B-side "Your Wall's Too High" Format 7-inch single Label ABC Dunhill | Released 1968 Length 5:43 | |
Recorded | ||
"The Pusher" is a rock song written by Hoyt Axton, made popular by the 1969 movie Easy Rider which used Steppenwolf's version to accompany the opening scenes showing drug trafficking.
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The lyrics of the song distinguish between a dealer in drugs such as marijuana—who "will sell you lots of sweet dreams"—and a pusher of hard drugs such as heroin—a "monster" who doesn't care "if you live or if you die".
Steppenwolf version
The song was made popular when rock band Steppenwolf released the song on their 1968 album Steppenwolf.
Organist Goldy McJohn, who recorded the original Steppenwolf version, said the version that appears on Early Steppenwolf performed by "Sparrow" (pre-Steppenwolf moniker) in 1967 at the Matrix came about when singer John Kay and Jerry Edmonton were late for a performance:
Nick and Mars and me started that long version of the Pusher. John and Jerry's flight was late one night at the Avalon Ballroom, so we started and then we perfected it at the "Arc" in Sausalito on New Year's Eve in 1966.