Sunday, May 06, 2007

I Gotta Get Drunk …

You've heard people say it so much that it's a cliche: "I don't drink beer because I want to get drunk, I drink it because I like the taste." Which, when you were saying it as a teenager, was complete bullshit. No teenager drinks because he/she like the taste of beer. For one thing, when you were a teenager, you were almost certain drinking cheap, flavorless beer. But now that I'm older, I truly do love the taste of well-made beer. That's the whole point of this blog. Of the severe drunk (read: vomiting, and also read: few) episodes that I've had over the last few years, it was because the beer was so darn delicious that I couldn't (wouldn't?) stop myself.

Now, that said, I freely admit that I do occasionally crack a few open for the express purpose of getting drunk. I've had a hard day at work, and I really need to unwind. I make no apologies, and no one should, for just wanting to mentally dissolve on such days and let loose. Ironically, it's days like these that, while I'll intentionally get tipsy, I never puke. If I
plan on getting drunk, I know when to cut it off.

I had one of these days recently, and every time I have one, I get my favorite drinking song stuck in my head. It's one of my favorite songs ever, and I want to share the lyrics with you. If you can find an MP3 on the web, download it. Or go buy a Willie album. It's a song that brings me great joy.

"Gotta Get Drunk"
by Willie Nelson

Well I gotta get drunk and I sure do dread it
cause I know just what I'm gonna do
I'll start to spend my money
calling everybody honey and wind up singing the blues
I'll spend my whole paycheck on some old wreck and brother I can name you a few
But I gotta get drunk and I sure do dread it cause I know just what I'm gonna do

I gotta get drunk I just can't stay sober there's a lot of good people in town
Who'd like to hear me holler see me spend my dollars
And I wouldn't think of lettin' 'em down
There's a lot of doctors that tell me that I'd better start slowin' it down
But there's more old drunks than there are old doctors
So I guess we'd better have another round


So what's your favorite drinking song?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dave T says...

"Gotta get drunk" is at the top of the list, but I'm also a big fan of Mike Graham's "I Feel Like Drinking Today."

It's an insanely dumb song, but just right. It's like cheap beer, chopped-beef sandwiches and movies where shit blows up. A lot.

For a wiser, more reflective, more proper drunk, it's hard to beat Merle Haggard's "Back to the Barrooms" or George Jones' "If Drinking Don't Kill Me (Her Memory Will)."

Karla said...

Dude, Lee, I can SO see you listening to that song.

I like that song, was it by the Indigo Girls?, "Spent My last Few Bucks on Birth Control and Beer".

Most of my favorite drinking songs are actually boogying, move-my-ass osngs, though. Not so much about the drinking and more about the drunken dancing.

Lee said...

Karla, the actual song title is "I Spent My last $10.00 (On Birth Control and Beer)," and it was performed by Austin's very own Two Nice Girls. Here you go: http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~chinnery/lyrics/birthcontrol.html)

Centrist Dude said...

Favorite drinking song? Wow...there are a bunch. A new favorite is The Mother Truckers "I Got A Friend In Alcohol." "Finnegan's Wake" comes to mind as another fav. There's also a regional tune by an Irish-music band named The Fineans that's called "We're On Our Way" that has a chorus something like this:

"Well, it's one for where I come from, two for where I'm now, three for where I'm going, four for God knows how, five for those around me, six for just today, seven 'cause I must be going, and eight...I'm on my way."

Good stuff.

Bookhart said...

The song phrase that runs through my mind when i've had a few is "Here I Am. Drunk Again." I don't know the (country & western) singer of this, but I imagine you do.

Lee said...

No, I don't think I know that song, Jennifer. I'll have to look that up.