'The Last Cigarette'

It was June 18, 1974, when a ban on advertising smoking went into effect in Germany. At the time, social life was almost unthinkable without cigarettes. People scarcely thought about the health consequences. On the contrary, smoking was seen as a symbol of freedom and cosmopolitanism as well as a comfort for daily stress and annoyances.

Singer Johannes Heesters sang their praises with the 1925 song "Da nehm' ich meine kleine Zigarette" (I'll Have My Little Cigarette), including a lyric that translates as, "With worries big or small, Nicotine, that sweet poison, can help."

Europe was slower than the US to declare battle against nicotine addiction. On the western side of the Atlantic, a thorough study had appeared in 1939, detailing the negative health effects of smoking.

Marlboro Man no more

Country singer Tex Williams took up frustration with smoking in his song "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke (that Cigarette)." In it, he even threatens to kill whoever invented the light-up cylinders. But for Williams, it had less to do with their health risks and more to do with his friends' habit of dropping everything for a cigarette, including a lover who would rather light up than give him a kiss.

Smoking is now arguably a bigger social stigma in the US than in anywhere else in the world. It's the same country where the Marlboro Man emerged. He could be seen riding alone at sunset, a cigarette resting coolly between his lips.

In 1947, the Sons of the Pioneers also delivered a cautionary tune on smoking, putting the habit on par with other dangers including whiskey and women of ill repute in "Cigarettes, Whiskey and Wild, Wild Women."

'The cigarette after'

Of course, not all songs vilify the rolls of tobacco. Sometimes the famed post-coital cigarette gets its time to shine - in the language of love, for example, in the tune "La cigarette d'apres" by the popular German duo Rosenstolz.

Many smokers turn their habit into a ritual - so that their beer in the evening or morning coffee becomes unthinkable without accompaniment from a cigarette. Van Morrison took up the theme in his song "You Just Can't Win."

Social glue

A creaky voice aged with nicotine and whiskey is the trademark of more than a few singers, with Tom Waits arguably leading the pack. When he sings, you could be excused for thinking he's got a terrible sore throat. He's meanwhile said to have given up smoking and drinking, but his voice remains unmistakable. In the song "Hope that I Don't Fall in Love with You," he's afraid to let himself ask a pretty young woman for a cigarette. After all, it's no secret that smoking brings people together - at the very least when they're huddled together to light up outside of non-smoking establishments.

Guitar god Jimmy Hendrix took drugs, drank heavily and liked to burn his instrument on stage. But he saw smoking, on the other hand, as dangerous - as the song "Midnight Lightning" proves. In it, he worries about coughing himself to death and when it comes to making love, he "wouldn't even have the breath."

The last time

It's not easy to be a smoker in the 21st century. It's long been forbidden to smoke in many bars, restaurants, offices and public buildings. Laws continue to get more strict, while cigarette packaging grows more menacing - showing destroyed lungs and diseased teeth.

Germany's advertising ban from July 1974 has been extended from radio and TV to films and magazines. Many ex-smokers have become militant non-smokers who make no bones about their disagreements with those still addicted to nicotine.

There's really only one way out: quitting. And that's exactly what Ruth Händel tried in 1975 with her song, "Meine letzte Zigarette" (My Last Cigarette).