Keep It Down
This song, written and recorded by Jack Bruce’s 4th album ‘Out of the storm’, plays in my head often. Leader of the 60s rock supergroup Cream, he was a heroin addict like the other two band members.
Jack Bruce is one of my favourite musicians.
I will never forget my reaction the first time I heard Sunshine Of Your Love in 1967. It grabbed me and refused to let me go.
I instantly became a Cream fan and began to follow the musical careers of Jack Bruce, bassist and lead singer, Eric Clapton, guitarist and singer, and Ginger Baker, drummer. It was a great disappointment to me when the group disbanded in 1969 after a rapid rise to stardom.
Two years ago, I read the Jack Bruce biography.
From it, I learned much about Jack’s personal life, his musical training (classical), many talents and meanderings through various genres of music including jazz. Jack personal struggles with, and consequence of alcohol and heroin abuse were also revealed . By age 60, he required a liver transplant after which he continued to perform until his death at age 71.
The following lyrics were explained in the book as Jack’s struggle to overcome addiction. The song “Keep it down”, found in the Out of the Storm album, refers to his love-hate relationship with heroin - the urges and highs (“her”) that accompanied it.
Keep it down
If it's still hangin' around
Kept away
Well it's lost inside a day
On the journey through the street
To the corner you have to meet
Keep keepin' it down
If it's hangin' around
In the dawn
When the last drop it has gone
Summer leaves
From the hill where my love grieves
In the sun where you met her
In the shade where you left her
Keep keepin' it down
If it's hangin' around
You've got to keep it down
And never let it go to the top
'Cause you know that if it does
The roundabout is nevver gonna stop, never gonna stop
In the night
There's a space replaces your face
That you lent
I don't know just how it went
Though the trains have passed it by
It still sits up in your sky
Keep keepin' it down
If it's hangin' around
Yeah... Keep it down... keep it down... keep it down...
I don’t know why.
Many of the musicians that captivated me in the past were drug or alcohol addicts, or both. Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison of the Doors, Janis Joplin and Chet Baker were among those who met an untimely end from that abuse. For some unknown reasons, I was drawn to these artists.
From his biography, I learned that Jack Bruce started taking heroin because his musical heroes did and he believed they benefitted creatively from the drug. An interesting side story is that drummer Ginger Baker was a “registered heroin addict” since 1960 when it was legal in Britain as long as the addict notified government health officials of their problem. Around 1966, heroin addiction became illegal in Britain. In spite of Ginger’s impassioned warnings to Jack about the risks, Jack began “using” to emulate his heroes as many artists did in that era.
The history of drug abuse in the rock music community is well known. It inspired drug abuse in generations of youth who copied their idols in the belief that no harm would come to them.
I recall the death of Charlie Doig, one of my teen contemporaries who was a “speed freak”. Charlie died at age 17 with a needle in his arm in 1968. I also remember Ron, a local drug dealer. Ron was a really nice guy who carried a gun with him in case a “deal went bad”.
Today’s “drug problem” seems far more serious and deadly.
Modern science has created an addiction problem that kills and controls many more lives and in new ways.
Besides the newer, more powerful chemical drugs, add the psychological addiction of social media. “Users” everywhere get their “dopamine's hit” from TikTok and its competitors via a handheld “miracle of technology”. While chemical drugs, including cigarettes, can kill with continued abuse, only time will tell the tale of the long term consequences of addiction to the Internet versions.