Feed the Macaws…I’m Feeling Too Indolent, is available HERE
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Kevin Densley is a graduate of both Deakin University and The University of Melbourne. He has taught writing and literature in numerous Victorian universities and TAFES. He is a poet and writer-in-general. His sixth book-length poetry collection, Isle Full of Noises, was published in early 2026 by Ginninderra Press. He is also the co-author of ten play collections for young people, as well as a multi Green Room Award nominated play, Last Chance Gas, published by Currency Press. Other writing includes screenplays for educational films.
Desolation Row – Bob Dylan
‘Dr. Filth, he keeps his world inside of a leather cup
But all his sexless patients, they’re trying to blow it up
Now his nurse, some local loser, she’s in charge of the cyanide hole
And she also keeps the cards that read, “Have Mercy on His Soul”
They all play on the penny whistles, you can hear them blow
If you lean your head out far enough from Desolation Row’
Thanks, Col, for opening the batting with the striking ‘Desolation Row’.
“Doctor Heckle and Mr Jive” – Men At Work.
“Doctor Worm” – They Might Be Giants
“I Want A New Drug” – Huey lewis and the News
“A Spoonful of Sugar” – Julie Andrews (Sound of Music)
“Love Is The Drug” – Roxy Music
“Witch Doctor” (no idea who sang this old novelty song).
‘Come and see her’ by The Easybeats – with Harry Vanda doing the bass vocal. Harry is the last surviving member of that great 60s/70s band!
True or false: The Swingers
Doctor Love: Split Enz
Maxwell’s silver hammer: The Beatles
The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show: The Band
Blue sky mine: Midnight Oil
Illusions in G major: Electric Light Orchestra
Hospital song: Ben Folds Five
Doctor doctor: The Who
There’s a doctor: The Who
Happy new theme day KD
For openers, I’ll join Col R with some mid 60’s Dylan:
Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again
‘Now the rainman gave me two cures
Then he said, “Jump right in”
The one was Texas medicine
The other was just railroad gin
An’ like a fool I mixed them
An’ it strangled up my mind
An’ now people just get uglier
An’ I have no sense of time’
Hospital – Modern Lovers
Doctor Doctor – UFO
Doctor Love – Tina Charles (a Two Ronnies staple)
Lady Doctor – Graham Parker and the Rumour
Doctor Who Theme – BBC Radiophonic Workshop
Women In Uniform – Skyhooks
Hospital – Lemonheads
Codeine – Buffy St Marie et al
We’re A Happy Family – Ramones
“Sitting here in Queens, Eating refried beans, we’re in all the magazines, gulping down thorazines”
Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment – Ramones
Teenage Lobotomy – Ramones
I Wanna Be Sedated – Ramones
Psychotherapy – Ramones
Novocaine For The Soul – Eels
We could be here forever if the subject is broadened to “Drugs” rather than specific medicines I reckon.
The Disturbance: The Move
Cherry blossom clinic: The Move
Fine bunch of songs, thanks Smokie. (I’d forgotten all about ‘Dr Heckle and Mr Jive’.)
Thanks, IJH, for the Easybeats number.
Already, I feel that this new theme will yield a large quantity of interesting songs.
For You, Bruce Springsteen:
Oh crawl into my ambulance, your pulse is getting weak
Oh reveal yourself all now to me girl while you’ve got the strength to speak
‘Cause they’re waiting for you at Bellevue with their oxygen masks
But I could give it all to you now if only you could ask
Whoa and don’t call for your surgeon, even he says it’s too late
It’s not your lungs this time, it’s your heart that holds your fate
Thanks, Liam, for your selections – a bunch of fine songs as usual. I thought ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’s was an especially good pickup, as the first thing I usually think about in relation to it is the multiple murders.
Happy new theme day to you, too, Karl. I always look forward to the resultant songlist with a keen sense of anticipation.
Thank you for ‘Stuck Inside of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again’.
Thanks, Swish, for your choices. To single out just one, I think ‘Women in Uniform ‘ is an underrated song in Skyhooks’ body of work – very few songs have such powerful, exciting drive. I think it’s among the ‘Hooks top few songs.
Thanks for opening with ‘For You’, Rick. The lyrics you quoted certainly show Bruce’s expertise when it comes to a rock lyric.
Doctor Jimmy – The Who (Not to be confused with the two “Doctor’ songs from The Who that Liam mentioned. This one’s from Quadrophenia)
“Doctor Jimmy and mister Jim
When I’m pilled you don’t notice him
He only comes out when I drink my gin”
One Particular Harbour – Jimmy Buffett (one of his best songs)
“Ia ora te natura
E mea arofa teie ao nei
Ia ora te natura
E mea arofa teie ao nei
I know I don’t get there often enough
But God knows I surely try
It’s a magic kind of medicine
That no doctor could prescribe
I used to rule my world from a pay phone
Ships out on the sea
But now times are rough
And I got too much stuff
Can’t explain likes of me
But there’s this one particular harbour
So far but yet so near
Where I see the days as they fade away
And finally disappear”
Just Like Tom Thumbs Blues – Bob Dylan
“… Now, if you see Saint Annie, please tell her thanks a lot
I cannot move, my fingers they are all in a knot
I don’t have the strength to get up and take another shot
And my best friend, the doctor, won’t even say what it is I’ve got”
Thanks, Dave, for this interesting trio.
The Avalanches – Frontier Psychiatrist
‘That boy needs therapy (Psychosomatic)
That boy needs therapy (Purely psychosomatic)
That boy needs therapy
Lie down on the couch, what does that mean?
You’re a nut! You’re crazy in the coconut!
What does that mean? That boy needs therapy’
Thanks, Karl, for ‘Frontier Psychiatrist’. This would have to be among the wackiest songs (and accompanying video clips) to be on one of our thematic songlists!
