It’s Real – Codine and the Delta Momma Blues

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Delta Momma Blues, one of Townes Van Zandt’s earlier albums, is not as cut and dry as one might think.  While the title-track drifts by slowly and gives off a somewhat lazy-river feeling, it contains a double-meaning from the songwriter.  “Delta Momma,” as Townes referred to it, was cough syrup with codine (Robitussin DM = Delta Momma), and was easily available over the counter.  As the lyrics suggest, it made the consumer feel removed and relaxed.  On the other hand, it is violently addictive (as a opiate) and it’s ingestion with the other ingredients of cough syrup in large quantities is not a good idea.  Nevertheless, Townes Van Zandt and many other prolific songwriters swore by the Delta Momma, and it’s use continues in the southern United States – popularized again through hip-hop.

1964 – Buffy Sainte-Marie – Cod’ine
1964 demo - Donovan – Codine
1965 – Jimmy Gilmer & the Fireballs – Codine
1965-66 – Gram Parsons – Codine
1966 – The Litter – Codine
1967 – The Leaves – Codine
1968 – 31st of February – Codine
196X – Matthew Moore Plus Four – Cod’ine
1976 – Man – Codine
1983 – The Charlatans – Codine Blues
1994 – Poison 13 – Codine
2006 – Oakley Hall – Codine

——————————

1970 – Delta Momma Blues – Townes Van Zandt
(Also a mention in “Waitin’ Round to Die”)

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This entry was posted on Saturday, April 18th, 2009 and is filed under News, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “It’s Real – Codine and the Delta Momma Blues”

  1. Neo on September 29th, 2009 at 2:31 am
  2. Heel on September 29th, 2009 at 2:50 am
  3. Kir on March 2nd, 2010 at 7:25 pm

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