Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Condition Was In

[funkyfeet]

I didn't know this until recently, interesting background to what has now become a classic soul song.

"Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)" is a song written by Mickey Newbury. Said to reflect the LSD experience, Newbury wrote it as a warning against the danger of using LSD. First recorded in 1967 by Jerry Lee Lewis, who rejected it, it was a hit for The First Edition (with Kenny Rogers on lead vocals) in 1968. It was Rogers's first top ten hit in the Billboard charts, but not typical of the country folk harmonies that characterized most of The First Edition's catalog.[1] However, the group were no strangers to rock music, bouncing among country, pop, rock, and folk.

The innovative song features Rogers on lead vocals and was the group's second single. The psychedelic hard rock arrangement made quite an impression in the music field. According to Rogers, "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)" was Jimi Hendrix's favorite song. This is possibly due to the way in which the guitars on the track were recorded, which was quite different from the standard at the time. Producer Mike Post reversed a few riffs to create the unusual intro, and the solo played by Glen Campbell was heavily reverberated. Another studio ace guitarist, Mike Deasy, provided the acoustic lead guitar parts. The song is reminiscent of Secret Agent Man, recorded by Johnny Rivers in 1966.

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

Due to its lengthy title, the song has picked up a number of nicknames such as "Just Dropped In", "I Just Dropped In", or simply, "Condition". Possibly because of such a long title too, various pressings have had typing errors and slightly changed the title as a result, such as "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Is In)" or "Just Called In...", etc, however the song remains the same. Kenny's version made it to No.5 on the US Charts in 1967.

11___Just_Dropped_in.mp3

11___Just_Dropped_in.mp3

[Guest TonyCrampton]

Nice post and a great tune!!!

Cheers Tony

[billb]

Great post, thanks for sharing that with us, as they say "you learn something every day"

[Liam2005]

Also covered by british guitar band Supergrass!

Greg

[michael-j]

think Mickey Newbury recorded it himself, and there's a version on a later Kenny Rogers record (which isn't as good).

the Sharon Jones version on a Daptone 45 is very good too, pretty similar to the Betty Lavette, i think i slightly prefer it.

but the Kenny Rogers and First Edition is still the best...