You Can’t Be Too Strong – Graham Parker and the Rumour
“The doctor gets nervous completing the service, he’s all rubber gloves and no head”
Local And/Or General – Models
“Barren hospital
Custom is slow
Local and/or general
Local and/or general
Fresh nurse
Nearer the patient
Morphine sulphate
In the cabinet
The keys are on her hips
Is that an encephalogram?
Local and/or general
Local and/or general
The sister’s in the surgery
Euthanasia on the intern’s mind
Local and/or general
Local and/or general
Local and/or general?
Local and/or general?
Who was the charlatan?
Who moved amongst our staffroom?
Casualty (outpatients, inpatients)
Is this an emergency?”
Thanks, Swish, for your latest two highly fitting choices – by fine performers.
Hi KD
Yes sirree – Frontier Psychiatrist is one ‘wacky’ song.
Not sure if this qualifies, but I couldn’t resist adding it:
David Bowie – Space Oddity
‘Take your protein pills and put your helmet on’
and, of course, an addition from the Dylan songbook:
Love Minus Zero/No Limit
‘The bridge at midnight trembles,
The country doctor rambles,
Bankers’ nieces seek perfection,
Expecting all the gifts that wise men bring’
Have you recovered from last weekend?????
Cheers, Karl.
Thanks for these latest selections, Karl – yes, I believe ‘Space Oddity’ is fine, protein pills bring a kind of medicine in the broad sense of the word. And of course ‘Love Minus Zero / No Limit’ is spot on, thematically.
Yes, I’ve come to terms with last weekend’s GF result, even if it’s a bit of a drag. Onwards and upwards, though!
Doll Hospital, Ricky Nelson (co-written by John Hiatt)
Mother’s Little Helper, The Stones
Bittersweet Poetry, Kanye West (when he was the best hiphop artist)
Bush Doctor, Peter Tosh (with some help from Keef)
Penny Lane, The Fab Four
Talking World War III Blues – Bob Dylan
“One time ago a crazy dream came to me
I dreamt I was walkin’ into World War Three
I went to the doctor the very next day
To see what kinda words he could say
He said it was a bad dream
I wouldn’t worry ’bout it none, though
Them old dreams are only in your head
I said, hold it, Doc, a World War passed through my brain
He said, nurse, get your pad, this boy’s insane
He grabbed my arm, I said ouch
As I landed on the psychiatric couch
He said, tell me about it
Well, the whole thing started at three o’clock fast
It was all over by quarter past
I was down in the sewer with some little lover
When I peeked out from a manhole cover
Wondering who turned the lights on”
Motorpsycho Nightmare – Bob Dylan
“I pounded on a farmhouse
Lookin’ for a place to stay.
I was mighty, mighty tired,
I had gone a long, long way.
I said, “Hey, hey, in there,
Is there anybody home?”
I was standin’ on the steps
Feelin’ most alone.
Well, out comes a farmer,
He must have thought that I was nuts.
He immediately looked at me
And stuck a gun into my guts.
I fell down
To my bended knees,
Saying, “I dig farmers,
Don’t shoot me, please!”
He cocked his rifle
And began to shout,
“You’re that travelin’ salesman
That I have heard about.”
I said, “No! No! No!
I’m a doctor and it’s true,
I’m a clean-cut kid
And I been to college, too.”
Then in comes his daughter
Whose name was Rita.
She looked like she stepped out of
La Dolce Vita.
I immediately tried to cool it
With her dad,
And told him what a
Nice, pretty farm he had.
He said, “What do doctors
Know about farms, pray tell?”
I said, “I was born
At the bottom of a wishing well.”
Well, by the dirt ‘neath my nails
I guess he knew I wouldn’t lie.
“I guess you’re tired,”
He said, kinda sly.
I said, “Yes, ten thousand miles
Today I drove.”
He said, “I got a bed for you
Underneath the stove.
Just one condition
And you go to sleep right now,
That you don’t touch my daughter
And in the morning, milk the cow.”
I was sleepin’ like a rat
When I heard something jerkin’.
There stood Rita
Lookin’ just like Tony Perkins.
She said, “Would you like to take a shower?
I’ll show you up to the door.”
I said, “Oh, no! no!
I’ve been through this before.”
I knew I had to split
But I didn’t know how,
When she said,
“Would you like to take that shower, now?”
Well, I couldn’t leave
Unless the old man chased me out,
‘Cause I’d already promised
That I’d milk his cows.
I had to say something
To strike him very weird,
So I yelled out,
“I like Fidel Castro and his beard.”
Rita looked offended
But she got out of the way,
As he came charging down the stairs
Sayin’, “What’s that I heard you say?”
I said, “I like Fidel Castro,
I think you heard me right,”
And ducked as he swung
At me with all his might.
Rita mumbled something
‘Bout her mother on the hill,
As his fist hit the icebox,
He said he’s going to kill me
If I don’t get out the door
In two seconds flat,
“You unpatriotic,
Rotten doctor Commie rat.”
(Sorry about the length of the quote but I wanted to list those last two lines)
Doctor Jazz – written and recorded by King Oliver although the song is also associated with Jelly Roll Morton
“Hello Central give me Doctor Jazz
He’s got what I need, I’ll say he has
When the world goes wrong and I’ve got the blues
He’s the guy who makes me put on both my dancin’ shoes
The more I get, the more I want it soon
I see Doctor Jazz in all my dreams
When I’m in trouble bounds are mixed
He’s the guy who gets me fixed
Hello central give me Doctor Jazz”
( I will get round to some folk songs later)
Picking up on Dave N’s inclusion of Dylan’s ‘Talkin’ World War III Blues”, the final 2 verses return to the ‘doctor’ mentioned in verse 1 (note – the penultimate line is a classic!)::
‘Well, the doctor interrupted me just about then
Sayin, Hey I’ve been havin’ the same old dreams
But mine was a little different you see
I dreamt that the only person left after the war was me
I didn’t see you around/
Well, now time passed and now it seems
Everybody’s having them dreams
Everybody sees themselves walkin’ around with no one else
Half of the people can be part right all of the time
Some of the people can be all right part of the time
But all of the people can’t be all right all of the time
I think Abraham Lincoln said that
I’ll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours
I said that’.
