Lake Shore Drive (song)
Encyclopedia
Lake Shore Drive is a song written by Chicago
-based rock group Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah
released on their 1971
album of the same name
. This song was an homage to the famed lakefront highway in Chicago of the same name
. The song also uses the initials of the highway, "LSD," to evoke an double entendre with the hallucinogenic drug lysergic acid diethylamide. Many fans of the song, and residents of Chicago believe this song paints an accurate musical picture of living and driving in downtown Chicago. The song was initially recorded on August 7, 1970.
of both physically driving on the actual Lake Shore Drive and slippin' (or trippin'
) on lysergic acid diethylamide:
The reference to "pretty blue lights ... helping you right on by" can refer to both the mercury-vapor street lamps
used on Lake Shore Drive in that era (today it is lit by yellow-orange high pressure sodium lamps), and to the hallucination of radiating colors typically experienced during a so-called "acid trip". However, Chicago Police vehicles are unusual in that they feature blue warning beacons as opposed to red lights common in other US cities, and Lake Shore Drive was a notorious speed trap in the 1960s.
Other lyrics in the song illustrate the physical features of the road and its surroundings. "It starts up north from Hollywood" refers to West Hollywood Avenue, which, running eastbound, becomes Lake Shore Drive. "A ten-minute drive from the Gold Coast back, Makes you sure you’re pleasure bound" refers to Gold Coast, a strip of extremely affluent residential housing along LSD. "Concrete mountains rearing up, Throwing shadows just about five" may refer to the expressway overpasses of the Stevenson Expressway
. Alternatively it may refer to the downtown skyscrapers casting their shadows across the drive as the sun sets in late afternoon. "From Ratz on up to Riches" refers to Ratzo's a near-North Side tavern where AHJ once performed.
many motorists leaving the city were stranded on Lake Shore Drive as weather conditions deteriorated. Within days Skip Haynes had reworked the lyrics of the song Lake Shore Drive and released it as Snowed on LSD.
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
-based rock group Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah
Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah
Aliotta-Haynes-Jeremiah was an American rock group from the early 1970s.This West Allis, Wisconsin trio was originally composed of bassist Mitch Aliotta, drummer Ted Aliotta, and guitarist Skip Haynes. Ted left after their debut album to be replaced by pianist John Jeremiah...
released on their 1971
1971 in music
-Events:*February 1 – after months of feuding in the press, Ginger Baker and Elvin Jones hold a "drum battle" at The Lyceum.*February 8 – Bob Dylan's hour-long documentary film, Eat the Document, is premièred at New York's Academy of Music...
album of the same name
Lake Shore Drive (album)
Lake Shore Drive is the third album by Chicago-based rock group Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah, released in 1971.The title track of the same name pays homage to the Chicago boulevard Lake Shore Drive, which extends between the downtown area of Chicago and Lake Michigan for approximately 16 miles...
. This song was an homage to the famed lakefront highway in Chicago of the same name
Lake Shore Drive
Lake Shore Drive is a mostly freeway-standard expressway running parallel with and alongside the shoreline of Lake Michigan through Chicago, Illinois, USA. Except for the portion north of Foster Avenue , Lake Shore Drive is designated as part of U.S...
. The song also uses the initials of the highway, "LSD," to evoke an double entendre with the hallucinogenic drug lysergic acid diethylamide. Many fans of the song, and residents of Chicago believe this song paints an accurate musical picture of living and driving in downtown Chicago. The song was initially recorded on August 7, 1970.
Lyrics
The following is a sampling of some of the lyrics that may be considered double entendreDouble entendre
A double entendre or adianoeta is a figure of speech in which a spoken phrase is devised to be understood in either of two ways. Often the first meaning is straightforward, while the second meaning is less so: often risqué or ironic....
of both physically driving on the actual Lake Shore Drive and slippin' (or trippin'
Psychedelic experience
The term "psychedelic experience" is vague – characterized by polyvalence or ambiguity due to its nature – however in modern psychopharmacological science as well as philosophical, psychological, neurological, spiritual-religious and most other ideological discourses it is understood as an altered...
) on lysergic acid diethylamide:
- Well there ain't no road just like it, anywhere I've found,
- Runnin' south on Lake Shore Drive, headin' into town.
- Just slippin' on by on L.S.D., Friday night trouble bound.
The reference to "pretty blue lights ... helping you right on by" can refer to both the mercury-vapor street lamps
Mercury-vapor lamp
A mercury-vapor lamp is a gas discharge lamp that uses an electric arc through vaporized mercury to produce light. The arc discharge is generally confined to a small fused quartz arc tube mounted within a larger borosilicate glass bulb...
used on Lake Shore Drive in that era (today it is lit by yellow-orange high pressure sodium lamps), and to the hallucination of radiating colors typically experienced during a so-called "acid trip". However, Chicago Police vehicles are unusual in that they feature blue warning beacons as opposed to red lights common in other US cities, and Lake Shore Drive was a notorious speed trap in the 1960s.
Other lyrics in the song illustrate the physical features of the road and its surroundings. "It starts up north from Hollywood" refers to West Hollywood Avenue, which, running eastbound, becomes Lake Shore Drive. "A ten-minute drive from the Gold Coast back, Makes you sure you’re pleasure bound" refers to Gold Coast, a strip of extremely affluent residential housing along LSD. "Concrete mountains rearing up, Throwing shadows just about five" may refer to the expressway overpasses of the Stevenson Expressway
Stevenson Expressway
The Stevenson Expressway is the major Interstate highway leading southwest out of the city of Chicago in Illinois. It is signed as Interstate 55 for the entire length....
. Alternatively it may refer to the downtown skyscrapers casting their shadows across the drive as the sun sets in late afternoon. "From Ratz on up to Riches" refers to Ratzo's a near-North Side tavern where AHJ once performed.
Snowed on LSD
When The Blizzard of 2011 hit ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
many motorists leaving the city were stranded on Lake Shore Drive as weather conditions deteriorated. Within days Skip Haynes had reworked the lyrics of the song Lake Shore Drive and released it as Snowed on LSD.