Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)

Kenny Rogers passed away last night in Georgia at the age of 81. Rogers song like “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In).” Most tributes will begin with references to songs that we heard many times on pop-country radio through the years like “The Gambler,” “Lucille,” “Don’t Fall in Love With a Dreamer” and “Islands in the Stream.” Yet, I often forget that early in his career he recorded “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In” with The First Edition when he was more of a hippy than a silver-bearded pop singer.

You may recall the Kenny Rogers song from a dream sequence in the movie The Big Lebowski in 1998, but it first became a hit in 1967. “Just Dropped In” was written by one of Kenny Rogers’s former high school friends — Mickey Newbury, who also composed “An American Trilogy,” discussed in a previous post.

“Just Dropped In” sounds unlike “Coward of the County” and the other pop songs Rogers recorded later in his career. Even his voice sounds different. And the lyrics deviate from the literalness of most of his hits:

I pushed my soul in a deep dark hole and then I followed it in;

I watched myself crawlin’ out as I was a-crawlin’ in;

I got up so tight I couldn’t unwind;

I saw so much I broke my mind;

I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in.

According to some sources, “Just Dropped In” was written as a warning about using LSD. But such drug rumors surround many songs from the era.

A 2000 Billboard article “The Story So Far,” however, quotes Rogers explaining that Newbury did not intend the song to be taken completely seriously. “Mickey wrote a quasi-psychedelic song with elements of humor,” he explained. “It’s a tradition in country music to have your tongue in cheek, and that’s the case here.” (“The Story So Far,” at K-2)

One additional piece of trivia: the late great Glen Campbell played the guitar on the original recording.

Check out this psycedelic video from The Smother Brothers Hour. Kenny Rogers was always cool. RIP.