There’s a splendid variety in your latest four songs, Rick. I thought the ‘pretty nurse’ mentioned in ‘Penny Lane’ made it a particularly good pickup.
Thanks for the Dylan and the King Oliver material, Dave – great stuff!
Fine extension of Dave’s Dylan song, Karl. It’s typically a really good thing when people respond to each other’s work as well as the theme itself.
You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet: Bachman–Turner Overdrive
“She took me to her doctor
And he told me of a cure”
Great pickup, Liam!
Thank you for ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet’.
Hi KD!
Don’t forget to move your clock hour hand forward by 1 hour.
Dylan – Subterranean Homesick Blues (a few vague references to the theme).
‘Johnny’s in the basement
Mixing up the medicine
I’m on the pavement
Thinking about the government’
‘Walk on your tiptoes
Don’t try “No-Doz”
Better stay away from those
That carry around a fire hose’
‘Get sick, get well
Hang around a ink well
Ring bell, hard to tell
If anything is goin’ to sell’
All the clocks are fine, Karl – thanks for the reminder, though.
Thank you for ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’, another of my favourite songs by His Bobness.
‘Closer to Fine’, released by the Indigo Girls in 1989, contains the line in its chorus: ‘I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains …
Another fine ‘on theme’ song from the Nobel laureate:
Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
‘Well, I asked the doctor if I could see you
It’s bad for your health, he said
Yes, I disobeyed his orders
I came to see you but I found him there instead
You know, I don’t mind him cheatin’ on me, but I
Sure wish he’d take that off his head
Your brand new leopard-skin pill-box hat’
Thanks for your ‘latest Bob’, Karl. This ‘doctor’ theme seems to have an affinity with the Laureate, if that makes sense.
It makes perfect sense KD. It seems a bit quiet on the theme front at the moment, but hopefully the trinity (KD jnr, KD snr & Bob) can keep the momentum going beyond the half century mark.
Here’s another momentum shifter:
Hurricane
‘Cop said, “Wait a minute, boys, this one’s not dead”
So they took him to the infirmary
And though this man could hardly see
They told him that he could identify the guilty men/
Four in the mornin’ and they haul Rubin in
Take him to the hospital and they bring him upstairs
The wounded man looks up through his one dyin’ eye
Says, “Wha’d you bring him in here for? He ain’t the guy!”’
‘Hurricane’ is a great pickup, Karl, with words like ‘infirmary’ and ‘hospital’. I have faith that with the likes of you, me, Bob, Rick Kane, Dave Nadel, Liam Hauser, Swish, Col, perhaps Smokie and other valued past contributors, we’ll go well beyond the half century.
Another Dylan entry with an oblique reference:
Chimes Of Freedom
‘Starry-eyed an’ laughing as I recall when we were caught
Trapped by no track of hours for they hanged suspended
As we listened one last time an’ we watched with one last look
Spellbound an’ swallowed ’til the tolling ended
Tolling for the aching ones whose wounds cannot be nursed
For the countless confused, accused, misused, strung-out ones an’ worse
An’ for every hung-up person in the whole wide universe
An’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing’
Thanks for ‘Chimes of Freedom ‘, Karl (and Bob).
My Antonia – Emmylou Harris
“[Verse 1: Emmylou Harris]
He said, “Oh my love, oh my Antonia
You with the dark eyes and palest of skin
Tonight I am going from Santa Maria
Wait for me till I’m in your arms once again”
[Verse 2: Dave Matthews]
She held me, she kissed me, begged me not to leave her
To cross on the mountain, my fortune to win
But a letter now tells me she died of a fever
And I’ll never see her in this world again”
Run That Body Down – Paul Simon
Went to my doctor yesterday
She said I seem to be okay
She said, “Paul, you better look around
How long you think that you can
Run that body down?
How many nights you think you can
Do what you been doin’?
Who, now who you foolin?
Thanks for ‘My Antonia’, Dave. I’m taking it that the death by that generic old-fashioned medical term ‘fever’ is the fitting bit.
Thank you, Swish, for Simon’s ‘Run That Body Down’. Fine pickup!
Tom T Hall:
Turn it On, Turn it On, Turn it On (People said John was a slacker cause he wouldn’t fight in their war/A man wasn’t much if he wouldn’t fight back in nineteen forty and four/The doctor said John was just too sick to go
But the people said that he was a coward/And one of the men makin’ fun of him was a feller named a Milton Howard/Milton was down at the Cold Spring a drinkin’ from a Mason jar/He said John you better get yourself to work you gonna fool around till you get fired/John blew the dust from his old 44 put two holes in Milton’s head/When Johnny walked off to get some more shootin’ done that old Cold Spring was a runnin’ with red)
Who’s Gonna Feed Them Hogs (I met him in a hospital about a year ago/And why I still remember him I guess I’ll never know/He’d lie there and cry out in a medicated fog/”Here I am in this dang bed, and who’s gonna feed them hogs?”)
Second Hand Flowers
I was working in Miami for a day or two
I decided I’d look up a girl that I once knew
I bought some flowers and went to see a girl I used to know
The lady at her door said she had married long ago
Times will change and towns will change; there I was alone
And suddenly I wondered, “Would Susie be at home?”
So with the flowers in my hand, I walked toward her gate
Someone touched me on the arm and said, “You’ll have to wait.”
Then I noticed there were people standing in a line
And some of them were holding pretty flowers just like mine
They explained that Susie had been in an awful crash
Doctors said that she had just a little while to last
When I walked into her room, I felt a sense of shame
But I heard Susie whisper, “I’m awfully glad you came.”
She had been the girl that I had always gone to see
When someone that I cared for had been untrue to me
I handed her the flowers and she gently kissed my hand
She said, “Don’t be embarrassed; you know I understand.”
