Skip to content
Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube

psychedelic Scene

psychedelic Scene Magazine

  • Features
  • Interviews
  • Reviews
  • Categories
    • Music
    • Lists
    • Books
    • Art
    • Columns
    • Science
    • Film
    • Podcasts
  • Features
  • Interviews
  • Reviews
  • Categories
    • Music
    • Lists
    • Books
    • Art
    • Columns
    • Science
    • Film
    • Podcasts
Navbar
  • Features
  • Interviews
  • Reviews
  • Categories
    • Music
    • Lists
    • Books
    • Art
    • Columns
    • Science
    • Film
    • Podcasts
  • Features
  • Interviews
  • Reviews
  • Categories
    • Music
    • Lists
    • Books
    • Art
    • Columns
    • Science
    • Film
    • Podcasts

Psychedelic Skeletons In the Closet–Kenny Rogers

PrevPreviousEnter the Shining Realm by Shining Realm–Album Review
NextMdou Moctar: Afrique VictimeNext
  • Serene Dominic
  • August 2, 2021
  • 12:57 am

Psychedelic Skeletons In the Closet–Kenny Rogers

Everybody who made a record before 1967 has a bad psychedelic moment. This week, I give you star of stage, screen and rotisseries— Kenny Rogers! Most people think of Kenny as the play-it-safe sentinel of slowpoke, Driving-Miss-Daisy styled country music. Few remember the risks the Gambler took early on in his career with (insert shudder) psychedelic music!

Suspect Record:

“Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)” by The First Edition.

Release Date In Relation to Sgt. Pepper LP:

Six months later, the better to incorporate a spooky “Strawberry Fields” false ending.

Suspicious Psychedelic Instrumentation:
Backwards acoustic guitars, fuzzy molten lava lamp leads and heavily phased vocals

Psychedelia Enabler:

It was co-produced and arranged by Mike Post, who’d later be renown for his reality altering TV themes like “The Rockford Files” and “Magnum PI”! And it was written by Mickey Newbury who’d later counter the counter-culture and pen “An American Trilogy.”

It hardly seems possible but Kenny once bent people’s minds as the bearded beacon behind The First Edition.

Psychedelic image of Kenny Rogers

Backhistory:

Kenny Rogers—acid rock avatar? It hardly seems possible but Kenny once bent people’s minds as the bearded beacon behind The First Edition. The group’s very first hit was a most credible hallucinogenic hit which soared all the way to number 5 in the US in the spring of ‘68, besting the highest chart positions of such worthy wasted adversaries as Blue Cheer’s “Summertime Blues” (#14), Bubble Puppy’s “Hot Smoke and Sassafrass” (also #14) and even the Balloon Farm’s flowery “A Question of Temperature” (#37). 

Until “Just Dropped In” started turning up in movie soundtracks like The Big Lebowski and radio playlists. this groovy gem seemed pretty well buried in pop culture, out of time and woefully out of print. Once Rogers achieved solo success with the tearjerkin’ “Lucille,”  Liberty Records released a Kenny Rogers “Ten Years of Gold” collection that rewrote history by including re-recordings of all his First Edition hits, most notably a slightly discofied, less mind-blowing “Just Dropped In.” No doubt Kenny’s newly-won old biddy following would’ve gone spiraling into cardiac arrest had the hair-raising original version been included! Coward of the County—no fooling!

Psychedelic Crutch Word:

Four mentions of “mind” as either tore up, broke, blown or located in the vicinity of a brown paper bag. There’s also three references to “eight miles”, a tip of the hat to those high-flying, drugged-out Byrds.

Worst Bad Trip Moment:

The whole song is about a bad trip so take your pick. Probably the part about blowing out either his mind or tire eight miles out of Memphis without a spare. It’s hard to hear the song with out imagining a groggy, Nehru jacketed Kenny wandering through a house cursed with flashing colored lights and April Fools signs, looking for all the world like he could use a coupla Anacin! Let that be a lesson for us all —pharmaceuticals and Memphis don’t mix!

 

Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In) Genius Lyrics

Kenny Rogers sitting on stage in white turtleneck shirt

Gallery

Recent Articles

The Top 10 Active Jam Bands

•
June 4, 2025
Bald man with beard wearing tie-dyed shirt giving peace sign in front of Cannadelic Miami background

Cannadelic Miami 2025–a Review

•
May 31, 2025
Ty Segall wearing dark clothes and pointing at the camera while crossing a busy street

Possession by Ty Segall: Album Review

•
May 28, 2025
PrevPreviousEnter the Shining Realm by Shining Realm–Album Review
NextMdou Moctar: Afrique VictimeNext
Loading...
  • Features, Lists, Music

The Top 10 Active Jam Bands

  • Bill Kurzenberger
  • June 4, 2025
  • No Comments
  • Features, Reviews

Cannadelic Miami 2025–a Review

  • Bobby Nuggz
  • May 31, 2025
  • No Comments
  • Music, Reviews

Possession by Ty Segall: Album Review

  • Zev Rubin
  • May 28, 2025
  • No Comments
  • Music

The Gentle Good Announces New Album Elan

  • Georgia P. Taylor
  • May 24, 2025
  • No Comments
  • Features

An Arab Nation’s Psychedelic Awakening

  • Michelle Beehari
  • May 21, 2025
  • No Comments
  • Music

High Moon Records Releases Just Like Gold: Live At The Matrix by The Final Solution

  • Arlyn Ibarra
  • May 18, 2025
  • No Comments

Gallery

1 thought on “Psychedelic Skeletons In the Closet–Kenny Rogers”

  1. Jason LeValley
    December 21, 2021 at 7:21 pm

    Right on! Thank you.

    Reply

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Sign up for our Newsletter

Sign up for our mailing list to receive updates on trending stories, featured music articles, artist highlights and much more!

Contact Us

psychedelic Scene

Magazine

  • Home
    Home
  • About Us
    About Us
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Contact Us
    Contact Us
  • Art
    Art
  • Books
    Books
  • Music
    Music
  • Film
    Film
  • Interviews
    Interviews
  • Reviews
    Reviews
  • Lists
    Lists
  • Features
    Features
Copyright @ 2025 All Rights Reserved Psychedelic Scene Magazine

Designed & Developed by: SYNC Digital Management

psychedelic Scene

Magazine

Learn More About Psychedelic Sacred Sexuality

Buy The Book On Amazon