“Cocaine,” Jackson Browne’s Elegy to Addiction, With Lyrics Added by Glenn Frey

When Jackson Browne was piecing together his fifth album, Running on Empty, he started gravitating toward the work of folk and gospel singer Reverend Gary Davis. Browne was particularly drawn to Davis’ 1965 rendition of the folk-western murder ballad, “Cocaine Blues,” which had been reworked since the earlier part of the 20th century.

Davis originally learned the song, also known as “Coco Blues,” in 1905 from Porter Irving, a traveling carnival musician, and later recorded it on his album, Pure Religion and Bad Company. The song went on to get countless iterations, from “Cocaine Blues,” penned by Troy Junius Arnall, who reworked the uncredited folk ballad “Little Sadie” to tell the story of Willy Lee, who murders his unfaithful girlfriend while under the influence of cocaine and whiskey. In 1968, Johnny Cash also performed the song during his concert at Folsom Prison.

Prior to Browne, Led Zeppelin, Nick Drake, and Townes Van Zandt, among others, also covered Davis’ version throughout the late 1960s and ’70s.

When it was Browne’s turn, he took the “Cocaine” ballad and turned it into more of an elegy for addiction. Co-written with Glenn Frey, the two added additional lyrics to Davis’ version and crafted yet another version of the song.

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[RELATED: 5 Songs You Didn’t Know Jackson Browne Wrote for Other Artists]

‘Where’s the cocaine?’

Jackson Browne recorded “Cocaine” inside room 124 at the Holiday Inn in Edwardsville, Illinois, on August 17, 1977. At the time, Browne was performing at the nearby Mississippi River Festival and added the line Somebody come knockin’ down my hotel room door, where’s the cocaine? / I said it’s runnin’ all ‘round my brain and even added a sniffle at the end.

You take Sally and I’ll take Sue
There ain’t no difference between the two
Cocaine, running all ’round my brain

Headin’ down Scott, turnin’ up Main
Looking for that girl who sells cocaine
Cocaine, runnin’ all ’round my brain

Mmmm momma come here quick,
That old Cocaine ’bout to make me sick
Cocaine, runnin’ all ’round my brain

Late last night about a quarter past four
Ladanyi come knockin’ down my hotel room door
Where’s the cocaine
It’s runnin’ all ’round my brain

A cautionary tale about the lure of the drug, the song first appeared on Browne’s 1975 album Live at the Main Point before it appeared on Running on Empty two years later.

By 1989, Browne was sober and started performing a slightly different version of the song, adding the line: Ain’t it strange how a mind can turn and a life can change.

Photo: Ian Dickson/Shutterstock