Well, it's Friday and you know what that means. Yes, my Oriental apple crumbcake Fah Lo Suee and I are off to picket outside the palatial mansion of Hollywood mega-player/writer/director James Cameron.
Please James -- shelve your plans for all those sequels to Avatar The Worst Movie Ever Made©. We've suffered enough.
Anyway, that being the case, and because things will most likely be fairly quiet around here for a couple of days, here's a hopefully amusing little project to divert us from the sad screeching existential emptiness of our lives. Or at least help us beat the heat.
BEST OR WORST POST-ELVIS POP, ROCK OR SOUL SONG REFERENCING DRINKING -- HARDER STUFF THAN BEER OR WINE -- AND/OR ALCOHOLISM!!!!
No arbitrary rules, except for that beer and wine thing, you're welcome very much, and now (hic!) it's post time!
Which means my totally top of my head Top Five is/are:
5. Tom Waits -- Jockey Full of Bourbon
Waits has got a zillion great booze songs, of course. I was gonna post "The Piano Has Been Drinking," but since I can't understand a word of this one, I thought it was a particularly apt choice.
4. Warren Zevon -- Desperadoes Under the Eaves
Two relevant lyrics.
"All the salty margaritas in Los Angeles/I'm gonna drink 'em up."
And "Still waking up in the mornings with shaking hands." Hell, you can practically feel the hangover. And the rest of the song is even more amazing.
3. Beth Orton -- Absinthe
Supposedly, it makes the heart grow fonder. I wouldn't know, actually -- I've never tasted the stuff.
2. Jeff Beck Group -- I've Been Drinking
An obscure b-side, and perhaps the best thing Rod Stewart ever committed to magnetic tape. I'd never heard this stereo mix until yesterday, and frankly words fail me. I should add that my 70s band covered it, but as fond as I am of the results, we didn't even come close to the gorgeousness of the original.
And the Numero Uno party-till-you-puke song of them all simply has to be...
1. The Kinks -- Alcohol
Not really a top rank Kinks song, but as you can see from the clip, it was one of the great performance pieces of its era.Alrighty then -- what would your choices be?
Procul Harum - "Whiskey Train" - Just for that riff.
ReplyDeleteEasy.
ReplyDeleteTeenage Alcoholic
http://powerpop.blogspot.com/search?q=the+ohms
Would "Marie" by Randy Newman count?
ReplyDeleteAnd how the heck did Carl Wilson end up singing with Warren Zevon? Man I love that song.
ReplyDeleteWould blues be outside of the lines? John Lee Hooker's "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer" comes immediately to mind.
ReplyDeleteBut more on topic:
The Who - Dr Jimmy and Mr Jim, & Blue, Red and Grey
The Champs - Tequila
Rick Derringer - Cheap Tequila
Kris Kristofferson - Sunday Morning Coming Down
And a little out of era, but one of the classic drinking songs - Louie Jordan's "What's the Use of Getting Sober (when you're gonna get drunk again)"
Grateful Dead: "Brown-Eyed Women and Red Grenadine"
ReplyDeleteStones: "Honky-Tonk Women"
Doors (okay, Kurt Weill): "Whiskey Bar" (okay, "Alabama Song")
The Beatles "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party" -- 'I've had a drink or two and I don't care' -- that sounded very grown-up in 1964!
ReplyDeleteAlice Cooper: "Lace and Whiskey"
ReplyDeleteMy favorite is the one by Barenaked ladies. Forgive the long quote:
ReplyDeleteAlcohol, my permanent accessory
Alcohol, a party-time necessity
Alcohol, alternative to feeling like yourself
O Alcohol, I still drink to your health
I love you more than I did the week before
I discovered alcohol
Forget the caffe latte, screw the raspberry iced tea
A Malibu and Coke for you, a G&T for me
Alcohol, Your songs resolve like
My life never will
When someone else is picking up the bill
I love you more than I did the week before
I discovered alcohol
O Alcohol, would you please forgive me?
For while I cannot love myself
I'll use something else
I thought that Alcohol was just for those with
Nothing else to do
I thought that drinking just to get drunk
Was a waste of precious booze
But now I know that there's a time
And there's a place where I can choose
To walk the fine line between
Self-control and self-abuse
Would you please ignore that you
Found me on the floor
Trying on your camisole?
O Alcohol, would you please forgive me?
For while I cannot love myself
I'll use something else.
Would you please forgive me?
Would you please forgive me?
And the song rocks too!
Trey
I woke up in a Soho doorway
ReplyDeleteA policeman knew my name
He said, "You can go sleep at home tonight
If you can get up and walk away"
Pete Townsend, "Who Are You"
Pete doesn't specify, but it sure sounds like a binge to me.
