This is a song of mine that goes back a couple of decades. I was living in Greenwich Village when I wrote it and recorded it with my band. That version is gathering dust in the archives. It’s hard to remember the impetus behind the lyrics but the idea of using drugs in jail struck me as an attempt to let your mind escape even as your body is trapped. Unfortunately, it’s a feeling that still resonates with me which I guess is why I’ve recently started playing it again after all these years I’ve left it moldering in the past.
I have to give my bandmate Matt credit for the “driving down Commerce Street through the gates of heaven” line, which I stole from him. He also came up with the “through the gates of heaven” backing vocal bit that I reproduce on this version.
When she puts on her eyeliner
It’s like rock’n’roll in China
It’s like justice in South Carolina
It’s like drugs in jail
When she wears that real tight skirt
I feel my favorite kind of hurt
Some people’d rather shoot up than flirt
They’re all doing drugs in jail
We’re driving down Commerce Street
Through the gates of heaven
When she lies there sleeping
I want to know everything she’s dreaming
There’s nothing else in my life worth keeping
Everything else is drugs in jail
We’re driving down Commerce Street
Through the gates of heaven
Words & Music by Mike Power 