Skip Haynes himself recounts "We started recording the song on December 31, 1971 and finished it on New Years Day 1972". Despite the fact that lyricist Haynes maintains that the song is not about LSD, the line "Just slippin' on by on L.S.D. / Friday night, trouble bound" has been construed as a double entendre of both driving on Lake Shore Drive and tripping on the drug. Other references include the lines "Pretty blue lights along the way / Helping you right on by," which some think refers to the blue lights of the Chicago Police Department squad cars that patrol Lake Shore Drive. Another theory for the meaning of the "blue lights" may be the blue lighting of the reversible lanes that used to run down Lake Shore Drive, and have since been removed. "From rags on up to riches" denoted driving from the south side to the north side. Lyricist Skip Haynes says, "I was a north sider so I usually was 'runnin' south on LSD' looking for a good time." Other lyrics in the song illustrate the physical features of the road and its surroundings: "It starts up north from Hollywood" refers to West Hollywood Avenue, which, running eastbound, becomes Lake Shore Drive, and "A ten-minute drive from the Gold Coast back / Makes you sure you’re pleasure bound" refers to the Gold Coast, a strip of affluent residential housing, hotels, university campuses, and office buildings along the Drive. "Concrete mountains rearing up / Throwing shadows just about five" refers to Chicago's downtown skyscrapers casting their shadows across the Drive as the sun sets in the late afternoon. "A ten-minute drive from the Gold Coast back / Makes you sure you’re pleasure bound" is described as "The thing to do when going to clubs on State Street and Rush Street during the late sixties and early seventies was to double park in front of the club and go in to hit on the waitresses and listen to the first set from bands like Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah, Aorta, Big Twist, Illinois Speed Press, Mason Proffit, and CTA. When the set was over, one would pile into the car, turn right on Oak Street, turn left at the Drive, shoot the loop at Foster Avenue, then back down to Oak Street, left on State Street, make an illegal U-turn on State and re-double park in front of Beaver's then go back into the club. This was the perfect amount of time to get high and be peaking just as you walked in and got a drink from the waitress as the band came on for the second set. That's it."
Variations
When the blizzard of 2011 hit Chicago, many motorists leaving the city were stranded on Lake Shore Drive as weather conditions deteriorated. Within days, Skip Haynes had reworked the lyrics of the song "Lake Shore Drive" and released it as "Snowed on LSD". Another variation of the song for the holiday season, "Christmas on LSD", was also released on Haynes's website, lakeshoredrivemusic.com.
