The Pusher

"The Pusher" is a rock song written by Hoyt Axton, made popular by the 1969 movie Easy Rider which used Steppenwolf's version to accompany the opening scenes of drug trafficking.

The lyrics of the song take great pains to distinguish between a dealer in drugs such as marijuana—who "will sell you lots of sweet dreams"—and a pusher of hard drugs such as heroin—a "monster" who doesn't care "if you live or if you die".

Steppenwolf version

The song was made popular when rock 'n' roll band Steppenwolf released a cover version of the song on their 1968 album Steppenwolf. When performing the song publicly in the late 1960s, the repeated lyric "God Damn" was often controversial, most notoriously in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where City officials attempted to force the band to use a euphemism (such as "Gosh darn") rather than the actual lyric. Though promising not to sing the line, at John Kay's urging, the audience obliged by loudly filling in the offensive words at the appropriate places in the song^[1].

Organist Goldy McJohn, who recorded the original Steppenwolf version, said the version that appears on Early Steppenwolf performed by the Sparrow in 1967 at the Matrix came about when singer John Kay and Jerry Edmonton were late for a performance:

Nick and Mars and me started that long version of the Pusher. John and Jerry's flight was late one night at the Avalon Ballroom, so we started and then we perfected it at the "Arc" in Sausalito on New Year's Eve in 1966.^[2]

Other versions

Songwriter Hoyt Axton apparently did not record "The Pusher" himself until he included it on his 1971 album, Joy to the World.

Nina Simone included a soulful version of this song on her 1974 album, It Is Finished. She was evidently untroubled by the lyrics, since she is well known for writing and recording an even fiercer song, "Mississippi Goddamn" (appearing on her 1964 album Nina Simone In Concert).

The band Blind Melon also did a more religiously charged version of "The Pusher" with a completely different opening verse, in which the chorus lyrics were changed from "God damn the pusher man" to "God damn that bible-pushing man". It can be found as the first track on their third album Nico (released in 1996).

The band Cowboy Mouth covered the song for the soundtrack of the movie "Half Baked".

Canadian rockers Helix released a cover of "The Pusher" on their 1998 CD half-ALIVE.

Cultural references

• This song appeared in the movie and soundtrack Easy Rider, along with Steppenwolf's "Born to be Wild".
• In the movie Pulp Fiction by Quentin Tarantino, the character played by Uma Thurman imitates the song's line "I said God damn!" while using cocaine.
• The song appears in the film Tropic Thunder
• The song also appears during the final episode ("Return to Queens Boulevard") of the fifth season of HBO's TV series: Entourage.
• In the TV show Clone High, an episode entitled "Raisin the Stakes" employs a character known as "The Pusher" who is voiced by Jack Black.

References

External links

• Lyrics from www.steppenwolf.com