Weed And Wine Intro - Live

How does a nice girl in AP classes
Band, choir and theater
Who skipped two grades, end up dropping out of high school?

Well, there were a lot of reasons
But some of it was where I grew up

As hippie kids, we saw weed getting smoked from the time we were born
Even though it was illegal then
It was just a part of our parents' lifestyle
Like long hair, tie-dye clothing, communal living, nude beaches
Giant pots of beans and rice
And of course lots of amazing concerts!

So, it was natural, that eventually us kids started to get high
And it was fun!
Stealing our parents' weed and running around the vineyards
Laughing and stoned in the sun

My first inkling, that weed might have a dark side
Came when I started high school and met the pot farm kids
They were different from us hippie kids
They came from the far north of the county
Wore old clothes and sometimes they looked so tired
As if they were 35, when they were really only 15
Occasionally they just stopped coming to school altogether

A friend of mine filled me in
Their farms were not welcoming places
They had electric fences, guard dogs and guns
Lots of guns
Robbery was a daily concern of their lives
Robbery of the pot
And robbery of the large amounts of cash that came in

The wine kids, in contrast, were usually upper middle class to rich
Good students and popular in school
Us hippie kids were not close with this group either
We envied them their big estates with giant gates and fancy names
And we may not have admitted it
But we also envied how easy they had it
Being, you know, mainstream and all

So, what do you do
When everyone you go to school with is supported by weed or wine?
Well, for one thing, it makes it really easy to party
Our parents didn't notice their weed disappearing
They were smoking it too
Wine was everywhere and considered classy!
Of course, us hippie kids had started early
And by the time we were teens
We considered ourselves experts at getting wasted

We spent our days stoned in cars
And our nights dancing around someone's living room
Fueled by stolen wine
And by 16, I had dropped out

I was on diet pills
And anything else I could get my hands on
I had screwed up all of my friendships
But the worst thing was that I hated myself
And I was pretty sure everyone else did too
It had quit being fun

It was a long, hard climb
But eventually I did get my life back on track
And I was even able to finish college
Looking back, I'm not sure how I could've done it any differently

The freedom we had, the art, the music, the smell of Sonoma dirt
Buds and fermented grapes
All made me who I am

I can't regret anything
I love being from this unique place
A land that survives on getting high