'A Night in Hell' Inspired 'Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In' by Kenny Rogers & the First Edition
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- 4 days ago
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‘100 Greatest 60s Pop Songs’ Book Excerpt
Frank Mastropolo
Kenny Rogers said that Jimi Hendrix once told him that “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)” was his all-time favorite song.
Hendrix was no doubt referring to the psychedelic rock version recorded by Rogers and the First Edition in 1967. “Just Dropped In” was written by country singer Mickey Newbury after what he called “a night in hell.”
“It was a drug song telling people of the horrors that drugs will do to you,” Newbury said in Mickey Newbury: Crystal & Stone.
“Some people jumped out of buildings. That song was about a country boy’s attitude to a bad acid trip. There were so many pro-acid songs then that I thought someone ought to show the other side.”
Early versions were released by Jerry Lee Lewis and Terry Hill & the Southern Soul. The First Edition, featuring Rogers on lead vocals, scored a №5 hit with the song in 1968.
“The songwriter, Mickey Newbury, was somebody I had known forever,” Rogers told AL.com.
“We went to high school together. He played it for me when I was still in the New Christy Minstrels. I told him I would love to do it.
“He said, ‘I’d love to give it to you, but Sammy Davis Jr. has it on hold.’ I said, ‘I’d like to hear his version.’ As it turned out, he didn’t use it.
“When I went with the First Edition, we did it because it didn’t have any boundaries. It was so off the wall, it appealed to just about everybody.”
Mike Post produced “Just Dropped In” and reversed the first riffs in the intro to give it a psychedelic effect. Glen Campbell’s guitar solo was heavily compressed and a tremolo effect was added.
“Just Dropped In” is now a part of cinema culture. It was featured during a Jeff Bridges (The Dude) psychedelic dream sequence in the Coen Brothers’ 1998 film The Big Lebowski.
Frank Mastropolo is the author of 100 Greatest 60s Pop Songs, part of the Greatest Performances series. For more on our latest projects, visit Edgar Street Books.
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