I said, “Goodbye” and as I bent to kiss her fevered brow
I heard her whisper, “Thank you for the second handed flowers.”
Passionette.- The Sports
Sometimes I’m a tiger, I’m just so passionette
Get up and fix your breakfast in your kitchenette
Other times its reversed quiet as a mouse
Newspapers magazines filling up the house
Call the Doctor, call the lawyer, have them
Draw up a document, my position, my condition
Shows no sign of improvement
Chorus:
Passionette, passionette
I can’t get passionette anymore
Passionette, passionette
I can’t get passionette anymore
A wife, a girlfriend and a mistress too
I’d speak french, but you won’t parlez vous
It’s an impossible war nobody can win
My tongue in your mouth but it’s a sin
Call the doctor
Call the doctor
Most efficacious in every case
Lily the Punk was a farken miracle worker.
Cmon!!
Thanks for the excellent Tom T material, Rick – as we’ve indicated before, what a fine storyteller Hall was.
Thank you, Swish, for ‘Passionette’. I’ve always been a fan of , Sports, incidentally – and Stephen Cummings as a solo artist.
Thanks for ‘Lily the Pink’, Peter. Great choice!
Baby Stop Crying (1978) from Dylan’s ‘Street Legal’ album:
‘You been hurt so many times
And I know what you’re thinking of
Well, I don’t have to be no doctor, babe
To see that you’re madly in love’
Thanks for ‘Baby Stop Crying’, Karl. The motto ‘In Bob We Trust’ is certainly particularly applicable when it comes to our medicine theme.
And belated congratulations to all concerned in terms of our achievement of a half-century of comments.
Dylan’s ‘religious period’ seemed to have a higher %age of songs referencing ‘doctors’ – not sure why but it keeps the theme rolling along:
Gotta Serve Somebody (1979) – from the Slow Train Coming album:
‘Might be a rock ‘n’ roll addict prancing on the stage
You might have drugs at your command, women in a cage
You may be a businessman or some high-degree thief
They may call you doctor or they may call you chief
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes, you are
You’re gonna have to serve somebody (serve somebody)
Well, it may be the Devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody (serve somebody)’
Interesting point about Dylan’s ‘religious period’, Karl. Thanks for ‘Gotta Serve Somebody’.
I haven’t found many doctors and medicine songs in the folk world but here are some comedy songs
Goodness Gracious Me – Peter Sellars and Sophia Loren (written by Dave Lee and Herbert Krezmar)
“Her: Oh doctor, I’m in trouble
Him: Well, goodness gracious me
Her: For every time a certain man
Is standing next to me
Him: Mmm?
Her: A flush comes to my face
And my pulse begins to race
It goes boom boody-boom boody-boom boody-boom
Boody-boom boody-boom boody-boom-boom-boom
Him: Oh!
Her: Boom boody-boom boody-boom boody-boom
Him: Well, goodness gracious me”
Auntie Maggies Remedy – George Formby (covered by a group called the Fourmost in 1966). Similar to Lily the Pink but nowhere near as good
Psychotherapy – Melanie (different song to the previously mentioned Ramones song)
“Oh mine eyes have seen the glory of the theories of Freud,
He has taught me all the evils that my ego must avoid.
Repression of the impulses resulting paranoid
As the id goes marching on.
Glory glory psychotherapy, glory glory sexuality,
Glory glory now we can be free as the id goes marching on”
Allan Sherman – I See Bones (to the tune of C’est Si Bon)
“The doctor was looking at the X-ray
And I asked him, “What do you see?”
And he kept on looking at the X-ray
As he said in French to me:
“I see bones
I see gizzards and bones
And a few kidney stones
Among the lovely bones
I see hips
And fourteen paper clips
Three asparagus tips
Among the lovely bones
I see things in your peritoneum
That belong in the British Museum
I see your spine
And your spine looks divine
It’s exactly like mine
Now doesn’t that seem strange
And in case you use pay telephones
There’s two dollars in change
Among your lovely bones”
(Allan Sherman released several very funny albums of songs with new words in the mid-sixties.)
What an enjoyable collection of comedy songs, Dave! To single out one for comment, I’ve always especially liked ‘Goodness Gracious Me’, and I think a young Sophia Loren had a lot to do with that!
Happy Friday KD
More from Dylan’s ‘religious’ albums:
When You Gonna Wake Up (1979) from Slow Train Coming album.
‘You got innocent men in jail, your insane asylums are filled
You got unrighteous doctors dealing drugs that’ll never cure your ills.
When you gonna wake up, when you gonna wake up
When you gonna wake up strengthen the things that remain ?’
Happy Friday to you, too, Karl.
Thanks for ‘When You Gonna Wake Up’.
I look forward to reading your latest Dylan post, too – just up, I see.
The weekend begins, the tide rushes in….
Alas, John Lodge – bassist, co-lead vocalist, songwriter for the Moody Blues has died – aged 82.
Although a bit off-centre, here is a contribution to this theme:
Dr Livingstone, I Presume (1968) from the ‘In Search Of The Lost Chord’ album:
‘Doctor Livingston, I presume
Stepping out of the jungle gloom
Into the midday sun
What did you find there?
Did you stand a while and stare?
Did you meet anyone?
I’ve seen butterflies galore
I’ve seen people big and small
I’ve still not found what I’m looking for’
Thanks for this topical song choice, Karl.
Happy weekend!
White Rabbit – Jefferson Airplane
“One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don’t do anything at all
Go ask Alice
When she’s ten feet tall”
Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues – Danny O’Keefe
“I got my pills to ease the pain
Can’t find a thing to ease the rain
I’d love to try and settle down
But everybody’s leavin’ town
Some gotta win, some gotta lose
Good time Charlie’s got the blues”
I was only19 (A Walk In the Light Green) – Redgum
“And then someone yelled out “Contact”
And the bloke behind me swore
We hooked in there for hours
Then a God almighty roar
And Frankie kicked a mine
The day that mankind kicked the moon
God help me – he was goin’ home in June
And I can still see Frankie
Drinkin’ tinnies in the Grand Hotel
On a thirty-six-hour rec. leave in Vung Tau
And I can still hear Frankie, lying screaming in the jungle
‘Til the morphine came and killed the bloody row
And the ANZAC legends didn’t mention mud and blood and tears
And the stories that my father told me never seemed quite real
I caught some pieces in my back that I didn’t even feel
God help me – I was only nineteen
And can you tell me, doctor, why I still can’t get to sleep?
