Song of the Day 3/20: Traffic, “Medicated Goo”

If you thought idiots dosing themselves with cattle dewormer would stop being a thing now that COVID is receding, you don’t know the persistence of idiots.

You might have seen the news last week when an “ivermectin influencer” named Danny Lemoi died when his enlarged heart gave out. That might have killed him without the ivermectin — he had a family history of heart problems, and he started taking the drug more than a decade ago when Lyme disease caused COPD — but it couldn’t have done him much good.

More important, his death drew attention to his followers, many of whom detailed their own problems with side effects. More alarming, there’s a group of idiots who are giving ivermectin to their autistic kids.

Ivermectin wasn’t what Jimmy Miller had in mind when he wrote the lyrics for Stevie Winwood’s tune — it’s pretty obvious the kind of restorative he meant, and if it’s not more helpful it’s certainly less harmful. Miller was best known as producer for the Rolling Stones, Traffic and Mötorhead, but he also wrote lyrics for several Winwood compositions.

Initially released as a stand-alone single in December 1968, “Medicated Goo” was included on “Last Exit,” the half-studio/half-live LP cobbled together when the band broke up the next month. It became a staple of Traffic’s live performances when they got back together in 1970.

Fun fact: Jimmy Miller was the half-brother of Judith Miller, the New York Times reporter fired for gullibly accepting claims that Saddam Hussein possessed WMDs.