The Pusher (Steppenwolf cover)

General CommentBlind Melon’s song “The Pusher”

Snow flakes rolling over my ear, goose bumping weather
If I'm hungry at 4:30 in the morning, Pink Dot will deliver
And I'm oh so tired of you pushing that thorny crown
Down onto my head so hard, my knees are two inches in the ground
And I said, God damn, God damn that Bible pushin' man
You know I smoked a lot of grass and I've popped a lot of pills
But I've never done nothing that my spirit couldn't kill
And I walk around with these tombstones in my eyes
But I know the pusher don't care, if you live or if you die.
And I said, God damn, God damn that Bible pushin' man.
Godamn, Godamn, Godamn, Godamn, God damn



Steppenwolf’s “The Pusher”
youtu.be/…

You know I've smoked a lot of grass
O' Lord, I've popped a lot of pills
But I've never touched nothin'
That my spirit could kill
You know, I've seen a lot of people walkin' 'round
With tombstones in their eyes
But the pusher don't care
Ah, if you live or if you die
God damn, The Pusher
God damn, I say The Pusher
I said God damn, God damn The Pusher man
You know the dealer, the dealer is a man
With the love grass in his hand
Oh but the pusher is a monster
Good God, he's not a natural man
The dealer for a nickel
Lord, he'll sell you lots of sweet dreams
Ah, but the pusher ruin your body
Lord, he'll leave your, he'll leave your mind to scream
God damn, The Pusher
God damn, God damn the Pusher
I said God damn, God, God damn The Pusher man
Well, now if I were the president of this land
You know, I'd declare total war on The Pusher man
I'd cut him if he stands, and I'd shoot him if he'd run
Yes I'd kill him with my Bible and my razor and my gun
God damn The Pusher
God damn The Pusher
I said God damn, God damn The Pusher man



Totally different purport: Steppenwolf is explicitly objecting to hard drugs & those who sell them, enlisting “my Bible and my razor and my gun.”

When they say, “You know I've smoked a lot of grass
O' Lord, I've popped a lot of pills
But I've never touched nothin'
That my spirit could kill”

- they’re using a poetic inversion:
By “my spirit could kill” from the context, it’s clear that they mean “anything that could kill my spirit”

They draw a distinction between the dealer and the pusher. The dealer is part of the scene, spreading good cheer & sweet dreams. The pusher is only in it for the money, which they use to insulate themselves from the life of the community as they vampirically suck its life.



In fewer words, Blind Melon objects to anti-drug evangelism. They are pretty much rebutting most of Steppenwolf’s message, but using some of the same imagery.

They start off with snowflakes rolling over their ears, 430 in the morning with munchies - it could be a quiet sweet mood developing, like in “Sleepyhouse,” but apparently all the anti-drug propaganda weighs on their mind & they can’t relax. Anyhow, the mood is all broken & they blame the Bible-thumping fundamentalists.

- when they say “I’ve never touched nothin’ that my spirit couldn’t kill”
It’s kind of a macho thing: “I’ve never met the drug I couldn’t handle (so stop bothering me about it!”)

This is a dangerous stance. Sadly, experience tells us even great people have met drugs they can’t handle!

They acknowledge this by the line “And I walk around with these tombstones in my eyes.” What’s also disturbing is that there is no Bible pusher physically present - the irritation apparently is something they’ve absorbed previously, maybe by being dragged to church as kids, or watching anti-drug ads that used to be so prevalent (I haven’t seen any lately, but maybe I’m not watching the right shows?)

So seemingly, they are reacting to something or someone who isn’t even there, but has spoiled their fun.

It sort of reminds me of that scene in _Huckleberry Finn_ where Huck’s alcoholic father goes on a bender and, in the privacy of his cabin, commences to verbally shower curses on everybody in town, and when he’s done, he curses them all again in case he missed anybody the first time.

However! I still like the song and buy into it, (though it will never be my favorite Blind Melon tune) because of the emotional weight of Shannon Hoon’s voice, and because also the anti-pleasure orientation of so much of fundamentalist religion, based on the frankly horrible shenanigans of the Old Testament deity - many of whose actions are sadistic and immoral - is behind a lot of the misery in the world.

It’s hard to relax even with a good buzz on, even with snowflakes rolling on their ears, and food being delivered, because the news and past experiences aren’t easily disregarded.

I happen to think there are better ways to overcome misery and depression: “light a candle instead of cursing the darkness” type of thing. Walk right by the evangelists with their bullhorns on the way to the Electric Daisy Carnival…pray for them to abandon their miserabilist creed & embrace fun for a change, and, y’know, avoid the hard drugs while we’re at it.

Steppenwolf preaches physical violence against the (drug) pusher, but one big problem with that is those folks are mean & have a head start. Another problem is “you become what you hate,” or more practically, when you take up violence, as Eisenhower said, “every dollar [and every minute] invested in war is stolen from human needs.”

With that in mind, Blind Melon is actually more practical in using words against the threat. So it’s sort of a reply to Steppenwolf, but also has a message of its own. If I were in the group, I’d try to add another verse where they calm down & get back to the nice buzz that was developing in the first 2 lines.

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