And why the Channel Seven chopper chills me to my feet?
And what’s this rash that comes and goes
Can you tell me what it means?
God help me, I was only nineteen”
Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves – Cher
“I was born in the wagon of a travelin’ show
My mama used to dance for the money they’d throw
Papa would do whatever he could
Preach a little gospel, sell a couple bottles of Doctor Good
Gypsies, tramps, and thieves
We’d hear it from the people of the town
They’d call us gypsies, tramps, and thieves
But every night all the men would come around
And lay their money down”
Great bunch of songs, Dave. Thanks for these. And what a fine example of a mondegreen of mine is contained in ‘Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves’. I always thought the words were ‘sell a couple bottles the doctor brewed’. There you go.
Hi KD
The BD bandwagon rolls on ~ the end of the religious period beckons with one last ‘on theme’ lyric~
Shot Of Love (1981)
‘I need a shot of love, I need a shot of love
Don’t need a shot of heroin to kill my disease
Don’t need a shot of turpentine, only bring me to my knees
Don’t need a shot of codeine to help me to repent
Don’t need a shot of whiskey, help me be president
I need a shot of love, I need a shot of love
Doctor, can you hear me? I need some Medicaid
I seen the kingdoms of the world and it’s makin’ me feel afraid
What I got ain’t painful, it’s just bound to kill me dead
Like the men that followed Jesus when they put a price upon His head
I need a shot of love, I need a shot of love
If you’re a doctor, I need a shot of love’
Hi Karl. Yes, the BD bandwagon continues! Thanks for the highly -fitting ‘Shot Of Love’
“Doctor, doctor
I’m feeling ill
Can you get me a pill
So I can get my thrills
The candyman says
Take another pill and make
The world seem good
Doctor, doctor
You’re looking ill
Maybee take a pill
So you’re not so ill
Doctor, doctor
You’re looking ill
Maybee take a pill
So you can get your thrills
The candyman says
Take another pill and make
The world seem good”
“Candyman” by Ratcat.
Not sure if medicinal or not…
Excellent pickup there, Luke. ‘Candyman’ is a fine little song with a left-of-centre, indie rock feel, to my way of thinking. I also recall being a fan of Ratcat’s big hit, ‘Don’t Go Now’, circa 1990.
Hi, sorry I’ve been away and a bit busy but I’m back and ready to play.
Medicine Show, Big Audio Dynamite – Mick Jones band after the acrimonious split with Joe Strummer and kinda the end of the greatest band in the world, The Clash
The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show, The Band, from Stage Fright, and someone like Dave N may have already posted this one
Twisted Hair, Robbie Robertson (This was the way of it/Let the story fires be lighted/Let our circle be strong and full of medicine/Hear me/This is my dream song that I’m singing for you/This is my power song that is taking me to the edge/This is rock medicine/The talking tree/The singing water/Listen/I am dancing underneath you)
Feel Good Hit Of The Summer, by the Queens of the Stone Age and in brackets are the entire lyrics of this magnificent song (Nicotine, Valium, Vicodin, Marijuana, Ecstasy and Alcohol/Nicotine, Valium, Vicodin, Marijuana, Ecstasy and Alcohol/Nicotine, Valium, Vicodin, Marijuana, Ecstasy and Alcohol/Nicotine, Valium, Vicodin, Marijuana, Ecstasy and Alcohol/Co-co-co-co-co-cocaine/Co-co-co-co-co-cocaine/Co-co-cocaine/Co-co-co-co-co-cocaine)
The Right Profile, The Clash, about Montgomery Clift (Everybody say, “Is he all right?”/And everybody say, “What’s he like?”/Everybody say, “He sure look funny”/That’s Montgomery Clift, honey!/Nembutal/Numbs it all/But I prefer/Alcohol)
Don’t Fall Apart On Me Tonight – Dylan 1983 – from the Infidels album
‘I wish that I’d been a doctor
Maybe I’d have saved some life that had been lost
Maybe I’d have done some good in the world
‘Stead of burning every bridge I crossed’
Welcome back after a short break, Rick.
Great material! Thanks.
Big Audio Dynamite also released ‘Change of Atmosphere’, a favourite song of mine from the era concerned.
And as far as I can see, no one has yet mentioned ‘The W. S. Walcott Medicine Show ‘.
Also, what about ‘Heat Treatment ‘ by Graham Parker and the Rumour – I think that one squeaks in under the medicine umbrella.
Another Dylan contribution from his 1989 Oh Mercy album:
Disease Of Conceit
‘Conceit is the disease that the doctors got no cure
They’ve done a lot of research on it but what it is they’re still not sure
There’s a whole lot of people in trouble tonight from the disease of conceit
Whole lot of people seeing trouble tonight from the disease of conceit
Give you delusions of grandeur and an evil eye
Give you the idea that you’re too good to die
The they bury you from head to your feet
From the disease of conceit’
Thanks for ‘Disease Of Conceit’, Karl.
