10 Songs You Didn't Know Were About Heroin
5. "Signed D.C." (Love)
In 1966, Los Angeles-based psychedelic and folk-rockers, Love, released their eponymous debut album, featuring the bluesy, harmonica-howling track, "Signed D.C." Frontman Arthur Lee wrote the song as a tribute to the band’s original drummer Don Conka.
The cautionary tale paints a morbid portrait of an addict’s hopeless downward spiral: “I’ve pierced my skin again, Lord… I've got one foot in the graveyard.”
Oddly, (and to paraphrase Mark Twain) reports of Conka’s death were greatly exaggerated. Although he never appeared on any of the band’s recordings, “DC” later re-joined Love for several revived lineups before finally passing away in 2004.
Love recorded the song at Sunset Sound in Hollywood, the home to a slew of famous albums, including #6 on the list as well as Pearl by future (actual) heroin victim, Janis Joplin.