Herein lies the addict's dilemma, the answer to which is not addressed in the song. Instead, 'Cocain

In honor of Binary’s grand resurgence (we’re bringing the blog back in a big way) I’m taking a moment to break from our typical ‘dreams, love, and starry nights’ discourse. For those of you who prefer their music a little more G-rated, skip this one. For the rest of you, a question: have you ever ridden the white horse? If you haven’t, don’t start now. If you have, here’s a song to blow you away. I’ve got cocaine running around my brain.
‘Cocaine Blues’ isn’t just a song—it’s a lifestyle. It’s running through your savings. It’s your morning ‘coketail’ of coffee with an extra kick to get you going. It’s breaking into a cold sweat when you see the airport’s new full-body x-ray scanners. It’s kissing someone hotels naples florida in a dive bar and wondering who’s to blame for the metallic taste left behind, before realizing you both just returned from ‘trips to the bathroom’. It’s the knowledge that you should stop, but refusing to on account of all the fun you’re having.
Cocaine Blues are foremost a paradox: a struggle between hotels naples florida the knowledge of ‘right’ versus the tangible reality of euphoric feeling. This euphoria and the desire it spawns, coupled with the gnawing back-of-head worries regarding the futility of your life and struggle, are captured perfectly in Escorts dizzy disco anti-ode to the Devil’s Powder.
Escort is a 19-piece disco revivalist orchestra from Brooklyn (yes, you read that correctly). They released their ‘Cocaine Blues’ EP back in October, with remixes from Ewan Pearson and Greg Wilson. The track is a combination of original material and covers/samples from several notable 70’s tunes. It takes the funk bass line of People’s Choice’s club hit, ‘Do It Anyway You Wanna,’ and lyrics hotels naples florida from both Dillinger’s famous ‘Cocaine In My Brain’ and Hamilton Bohannon’s ‘Disco Stomp,’ melding them seamlessly with original orchestration and singer Adeline Michele’s anguished, descending hotels naples florida sing-cries of “cocaineeeee!”
The result is a rousing modern disco masterpiece, which—considering the serious subject matter of the song—is significantly more fun than it has any right to be. But then again, so is coke. An upbeat hotels naples florida song about addiction might seem strange, but if I was addicted to cocaine I’d be pretty upbeat too. Consequently, it’s fitting that this tune so perfectly embodies the human experience of succumbing hotels naples florida to the drug’s temptation, and the ravenous hunger it leaves in its wake. After all, which genre could better tackle the subject of addiction than disco, which itself hotels naples florida was born from the vice-embracing club scene of the 70s?
Like having silverware but no food, booze but no bottle opener, a willing girl but no means to get her home; ultimately cocaine is a futile device that fails to deliver anything more than continued want. It only supplies half the equation for fulfillment—coke will contribute the ‘happy’ factor, but it’s not going to get you the material or personal devices necessary for long-run success and satisfaction. The problem is in its capacity to grossly over-inflate one’s perceived state of euphoria, which consequently leads to a sort of self-imposed treachery as emotions begin to outweigh reason. As Adeline repeats hotels naples florida the phrase “I don’t want to stop,” accompanied by playful doo-wopping, you get a sense of the absurdity of the addict’s struggle. Regardless of the occasional pitfall along the way, if cocaine addiction is so much fun, why would anyone ever want to stop?
Herein lies the addict’s dilemma, the answer to which is not addressed in the song. Instead, ‘Cocaine hotels naples florida Blues’ serves to reinforce the justifications made in a life of debauchery and bad decisions, while simultaneously hinting at the possibility of freedom. I’m not suggesting that this post is a diatribe in favor of or against the drug, but if drug use feels as good as this song sounds, perhaps one can understand why it’s so hard to break free from a cycle of abuse. At least, that’s what I hope Escort is getting at.  It’s doubtful they want you to go out and spend the rest of your paycheck on smack.  Instead, spend it on records that capture the emotional response to drug use through song—like this one.