The theme continues…
What about songs from a couple of the best singers of popular music of the last 65 years! Unless they have already been put forward:
I Don’t Need no Doctor, a lesser known but still a ripper Ray Charles 1960s song,
Hide nor Hair, another Ray toon (Well I called, my Dr. Foster, and when the girl answered the phone/I got a funny feeling, the way she said Dr. Foster had gone/She said, “He left with a lady patient, about 24 hours ago”/I added two and two, and here’s what I got: I got I’ll never see that girl no more/Well I ain’t seen hide ‘nor hair of my baby, since that day, yeah/But I ain’t seen hide ‘nor hair of my baby, since she went away/If Dr. Foster has got her, then I know I’m through/Because he’s got medicine and, money too/I ain’t seen hide ‘nor hair of my baby, since that day/Whoaah, no)
Doctor’s Order, Aretha with Luther Vandross (The doctor’s orders said to get some love (Oh yeah)/Said you’ve been goin’ without it long enough, long enough/So here I am, boy, to hook you up/And that’s exactly what I’m dreamin’ of/Ooh, boy, my boy)
Think, Aretha again, funk, soul and swing swirling around and at the core Aretha’s incredible voice and attitude (Let’s go back, let’s go back/Let’s go way on back when/I didn’t even know you/You couldn’t have been too much more than ten (just a child)/I ain’t no psychiatrist, I ain’t no doctor with degrees/It don’t take too much high IQ’s /To see what you’re doing to me/You better think (think) /Think about what you’re trying to do to me/Yeah, think (think, think) /Let your mind go, let yourself be free)
Thanks for the Ray and Aretha (and Luther) numbers, Rick – they sure add some pep into our songlist!
Dylan keeps rollin’ ’em off his tongue, as only he can….
Dignity (1989) – Oh Mercy outtake – released on Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits Vol.3 in 1994
‘Sick man lookin’ for the doctor’s cure
Lookin’ at his hands for the lines that were
And into every masterpiece of literature
for dignity
…………………..
So many roads, so much at stake
So many dead ends, I’m at the edge of the lake
Sometimes I wonder what it’s gonna take
To find dignity’
Thanks for ‘Dignity’, Karl. (I’m reminded yet again that I should buy the best available edition of Dylan’s Collected Lyrics.)
Some female country artists:
Iris Dement, No Time to Cry (I can still remember when I was a girl/But so many things have changed so much here in my world/I remember sitting on the front yard when an ambulance went by/And just listening to those sirens I would break down and cry/But now I’m walking and I’m talking, doing just what I’m supposed to do/Working overtime to make sure that I don’t come unglued/I guess I’m older now and I’ve got no time to cry)
Lori McKenna, Wonder Drug (Shakespeare in study hall/Percocet and some Adderall/Doctor called it a wonder drug/Ripped a page from the Book of Job/I remember you innocent/Now all you are is bones and skin/With your father’s temperament/Still paying off that original sin/And it never gets easier)
Kacey Chambers, This Town (this is the spoken word into to the song – We had a girl that came in with a drug overdose the other day. And she got real belligerent. And she bit one of the nurses. (Oh man). And, I mean, she bit (Ohhh) you could see every tooth (Nooo! Hehe). It took two or three of us to get her off of her. It’s a crazy Wednesday)
Margo Price, Lydia (At the clinic, wonderin’ what your face would be like/Mascara bleedin’ into my eyes/Tied like a dog on a chain with a midlife crisis and an ex-husband/Sneakin’ a Marlboro Ultra Light I stole from a nurse out there in the alley/Halfway home is where the heart is, and I’m halfway home)
Nikki Lane (who is in Melbourne having played at Out on the Weekend last Saturday and we are seeing, woohoo, tonight at the NSC) and her song Try Harder (I used to think that it was all in my head/Like some kind of condition from a book that I read/I couldn’t take much more than I’d been through/So I called up the doctor, I said, “What should I do?”/He told me/Sometimes you gotta try a little harder/Try a little harder to get what you want/Keep singin’, sometimes you gotta try a little harder/Push a little farther just to make it on your own)
Highly interesting choices, Rick. Thanks so much for these.
Just to tease out a thought based upon a line from one of the songs you selected, ‘Lydia’ – it’s interesting that back when I was a young man (decades ago), I thought that one of the most surprising categories of heavy smokers was the nurses I socialised with. That may not be the case these days, I don’t know. Having made that point, my best mate from school days is married to an eminent surgeon and that woman still nicks outside for an occasional ‘dart’ when I visit them.
Yeah, I get that KD, for sure.
Correction re my last post: it should read Kacey Musgraves, not Chambers, I blame my stoopid ageing brain.
Now some Van:
And the Healing Has Begun (from Into the Music, one of Van’s best)
The Healing Game
Carry on Regardless (Carry on baby when, when you’re on a roll/Carry on baby, baby, baby, baby, baby/Got to satisfy your soul/Carry on up the Khyber Pass, carry on doctor, carry on nurse/Carry on regardless, carry on doctor, carry on nurse/Carry on till you get what your after/Carry on till it can’t get much worse)
Correction, noted, Rick.
Thanks for the numbers by Van the Man.
Hey KD
The ‘Bob’ bandwagon is pulling up to his final destination and hitching its pony to a post on the right.
Moonlight (2001) from the ‘Love & Theft’ album:
The trailing moss and mystic glow
The purple blossoms soft as snow
My tears keep flowing to the sea
Doctor, lawyer, Indian chief
It takes a thief to catch a thief
For whom does the bell toll for, love?
It tolls for you and me
The Bob bandwagon has been a particularly fine one in relation to this medicine theme – thanks Karl.
Add Some Music to your Day, The Beach Boys (Add some music, music everywhere (add some music)/Add some, add some, add some, add some music (add some music)/Your doctor knows it keeps you calm/Your preacher adds it to his psalms, so)
Radio Radio, Elvis Costello (Some of my friends sit around every evening/And they worry about the times ahead/But everybody else is overwhelmed by indifference/And the promise of an early bed/You either shut up or get cut out/They don’t wanna hear about it/It’s only inches on the reel-to-reel/And the radio is in the hands of such a lot of fools/Tryin’ to anaesthetise the way that you feel)
Sedan Delivery, Neil Young & Crazy Horse (Next day I went to the dentist/He pulled some teeth and I lost some blood/We’d like to thank you for the cards you sent us/My wives and I were all choked up)
Take Me Down to the Hospital, The Replacements (I don’t wanna die before my time/Already used 8 of my lives/8 of my lives, 8 of my lives/(Go, go, go)/Take me down hospital)
White Train, Paul Kelly (Standing on my doorway/I wondered why his hand was painted red/It’s just a scratch he?said/Here?we go again/We?stumbled to the car/By the time?we hit Prince Henry’s he was white/I said you looked such a sight/He said I don’t feel no pain)
Excellent, eclectic bunch there, thanks Rick. Right on theme, the lot of them!
