86: “Buena” by Morphine
October 12, 2010 Leave a comment
Morphine was a great band that didn’t achieve a lot of commercial success. Slide bass guitar, baritone sax and drums. They disbanded after the death of lead singer Mark Sandman in 1999, who collapsed onstage in Rome, stopped short in his musical journey by a heart attack.
You can’t help but wonder what kind of role drugs played in his death even if all you know is the name of the band, but it’s not well documented if drugs directly caused his death. This question adds a twist to a song like “Buena” that sounds like it could be glorifying drugs. It also could be about sex or even a warning against drugs.
But lyrics about criminal acts, ambiguous or not, are the keystone and foundation of billions of dollars worth of musical transactions every year, according to my brain’s rigorous calculations. So everybody’s doing it, man. It seems you tightwads can suck it, to put it in a free-speech kind of way.
Check out this live performance on French TV. Sandman is looking you right in the eye. From the grave… Enjoy.
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