JUST DROPPED IN (TO SEE WHAT CONDITION MY CONDITION WAS IN)
“Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)” is a counterculture era song written by Mickey Newbury. Said to reflect the LSD experience, the song was intended to be a warning against the danger of using LSD. “Just Dropped In . . .” was a hit for Kenny Rogers and The First Edition (with Kenny Rogers on lead vocals) in 1968. It was Rogers’ first top ten hit in the Billboard charts, and got the group their first national TV audience on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. The song captures the short-lived psychedelic era of the late ’60’s, and stands apart from the country folk harmonies that characterized most of The First Edition’s catalog. (More from Wikipedia)
Many other artists in the 1960s also took a whack at psychedelia. Kenny Rogers’ first band the First Edition had an early hit song with “Just Dropped in (to See What Condition My Condition was In)”; though the lyrics kind of miss the boat, they are still charmingly corny. “Hurdy Gurdy Man” is one of many great psychedelic songs Donovan came up with. The Beatles had Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and the Rolling Stones had Their Satanic Majesties’ Request. Even Motown got into the act: The Supremes hit with “Reflections”, while the Temptations had several psychedelic songs – “Psychedelic Shack”, “Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World is Today)”, “Runaway Child, Runnin’ Wild”, and others. Many were on their 1970 album Psychedelic Shack; one of the biggest hits by the B-52’s, “Love Shack” was in part an homage to this record.
(March 2011)
