by the neon

cocaine n. a drug used in medicine to prevent pain and also used illegally, often in the form of white powder which is breathed in through the nose

Cocaine is also a song popularised by Eric Clapton, originally written by J. J. Cale, an Oklahoma blues guitarist. I could dramatise the whole motivation behind the name, but I honestly don’t have a good script.
Click to enlarge I bought her second-hand off eBay, and while waiting for the auction to end, I had my Slowhand album playing on the stereo. That was that.

I had her shipped from Japan and was surprised she didn’t arrive at my doorstep with a broken neck. She is a 70’s reissue Stratocaster in, what Fender deems, candy apple red. Personally, it reminds me of blood more than apples. Call me crazy but it’d be interesting to see a QT-like director shoot a similar Mia Wallace scene using blood-red cocaine instead. It’d be tougher to differentiate coke from real blood dripping from the nose. What am I doing here? I actually have a wussy-low tolerance for blood. Need a breather sekejap… phew.

She is crafted in Japan as opposed to being made in Japan, which makes no difference whatsoever.Candle apple red haze. Now here’s the dilemma, it says that the CIJ label was used from mid-‘97 onwards. However, a check against the serial number of my Stratocaster suggested that she is a ’93 or a ’94, but the site author did say that dating Fender instruments is an inexact science, so I’ll see her as a ’93. hehe. She has the unmistakable big headstock as the symbol of ‘70s CBS-era glory and the lovely rosewood fretboard gives her a sombre tone – very different from Eleanor’s bright and chime-y sound.

Since I bought her used, the description on eBay was she has the usual nicks and scratches. What the seller meant by it was she has a few paint chips down to the bare wood of the guitar. That’s the mark of a well-loved guitar because mint guitars are rarely played. Try playing 300 gigs a year and keep the guitar in showroom condition. Yeah, try that. Or the previous owner might just be a plain, clumsy fella. Regardless of which, the chips and nicks add to vintage vibe. 😛

The first thing I did with my Strat was to block the trem. The official line was I wanted tuning stability. The truth is I’m Clapton’s biggest bitch and he had the trem on all his Strats blocked.Blooseman. After all, I don’t have the technical prowess to perform fretboard acrobatics with the whammy bar. Maybe I’ll unblock it once I play like Jeff Beck. Or when lmsn plays like Joe Pass, whichever first (read: never).

She has not, as of yet, performed at a gig, but she was on the outro solo of A Simple Goodbye and the rhythm guitarist for TMMBB* played her on (I’ve Got) News. I don’t know the guitarist, though. I just left the guitar in an unmarked box at the park for him/her to pick it up. Just exercising my plausible deniability clause here.

I don’t condone drug abuse and I’m sure neither does the owner of this blog site, but I think this J. J. Cale song is less about coke and more about heartbreak than anything else.

I wanted a dark-ish sounding, blues-y guitar reminiscent of a broken heart dripping with candy apple red blood.

And that’s what I got.

She don’t lie, she don’t lie, she don’t lie
Cocaine

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*the murg masalam blues band

cocaine is a japanese-crafted 1970’s reissue fender stratocaster, currently only available on the japanese market.

COCAINE (j.j. cale) as performed by eric clapton ©1977 warner chappell music publishing