B-side "Snookeroo" Recorded 1974 Length 2:33 | Format vinyl record 7" Genre Rock | |
Released 27 January 1975 (US only) | ||
Ringo Starr's cover of Hoyt Axton's and David Jackson's "The No No Song" was included on his 1974 album Goodnight Vienna. The song was released in the US on 27 January 1975, backed with "Snookeroo". It was a #1 hit in Canada and a #3 hit in the US. It describes progressive attempts to sell Colombian marijuana, Spanish cocaine, and Tennessean moonshine to a recovered addict who refuses it all. Harry Nilsson provides backing vocals.
Covers and in popular culture Brazilian rock musician Raul Seixas recorded a Brazilian Portuguese version called "Não Quero Mais Andar na Contra-mão" ("Don't Want to Ride on the Wrong Way Anymore") adapting the drugs mentioned in the lyrics to the Brazilian culture (respectively, Colombian marijuana, Bolivian cocaine, and Argentinian chloroethane spray). Seixas also released an album (and hit single) called A Pedra do Gênesis ("The Genesis's Stone").
Joe Dassin's "Moi j'ai dit non" was a French adaptation of "The No No Song".
Some reissues and later pressings of the Ringo Starr version credit the song as "No No Song/Skokiaan". This is presumably due to a copyright claim by the publishers of the latter song, although details are lacking.