[Ads-l] Antedating of "Scag" (Heroin)

[Ben Zimmer]

On Fri, Nov 21, 2025 at 7:02 AM Shapiro, Fred <
00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> scag (OED, 2., 1967)
>
> 1965 Newport (R.I.) Daily News 3 July 1/8 (Newspapers.com)
>
> Archie Shepp ... definitely had something to say, so strongly that he
> could not leave it all to the music, in "Scag" erupted into words with
> verses about the effect of heroin on the downcast and dejected.
>

This is about Archie Shepp's performance of "Scag" at the Newport Jazz
Festival on July 2, 1965, which was recorded for the album _New Thing at
Newport_ with John Coltrane (released Feb. 1966). The liner notes for the
album explain: "'Scag,' Shepp observes, 'is a colloquialism for heroin.'
The mood is bleak and mesmeric. As you can hear Shepp say, 'Where tracks
is, the money ain't.'" Shepp's spoken-word poetry ends with the line, "Scag
ain't dope, it's death."

https://www.discogs.com/release/873311-John-Coltrane-Archie-Shepp-New-Thing-At-Newport
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8Ho1xme008

--bgz

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org