Covid Vax Pusher Man

"Well, Lord, 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
and I'd kill him with my Bible and my razor and my gun."

Those of us old enough to have at least witnessed "the Sixties" -- even if only as teenagers watching it happen all around us -- remember that there was a time when the terms "dealer" and "pusher" were NOT synonymous. A dealer sold only "good" drugs -- "head drugs" -- like marijuana, hash, and the occasional psychedelic (mostly LSD).

A pusher, on the other hand, sold the hard stuff (read "addictive"), the "bad" drugs: the opiates (usually heroin) and speed (usually meth). This was so well understood that the rock group Steppenwolf even recorded a song about it. While never a hit single, it received countless spins as an LP track in 1968 on the then new "underground" FM stations.

For your listening, reading and learning pleasure(s), I have included here a video (a rather staid bit of ersatz psychedelia) of the recording followed by the lyrics to the song, written by Hoyt Axton. I don't believe that any other rock or pop song dealt so directly or so harshly with the sellers of hard drugs.

You know I smoked a lot of grass.
Oh Lord, I 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 walking around
with tombstones in their eyes.
But the pusher don't care if you live or if you die.

God damn the pusher...
God damn I say the pusher...
I say God damn, God damn the pusher-man!

You know the dealer is a man with a lot of grass in his hand.
But the pusher is a monster, he's not a natural man.

The dealer, for a nickel, he'll sell you lots of sweet dreams
But the pusher'll ruin your body,
he'll leave your mind to scream.

God damn the pusher...
God damn, God damn the pusher...
I said God damn, God damn the pusher-man!

Well, Lord, 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,
and 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!