Gummo:
ReplyDeleteI think Pete's talked about the genesis of those lines in an interview somewhere. And I believe stronger stuff than alcohol was involved, if memory serves.
I think it happened the night he ran into a couple Steve Jones and whatsis name the drummer of the Sex Pistols. They asked how Pete was doing, and he said, well I'm afraid the Who are breaking up. And the two Pistols were aghast -- "Hey man, you can't break up; the Who are our favorite band."
I'm pretty sure I read that somewhere....
How about "Too drunk to f*ck" by the Dead Kennedys.....could be considered the best or worst depending on your tastes
ReplyDeleteHe likes the warm feeling but he's tired of all the dehydration. Most nights were kind of fuzzy but that last night he had total retention.
ReplyDelete-- Stuck Between Stations
The Band: "Rag, Mama, Rag" ... Hail stones beatin' on the roof, The bourbon is a hundred proof, It's you and me and the telephone. Our destiny is quite well known.
ReplyDeleteVan Morrison: "And It Stoned Me" ...On the way back home we sang a song,
But our throats were getting dry.
Then we saw the man from across the road,
With the sunshine in his eyes.
Well he lived all alone in his own little home
With a great big gallon jar.
There were bottles too, one for me and you
And he said Hey! There you are.
Steve, I think that the story of Townshend's encounter with members of the Sex Pistols is told in Dave Marsh's Before I Get Old: The Story of the Who. Marsh may be a pompous little toad, but it's a pretty good book; we'll see how it compares to Townshend's autobiography, out this fall.
ReplyDeleteAnd for the Listomania: just about my favorite early John Entwistle song, Whiskey Man.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe no one has yet mentioned The Pogues - virtually every song of theirs could be included in this list. 'Fairytale of New York' (to me) is their most sublime song, and probably qualifies, but may not be explicit enough about the "harder stuff", so I'll go with
ReplyDelete"Sally Maclennane", off of Rum, Sodomy & the Lash. Whiskey and beer.
also
Los Lobos - "I Got Loaded", off of How Will the Wolf Survive?. Hits gin, whiskey and wine.
The New Pornographers - "The Slow Descent into Alcoholism", off of Mass Romantic. A jaunty melody for this subject...
The Replacements - "Here Comes a Regular", off of Tim. I'll steal the youtube comment - "painfully good".
and close with some sad news and a great song -
Jason & The Scorchers - "Broken Whiskey Glass", off of Lost & Found.
These guys were amazing live, I'm glad I got to see them a couple of times back in the 80's. In searching for the clip, I saw that Perry Baggs (their drummer) died yesterday at 50; he'd been in poor health for a while. For some reason I had listened to their two great early albums (Fervor and Lost & Found) earlier today, even before seeing this Listomania. Sadness for a loss, but glad the band's work is still around...
Yay. Listomania is back and I know a couple of more songs for the list.
ReplyDeleteSpider and the Fly - Rolling Stones
Fire Island - FoW
Whiskey in a Jar - don't remember who did that but the name of the song fits.
Whiskey in the Jar was by THin Lizzy, The Dubliners, and many, many others (even Metallica!).
ReplyDeleteMy vote, though: "Milk and Alchohol" by Doctor Feelgood.
Chhers!
boy, Dave Marsh's name getting dropper a lot lately....
ReplyDeleteAgreed he's down some great stuff (Louie Louie book etc) but too hard to get past the S'teen idolatry clouding his view.
Leaving out Country makes it a little more difficult.
ReplyDelete"Drinking Again" Carlos Guitarlos
"A Good Night For My Drinkin'" The Supersuckers
"I Was Drunk" Alejandro Escovedo
"Whiskey Trail" Los Lobos
"Here Comes A Regular" The Replacements
"Pointless Drinking" Amy LaVere
+1 for JZ's 'Down Where the Drunkards Roll', R&L Thompson
ReplyDeleteGogol Bordello, for a slow, alcohol drenched, Russian/Ukrainian take on the subject:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f468tPT6oCQ
"Yeah o yeah you seen me walk
On burning bridges
Yeah o yeah you seen me fall
In love with witches..."
The Fountains of Wayne comment above reminds me of another drinking-too-much song of theirs, "Bright Future in Sales":
ReplyDeleteSleeping on a planter at the Port Authority
Waiting for my bus to come
Seven scotch-and-sodas at the office party
Now I don't remember where I'm from
"Why Henry Drinks" by the Drive By Truckers
ReplyDeleteWell, if you're going country...a lot of Merle Haggard's qualify. Personal favorite: Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down.
ReplyDelete