While the mayor of Bègles, in Gironde, is proposing an experiment in the authorization of recreational cannabis, let’s come back to the way in which artists more or less openly celebrate hemp and all its smokable derivatives.
Let them legalize marijuana here in Jamaica, sang Peter Tosh in 1978. He did not see in his lifetime the decriminalization of possession of small amounts of cannabis for medical or religious use in his country, which came in 2015.
We French people do not enter into our immediate mental spectrum the idea of decriminalizing religious cannabis. But for Rastas in Jamaica, smoking weed brings God closer, prompting comments from Serge Gainsbourg, which he records with the same musicians as Peter Tosh.
And since we are talking about Serge Gainsbourg, let us note that he embodies all the ambiguities of a European country in the face of drugs – on the one hand, we imagine that they stimulate the imagination and symbolize a certain freedom, on the other hand, on the other hand, we think of its dangers and we want to protect the youth. This gives two contradictory songs in 1977 and 1987.
In the first episode of These songs that make the news this weekend, you hear excerpts from:
Peter Tosh, Bush Doctor, 1978
Serge Gainsbourg, Negusa Nagast, 1982
Serge Gainsbourg, My Lady Heroin, 1977
Serge Gainsbourg, To the lucky children, 1987
Mary Dubas, Amazing Tango, 1936
Alain Kan, Speed My Speed, 1975
Anthony, An elephant looks at me, 1966
Supreme NTM, pass pass the oinj, 1995
George Moustaki, Fortunately there is grass, nineteen eighty one
Constance Verluca, three friends, 2007
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And you can also find on this link the podcast Behind our voices, with the writing and composition secrets of eight major artists of the French scene, Laurent Voulzy, Julien Clerc, Bénabar, Dominique A, Carla Bruni, Emily Loizeau, Juliette and Gaëtan Roussel.