DEMOCIDE with Steppenwolf

Don't Step on the Grass Sam and The Pusher Steppenwolf
Don't Step On The Grass, Sam
Steppenwolf
Written by: John Kay
Album: The Second
Released: 1968Show more

Starin' at the boob tube, turnin' on the big knob
Tryin' to find some life in the waste land
Fin'ly found a program, gonna deal with Mary Jane
Ready for a trip into hate land
Obnoxious Joe comes on the screen
Along with his guest self-righteous Sam
And a one more guy who doesn't count
His hair and clothes are too far out

While pushin' back his glasses Sam is sayin' casually
"I was elected by the masses"
And with that in mind he starts to unwind
A vicious attack on the finest of grasses

Well it's evil, wicked, mean and nasty
(Don't step on the grass, Sam)
And it will ruin our fair country
(Don't be such an ass, Sam)
Well it will hook your Sue and Johnny
(You're so full of bull, Sam)
All will pay that disagree with me
(Please give up you already lost the fight, alright)

Misinformation Sam and Joe
Are feeding to the nation
But the one who didn't count counted them out
By exposing all their false quotations
Faced by a very awkward situation
This is all he'd say to save the day

Well it's evil, wicked, mean and nasty
(Don't step on the grass, Sam)
And it will ruin our fair country
(Don't be such an ass, Sam)
It will hook your Sue and Johnny
(You're so full of bull, Sam)
All will pay that disagree with me
(Please give up you already lost the fight alright)

You waste my coin Sam, all you can
To jail my fellow man
For smoking all the noble weed
You need much more than him
You've been telling lies so long
Some believe they're true
So they close their eyes to things
You have no right to do
Just as soon as you are gone
Hope will start to climb
Please don't stay around too long
You're wasting precious time

Well it's evil, wicked, mean and nasty
(Don't step on the grass, Sam)
And it will ruin our fair country
(Don't be such an ass, Sam)
It will hook your Sue and Johnny
(You're so full of bull, Sam)
All will pay that disagree with me
(Please give up you already lost the fight, alright)

"The Pusher" is a rock song written by Hoyt Axton, made popular by the 1969 movie Easy Rider which used Steppenwolf's version to accompany the opening scenes showing drug trafficking.

The lyrics of the song distinguish between a dealer in drugs such as marijuana—who "will sell you lots of sweet dreams"—and a pusher of hard drugs such as heroin—a "monster" who does not care "if you live or if you die".

The song was made popular when rock band Steppenwolf released the song on their 1968 album Steppenwolf.

Organist Goldy McJohn, who recorded the original Steppenwolf version, said the version that appears on Early Steppenwolf performed by The Sparrows, a predecessor band to Steppenwolf in 1967 at the Matrix came about when singer John Kay and Jerry Edmonton were late for a performance:

Nick and Mars and me started that long version of the Pusher. John and Jerry's flight was late one night at the Avalon Ballroom, so we started and then we perfected it at the "Arc" in Sausalito on New Year's Eve in 1966.

Songwriter Hoyt Axton did not place "The Pusher" on one of his albums until he included it on his 1971 Capitol LP Joy To The World. His version of the song was originally released in May 1969 on a various-artists mail-order album called First Vibration.[citation needed]
Nina Simone included a soulful version of this song on her 1974 album It Is Finished and on the RCA "Novus Series 70" titled "Nina Simone ~~ The Blues." Originally recorded June 1971.
Blind Melon released a version of "The Pusher" on their album "Nico", released 1996.
The Flaming Lips & Deap Vally's collaboration dubbed Deap Lips released a cover of "The Pusher" on their 2020 self-titled album, Deap Lips. It included slightly different lyrics from the Steppenwolf version.
The song has also been covered by Monkeywrench, Young Flowers, Black League, The Substitutes, UFO, Helix, Negative Space, Emerson Parris, and Gideon Smith, The Dixie Damned and Left Lane Cruiser.
The band Cowboy Mouth covered "The Pusher" on the 1998 movie Soundtrack for the movie Half Baked.

The Pusher
Steppenwolf
Written by: Hoyt Wayne Axton
Album: Steppenwolf
Released: 1968

You know I've smoked a lot of grass
Oh lord, I popped a lot of pills
But I never touched nothin'
That my spirit could kill

You know, I've seen a lot of people walkin' 'round
With tombstone in their eyes
But the pusher don't care
Ah, if you live or if you die

God damn, the pusher
God damn, hey, I say the pusher
I said God damn
God damn the pusher man

You know the dealer, the dealer is a man
With the love grass in his hand
Ah, but the pusher is a monster
Good God, he's not a natural man

The dealer for a nickel
Lord, will sell you lots of sweet dreams
Ah, but the pusher ruin your body
Lord, he'll leave your
He'll leave your mind to scream

God damn, ah-ah, the pusher
God damn, God damn the pusher
I said God damn, God
God damn the pusher man

Well, Lord if I were the president
Of this land you know I'd declare
Total war on the pusher man
I'd cut him if he stands
And I shoot him if he'd run
And I'd kill him with my Bible
And my razor and my gun

God damn, ah, the pusher
God damn, the pusher
I said God damn
God damn the pusher man

Steppenwolf
John Kay – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, harmonica
Michael Monarch – lead guitar
Goldy McJohn – organ, piano
Rushton Moreve – bass
Jerry Edmonton – drums, vocals, lead vocals