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

"Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)" is a counterculture era song written by Mickey Newbury and, in 1968, a chart hit for Kenny Rogers and the First Edition. Said to reflect the LSD experience, the song was intended to be a warning about the dangers of using the drug. First recorded on October 10, 1967, by Teddy Hill & the Southern Soul as a single on Rice Records (Rice 5028 b/w "Stagger Lee") and produced by Norro Wilson, Jerry Lee Lewis covered the song on his album Soul My Way released November 1, 1967.

"Just Dropped In ..." by Kenny Rogers and the First Edition (with Kenny Rogers on lead vocals) peaked at number five ^[2] on the Billboard charts. It was Rogers' first top ten hit. The song captures the short-lived psychedelic era of the late 1960s, stands apart from the country folk harmonies that characterized most of the First Edition's catalog,^[3] and got the group their first national TV audience on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.

It was the group's second single from their eponymous album, The First Edition. Producer Mike Post reversed a few riffs to create the intro; the solo played by Glen Campbell was heavily compressed and a tremolo effect was used to achieve its sound. Another studio guitarist, Mike Deasy, provided the acoustic lead guitar parts.Recorded by Jimmy Valentine at "Valentine Recording Studios" located in Valley Village California.

When Rogers signed with United Artists Records, in the mid-1970s after the group split, he re-recorded the track for his Ten Years of Gold album.

Covers

• Bettye LaVette, Karen Records (KA 1544), 1968, flip side to "Get Away". On that release it is called "What Condition My Condition Is In"
• Styvar Manor, British group, 1970, issued as single on Polydor.
• Jim Turner of comedy troupe Duck's Breath Mystery Theatre performed (as his character Randee of the Redwoods) a surprisingly faithful version on the Ducks' 1986 album Born To Be Tiled.
• Die Haut, 1988, with Nick Cave as guest singer.
• Supergrass as a B-Side to their 1995 single Alright/Time
• Tinsley Ellis, 1997, on his 1997 album 'Fire It Up (Tinsley Ellis album)'
• The Raymen, Death-Country/Goth-Americana-Billy band, 1998
• Willie Nelson, on his 2001 album "Rainbow Connection" and his 2002 album The Great Divide
• Mojo Nixon, 2001
• Children of Bodom, melodic death metal band, on the Japanese release of their "Blooddrunk" album as a bonus track and on their 2009 cover album "Skeletons in the Closet"
• Tom Jones, on the Deluxe Edition of "Spirit in the Room" in 2012
• Murder by Death, Americana band, 2012
• the Launderettes, Norwegian rock group, 2013, ^[4]
• The Fantastics, Donegal-based band, 2014.
• Sinister Dexter, San Francisco soul/funk group, 2014
• White Denim exclusively for the black comedy–crime drama television series Fargo, which played over the credits of the "Did you do this? No, you did it!" episode of the second season in 2015.^[5]
• Abe Diddy and The Krautboys on the album Follow in 2016
• Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, on the original motion picture soundtrack for the film Soul Men
• Reef for their compilation album Together.^[6]
• Jeff Walker Und Die Fluffers (former lead singer of Carcass), on album Welcome to Carcass Cuntry
• Sam Feldt, in his 2017 album Sunrise, with Girls Love DJs and Joe Cleere.

Jacob Needham & The Blue Trees, a Southern Rock Group from Nashville,TN released "Just Dropped In" with Spectra Music Group on their debut album Procrastinated Memoirs" April of 2018. Their version of the song brings out a hard more grungy sound while adding touches of mainstream influence to build and bring back a classic song that had such impact for its time. Their version of the song has already been making and name while reaching a new audience in the new millennial generation.

In popular culture (First Edition version)

The song is featured in a dream sequence from the Coen Brothers' 1998 film The Big Lebowski. Additionally, it plays during the end credits of the 2000 video game Driver 2, the title screen and end credits of the 2013 video game Stick It To The Man, and is featured in the 2010 action movie Faster. It is also used is season 3, episode 1 of Chuck: "Chuck Versus the Pink Slip". A short clip is heard in the 2015 HBO documentary Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief. It is also on the TV series Fargo, season 2 episode 7.

References