Ron McKernan, or known affectionately as "Pigpen" or "Piggy" was the front man for the Grateful Dead in its early years. Long after Piggy's death, Jerry would remark that if you've not heard Pigpen sing, you really hadn't heard the band.
"Mr. Charlie" is about hard drug abuse. The shotgun is a syringe, ready to go once it "takes a little skin" by piercing through so the shotgun can "unload." It doesn't require a life or limb. I suggest the "voodoo all night long," the drums and Mr.Charlie persuading the user that he "can't do nothin' wrong" all describe the perceived euphoria caused by the drug. I don't know that Piggy used heroin; but he, often with his buddy Janis, seemed constantly to share a bottle of Southern Comfort.
McKernan drank himself to death at age 27. Jerry, of all people, died from being hooked on heroine. And Janis died at 27 as well. Tragic.
Ron McKernan, or known affectionately as "Pigpen" or "Piggy" was the front man for the Grateful Dead in its early years. Long after Piggy's death, Jerry would remark that if you've not heard Pigpen sing, you really hadn't heard the band. "Mr. Charlie" is about hard drug abuse. The shotgun is a syringe, ready to go once it "takes a little skin" by piercing through so the shotgun can "unload." It doesn't require a life or limb. I suggest the "voodoo all night long," the drums and Mr.Charlie persuading the user that he "can't do nothin' wrong" all describe the perceived euphoria caused by the drug. I don't know that Piggy used heroin; but he, often with his buddy Janis, seemed constantly to share a bottle of Southern Comfort. McKernan drank himself to death at age 27. Jerry, of all people, died from being hooked on heroine. And Janis died at 27 as well. Tragic.