Miriam Makeba Quit it (1974)
Remember Nancy Reagan’s famous anti-drug slogan “Just Say No”? Unfortunately, addiction is smarter than that. Drugs don’t just change what the brain wants: they change how it works. Substances like heroin, cocaine or alcohol hijack the brain’s reward system, making the high feel not just pleasurable but essential—a kind of survival strategy.
Over time, the brain records everything tied to that experience: places, sounds, emotions. Years later, those cues can trigger intense craving before the conscious mind even knows what’s happening. So, quitting—or as Nancy put it, “saying no”—isn’t just about willpower. It’s about rewiring a system that’s already been rewired.
The lyrics of today’s song speak directly to that altered state. “Quit It”, sung by South African icon Miriam Makeba was released in the early 1970s and addresses someone drifting deeper into a world of intoxication, urging them—plainly and repeatedly—to stop. There’s no metaphor, no abstraction, just a raw, urgent plea for someone to stop—even though we know, and the brain knows, it’s never that simple.
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