Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)

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"Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)"
Single by Mickey Newbury
from the album Harlequin Melodies
Writer(s) Mickey Newbury

"Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)" is a 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. First recorded in 1967 by Jerry Lee Lewis, who rejected it, it was a hit for The First Edition (with Kenny Rogers on lead vocals) in 1968. It was Rogers' first top ten hit in the Billboard charts, but was not typical of the country folk harmonies that characterized most of The First Edition's catalog.[1] However, the group was already familiar with rock music, bouncing from country, to pop, to rock, and to folk music.

The innovative song features Rogers on lead vocals and was the group's second single. The psychedelic hard rock arrangement made quite an impression in the music field. According to Rogers, "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)" was Jimi Hendrix's favorite song.[citation needed] Producer Mike Post reversed a few riffs to create the intro, and the solo played by Glen Campbell was heavily reverberated. Another studio guitarist, Mike Deasy, provided the acoustic lead guitar parts.

When Rogers signed to United Artists Records in the mid-1970s after the group split, he re-recorded the track for his Ten Years Of Gold album.

[edit] In the media

Kenny Rogers and The First Edition version :
  • In 1998, the song appeared virtually in its entirety (with the bridge and the final few seconds of the fade out cut off) during a psychedelic dream sequence in the cult film The Big Lebowski. A clip of the song is also the background music for the main menu of the collector's edition DVD.
  • The song also appeared in the 2000 videogame Driver 2.
  • Comedian and radio host Adam Carolla has occasionally commented on the song's psychedelic instrumentation and lyrics. On his Loveline radio program, he remarked to co-host Dr. Drew that "Just Dropped In" was, "the grooviest, sixty-est, druggiest, counter-culture-iest song in the world," in contrast to Rogers' more familiar story-telling country songs[2].

[edit] Selected list of recorded versions

[edit] References

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