Moving on from Bob, I have this from Bruce.
Jungleland (1975) from the Born To Run album:
‘Beneath the city, two hearts beat
Soul engines running through a night so tender
In a bedroom locked in whispers
Of soft refusal and then surrender
In the tunnels uptown, the Rat’s own dream guns him down
As shots echo down them hallways in the night
No one watches when the ambulance pulls away
Or as the girl shuts out the bedroom light’
Thank you for this classic bit of Springsteen, Karl.
Did someone say Taylor? Her new album is a ripper and here are some older songs from her discography:
Out of the Woods (Remember when you hit the brakes too soon?/Twenty stitches in a hospital room/When you started crying, baby I did too/But when the sun came up I was looking at you/Remember when we couldn’t take the heat?/I walked out, I said, “I’m setting you free”/But the monsters turned out to be just trees/When the sun came up you were looking at me)
The Alchemy (This happens once every few lifetimes/These chemicals hit me like white wine/What if I told you I’m back?/The hospital was a drag/Worst sleep that I ever had/I circled you on a map/I haven’t come around in so long/But I’m coming back so strong)
Soon You’ll Get Better (I know delusion when I see it in the mirror/You like the nicer nurses, you make the best of a bad deal/I just pretend it isn’t real/I’ll paint the kitchen neon, I’ll brighten up the sky/I know I’ll never get it, there’s not a day that I won’t try/And I say to you…/Ooh-ah/Soon, you’ll get better)
The Last Great American Dynasty (Rebekah rode up on the afternoon train, it was sunny/Her saltbox house on the coast?took?her mind off?St. Louis/Bill was the heir to?the Standard Oil name and money/And the town said, “How?did?a?middle-class divorcée do?it?”/The wedding was?charming, if a little gauche/There’s only so far new money goes/They picked out a home and called it “Holiday House”/Their parties were tasteful, if a little loud/The doctor had told him to settle down/It must have been her fault his heart gave out)
All of the Swift songs you’ve just selected are, er, ‘Taylor-made’, for our current theme – thanks, Rick.
Great to hear your opinion of her new album, too.
Lou Reed’s 1992 ‘Magic & Loss’ album contains numerous songs that touch upon the ‘medical’ theme:
Magician
I want some magic to keep me alive
I want a miracle; I don’t want to die
I’m afraid that if I go to sleep I’ll never wake
I’ll no longer exist
I’ll close my eyes and disappear
And float into the mist
………………………………………….
Doctor, you’re no magician, and I am no believer
I need more than faith can give me now
I want to believe in miracles, not just belief in numbers
I need some magic to take me away
Thank you for Reed’s ‘Magic & Loss’, Karl (as we purposefully head towards another communal century).
Sticking with Lou Reed’s ‘Magic & Loss’ as he enter the nervous nineties:
Sword Of Damocles
‘I see the sword of Damocles
Is right above your head
They’re trying a new treatment
To get you out of bed
But radiation kills both bad and good
It can not differentiate
So to cure you they must kill you
The sword of Damocles hangs above your head’
Thanks for your deft, Damoclean ‘single’ to get us into the nineties, Karl.
(Note: NEW THEME WILL START NEXT FRIDAY, 24 OCTOBER.)
Continuing with ‘Magic & Loss’ for another sneaky single as we edge towards the ton!
No Chance (Regret)
‘I see you in the hospital; your humor is intact
I’m embarrassed by the strength I seem to lack
If I was in your shoes
So strange that I’m not
I’d fold up in a minute and a half
And I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye’
Possible theme suggestion for sometime down the track: ‘Things With Wings’.
Thanks, Karl, for keeping this theme trucking towards the ‘ton’ with ‘No Chance (Regret)’.
‘Things With Wings’ sounds like a good idea for a future theme.
Has Little Elvis been covered?
You Belong to Me (What are you girls going to tell your mother?/I don’t want to hear another word about young lovers/Or hiding your boyfriend in the cupboard/She’s been to see the doctor, so you hope that she recovers)
Poisoned Rose (The poisoned rose/That you gave to me/It left me half alive/And half in ecstasy/But if half of your love/Is all I can win/Give me just a fraction/But no more medicine)
Pills and Soap (The sugar coated pill is getting bitterer still/You think your country needs you but you know it never will/So pack up your troubles in a stolen handbag/Don’t dilly dally boys, rally ’round the flag/Give us our daily bread in individual slices/And something in the daily rag to cancel any crisis … What would you say?/What would you do?/Children and animals two by two/Give me the needle/Give me the rope/We’re going to melt them down for pills and soap)
Dr Watson I Presume (Take the honey from the comb/Ravel thread around the loom/Dig the dirt up from the tomb/Dr. Watson, I presume)
Five Gears in Reverse (Five gears in reverse/for girls looking for the big lift/Somebody send out for the night nurse/Please don’t stick me on the late shift/If you don’t know by now/Nobody’s going to tell you/If you don’t know by now/The shock will probably kill you)
I don’t recall any of these Little Elvis songs on our ‘medicine’ list so far, Rick. Thanks for adding them. I like Little Elvis quite a lot, especially the first half (or thereabouts) of his career. Incidentally, I remember a clip of his father performing, and Costello / McManus Snr looks a great deal like his much more famous son.
Surname above is MacManus, not McManus, if one is being exact.
My final foray into Lou Reed’s 1992 ‘Magic & Loss’ album.
