Music: Shel Silverstein
Reflections on music that captured me in my formative years would be incomplete without acknowledging the brilliance of Shel Silverstein.
I first heard about (and heard) Shel Silverstein on the Dr. Demento show in the 1970’s. Originally, I listened on a simple monophonic transistor radio that had the FM band on it, and it was on the local iconic station, KOME.
Shel Silverstein was a singer/songwriter and poet. He wrote folksy tunes, but also a lot of poetry and short-ish stories that a lot of my peer youth discovered.
If you are of a certain age, chances are good that you had one of his books growing up, like The Giving Tree, Where the Sidewalk Ends, and others. My sister had one of them, but I wasn’t interested at that age.
My mistake.
Yet, when I heard his music on the Dr. Demento program, I fell in love with it. His voice was unique, and enchanting. Songs included many, such as Sarah Cynthia Silvia Stout, Would Not Take the Garbage Out, but the one that really has stuck with me is “The Smoke-Off”.
Naturally, in my early teens, I, uh, experimented with cannabis1, like many tweens and teens of the late 1970s, so when I heard this, I more than chuckled.
The idea of a serious smoker and someone who rolled the sticks that the smoker tokes on made for a great interplay. His voice pairs perfectly with the folksy solo guitar, and before you know it, whoosh that six minutes twenty-nine seconds will be gone.
Roll a J or pack a bowl and have a listen in tribute to the great one himself, Shel!
Do you not feel more relaxed?
Back then, we were at the ass-end of the pipeline and the dime bags we bought were littered with stems and seeds. It was a bleak time. After it became legal I dabbled, and holee-sheeit it is so much more potent today.
I did not know that Silverstein wrote and recorded music. If I heard him on Dr Demento, it didn’t register (I mostly listened for Tom Lehrer, a favorite of mine, and I can still sing from memory a few of his songs, but I digress). “Interesting” song that I did not hear in my misspent youth, though smoking something before listening might’ve helped! 😂
Thank you !!! THIS IS something I had not heard since my year in college!
He & early George Carlin had a huge influence on my roommate and me.
I played my acoustic - which I’m sorry I didn’t keep up with but - we wrote silly ditties after hearing this!
Wow this totally brought back memories!! We would have a bunch of friends in our dorm room - stuffed the wet towel under the door and would pass and roll until everyone had a joint in their hand. The stuff now is way way stronger - but gummies are it now as my cotton mouth gets too bad. It has been legal in Arizona for several years. I never thought I would see that happen back in those days!!