LSD Series #1 'Just snaking on by on LSD' Print

There's a road I'd like to tell you about, lives in my home town Lake Shore Drive the road is called and it'll take you up or down From rags on up to riches fifteen minutes you can fly Pretty blue lights along the way, help you right on by And the blue lights shining with a heavenly grace, help you right on by And there ain't no road just like it Anywhere I found Running south on Lake Shore Drive heading into town Just slippin' on by on LSD, Friday night trouble bound And it starts up north from Hollywood, water on the driving side Concrete mountains rearing up, throwing shadows just about five Sometimes you can smell the green if your mind is feeling fine There ain't no finer place to be, than running Lake Shore Drive And there's no peace of mind, or place you see, than riding on Lake Shore Drive And there ain't no road just like it Anywhere I found Running south on Lake Shore drive heading into town Just slicking on by on LSD, Friday night trouble bound And it's Friday night and you're looking clean Too early to start the rounds A ten minute ride from the Gold Coast back make sure you're pleasure bound And it's four o'clock in the morning and all of the people have gone away Just you and your mind and Lake Shore Drive, tomorrow is another day And the sunshine's fine in the morning time, tomorrow is another day And there ain't no road just like it Anywhere I found Running south on Lake Shore drive heading into town Just snaking on by on LSD, Friday night trouble bound 'Lake Shore Drive’ by Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah Songwriter: Skip Haynes "Lake Shore Drive" is a song written by Skip Haynes of the Chicago-based rock group Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah, initially recorded on December 31, 1971, and released on their 1973 Lake Shore Drive album on Big Foot Records. The song is a homage to the famed lakefront highway in Chicago. Despite the fact that "LSD" had long been an abbreviation for the Drive, many people thought the song referred to the hallucinogenic drug lysergic acid diethylamide. Numerous fans of the song and residents of Chicago believe the song paints an accurate musical picture of living and driving in downtown Chicago. Skip Haynes himself recounts "We started recording the song on December 31, 1971 and finished it on New Years Day 1972". Despite the fact that lyricist Haynes maintains that the song is not about LSD, the line "Just slippin' on by on L.S.D. / Friday night, trouble bound" has been construed as a double entendre of both driving on Lake Shore Drive and tripping on the drug. Other references include the lines "Pretty blue lights along the way / Helping you right on by," which some think refers to the blue lights of the Chicago Police Department squad cars that patrol Lake Shore Drive. Another theory for the meaning of the "blue lights" may be the blue lighting of the reversible lanes that used to run down Lake Shore Drive, and have since been removed. "From rags on up to riches" denoted driving from the south side to the north side. Lyricist Skip Haynes says, "I was a north sider so I usually was 'runnin' south on LSD' looking for a good time." Other lyrics in the song illustrate the physical features of the road and its surroundings: "It starts up north from Hollywood" refers to West Hollywood Avenue, which, running eastbound, becomes Lake Shore Drive, and "A ten-minute drive from the Gold Coast back / Makes you sure you’re pleasure bound" refers to the Gold Coast, a strip of affluent residential housing, hotels, university campuses, and office buildings along the Drive. "Concrete mountains rearing up / Throwing shadows just about five" refers to Chicago's downtown skyscrapers casting their shadows across the Drive as the sun sets in the late afternoon. "A ten-minute drive from the Gold Coast back / Makes you sure you’re pleasure bound" is described as "The thing to do when going to clubs (Sgt. Peppers, Sitzmark, Barnaby's, Beaver's etc,) on State Street and Rush Street during the late sixties and early seventies was to double (or triple) park in front of the club and go in to hit on the waitresses and listen to the first set from bands like Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah, Aorta, Big Twist, Illinois Speed Press, Mason Proffit, and CTA. When the set was over (the club that inspired the song was Beavers on State Street), one would pile into the car, turn right on Oak Street, turn left at the Drive, shoot the loop at Foster Avenue, then back down to Oak Street, left on State Street, make an illegal U-turn on State and re-double park (with the first ticket you got still under your windshield wiper) in front of Beaver's then go back into the club. This was the perfect amount of time to get high and be peaking just as you walked in and got a drink from the waitress as the band came on for the second set. That's it.” Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah was an American rock group from the 1970s. The preceding incarnation was named Aliotta Haynes, a trio composed of bassist Mitch Aliotta, drummer Ted Aliotta, and guitarist Skip Haynes. Ted departed after their debut album, Aliotta Haynes Music (1970), and was replaced by John Jeremiah. As Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah, their 1971 eponymous album was their last for the Ampex label. The band scored a popular regional hit in the Chicago, Illinois area in 1972 with the title track of their follow-up 1973 album, Lake Shore Drive, a tribute to the lakefront highway in Chicago. The initials "LSD" are occasionally used in Chicago vernacular to refer to the highway (although it is sometimes referred to as the Outer Drive to distinguish it from Inner Lake Shore Drive, which extends from Ohio St. to Hollywood Ave.). Elsewhere, LSD is better known as the initials of the name of a hallucinogenic drug. Skip Haynes claims "Lake Shore Drive" has no drug references whatsoever, unlike "The Snow Queen," which referenced the up and downsides of cocaine usage. The 1992 Quicksilver CD compilation Lake Shore Drive was missing two songs from the original 1973 Big Foot LP, "Leaving Chicago A.M.F." and "Long Time Gone" (a.k.a. "Long Time Coming"), but contained the title track of 1977's Slippin' Away plus newer material. Lake Shore Drive was re-released on compact disc in 1996 for its 25th anniversary on a double-CD set, along with some of the band's other songs. The band appeared in a 1978 made-for-TV movie, Sparrow, playing a rock band whose lead singer is electrocuted while performing onstage. "Lake Shore Drive" was featured in the soundtrack of the 2017 movie Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Lake Shore Drive (sometimes referred to as the Outer Drive, The Drive, or LSD) is a multilevel expressway that runs alongside the shoreline of Lake Michigan through the city of Chicago, Illinois. Except for the portion north of Foster Avenue (5200 North), Lake Shore Drive is designated as part of U.S. Highway 41. From the Chicago River south to 57th Street, it was named Leif Ericson Drive in 1927, for Norse explorer Leif Ericson. The roadway was also nicknamed Field Boulevard. The entire road was renamed Lake Shore Drive in 1946. Source: Wikipedia