Harry’s Circumcision (Reverie Gone Astray)
‘Harry looked into the mirror, thinking of Vincent Van Gogh
And with a quick swipe lopped off his nose
And happy with that he made a slice where his chin was
He’s always wanted a dimple
The end of all illusion
Then peering down straight between his legs
Harry thought of the range of possibilities
A new face, a new life, no memories of the past
And slit his throat from ear to ear
Harry woke up with a cough; the stitches made his wince
A doctor smiled at him from somewhere across the room
Son, we saved your life, but you’ll never look the same
And when he heard that, Harry had to laugh
Although it hurt, Harry had to laugh
The final disappointment’
Thanks, Karl, for your latest songlisting – your recent Lou Reed additions have certainly been interesting and highly fitting ones. (One off the century now!)
And, to bring up our century, ‘Choir Girl’, by Cold Chisel – a song that contains both doctor and nurse references. Well done to all who’ve contributed to our milestone.
Choir Girl! It was right there in front of us the whole time. And Karl, I have thoroughly enjoyed your step into Lou’s album Magic and Loss, a sad yet beautiful album. I have the CD in a metal case (a marketing thingy from its release).
Speaking of Lou, on Jeff Tweedy’s latest album he has a ripper of a song called Lou Reed was my Babysitter.
His band Wilco has a song called Levee (I love to take my meds/Like my doctor said/But I worry/If I shouldn’t instead)
Then there’s the Jimmie Rodgers song, Whippin that old T.B., and I do like Merle Haggard’s version too (And the hospitals and the doctors done all they could (Lord, Lord)/Happiness and the sunshine it really done me all the good/So don’t let that old T.B ever get you down (Don’t let it get you, boy)/First they want your insurance then they will lay you in the ground)
And what about The Carter Family song, Chewing Gum, from late 20s – 1920s that is (I wouldn’t have a doctor/I’ll tell you the reason why/He rides all over the country/Makes the people die/Chawing chewing gum, chewing chawing gum/Chawing chewing gum, chewing chawing gum)
Thanks for your latest comments and selections, Rick – as interesting as ever.
Re ‘Choir Girl’ … it just popped into my head in the wee small hours – often a good time for ideas and thoughts out of the blue.
Hi KD
Off theme but related to your last comment. Are you familiar with Arthur Koestler? I have just started reading his ‘The Act Of Creation’ (published 1964). The back cover includes:
“Koestler suggests that we are at our most creative when rational thought is suspended – for example in dreams and trance-like states. Then the mind is capable of receiving inspiration and insight.”
EG – ‘Choir Girl ‘just popping into your head in the wee small hours’.
Cheers, KD
Interesting – thanks, Karl. I’ve heard of Koestler but am not familiar with the quote, which is comparable – if not exactly similar – to William’s Wordsworth’s famous words about poetry arising from ’emotion recollected in tranquillity’.
I read Koestler’s Darkness at Noon in my late 20s and wow, that drained me. At least the world has improved some since then … right? I like that WW quote as well. Now, on with the game.
Pretty Hurts, Beyonce (Ain’t got no doctor or pill that can take the pain away/The pain’s inside and nobody frees you from your body/It’s the soul, it’s my soul that needs surgery/(It’s my soul that needs surgery)/Plastic smiles and denial can only take you so far/Then you break when the fake façade leaves you in the dark/You’re left with shattered mirrors and the shards of a beautiful past)
I Think I’m a Mother, PJ Harvey (You think you’ll come over/I’ll give you my number/You lover supporter/Then give me your mother/You come take me home and/Take me to your doctor/You think you’ll come over?/I think I’m a mother)
Doctor, Good Doctor, Guy Clark, not his best album but this is one of the better songs on it (I said, “Doctor, good doctor, I got trouble on my mind/Now listen to me, Doc, I don’t have too much time/I got a feeling down inside me and it will not go away/You know it hangs on and bangs on my soul every day”/”Oh and Doctor, good doctor, I’m grabbing at loose ends/And I haven’t felt like I used to since I don’t remember when/Oh and yesterday got past me, today is all the same/And tomorrow really scares me, man, I just can’t play the game”/He said, “Quit whining”/He said, “Straighten up and fly right”/He said life is not a piece of cake/He wanted to know if my insurance was paid up/Well I’m okay and you’re okay, if the check’s okay/Second best hundred dollars I ever spent)
911 is a Joke, Public Enemy, I was already a rap/hip hop fan but when Public Enemy came along, I fell hook. line and sinker for the sound, lyrics, beats and the flow, this is a great song (Every day, they don’t never come correct/You can ask my man right here with the broken neck/He’s a witness to the job never bein’ done, he would’ve been in full effect/But late 911 was a joke ’cause they all are jokin’/But they the token to your life when it’s croakin’/They need to be in a pawn shop on ’em/911 is a joke, we don’t want ’em/I call a cab ’cause a cab will come quicker/The doctors huddle up and call a flea flicker/Reason why I say that ’cause they flick you off like fleas/They be laughin’ at you while you’re crawlin’ on your knees/And to the strength, so go the length/Thinkin’ you are first when you really are tenth/You better wake up and smell the real flavor/’Cause 911 is a fake life-saver)
I love your latest song selections, Rick – what an interesting, eclectic bunch: Beyonce, PJ Harvey, Guy Clarke and Public Enemy.
While I’m here, I’ll add another song. ‘Industrial Disease’ by Dire Straits. If it’s not their best song, it’s in the top few, primarily because of the enjoyably expansive, often witty lyrics. Thematically, the relevant section is the (mainly) spoken middle section of the number:
‘Doctor Parkinson declared, “I’m not surprised to see you here
You’ve got smokers cough from smoking, brewer’s droop from drinking beer
I don’t know how you came to get them Bette Davis knees
But worst of all young man, you’ve got industrial disease”
He wrote me a prescription, he said, “You are depressed
But I’m glad you came to see me to get this off your chest
Come back and see me later, next patient, please
Send in another victim of industrial disease” ‘