# Best bar songs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 5, 2007, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-bar-songs/414467 "2007-08-05T00:02:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2007, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-bar-songs/414467/21 "2007-08-05T17:19:18Z")
[QUOTE=neutron star] **Replacements** - Here Comes a Regular Okay, I’ve never actually heard that second one in a bar, but it certainly would be cool if I did. Next time I go to a bar with an Internet Jukebox, I’ll have to look it up. [/QUOTE] It gets played occaisionally at my regular bar. The first time I played it, the bartender gave me a free drink for putting it on. ---
**Author:** ![seenidog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@seenidog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seenidog)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2007, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-bar-songs/414467/22 "2007-08-05T18:22:33Z")
I might live in Wisconsin, but I am still Chicago at heart. I nominate **Alliota, Haynes and Jerimiah** (of LSD fame) with “The Last One of the Night People”. Second choice, umm , I know it is almost a cliche, but **Billy Joel** and “Piano Man”. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2007, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-bar-songs/414467/23 "2007-08-06T16:04:58Z")
You Can Leave Your Hat On You Don’t Have To Call Me Darlin’ You Picked A Fine Time To Leave Me Lucille You’re Not Drinkin’ Enough Prop Me Up Beside The Jukebox Faraway Eyes and of course, FILP by the Garthy guy ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2007, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-bar-songs/414467/24 "2007-08-06T16:21:50Z")
Elvira from the early 80’s ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2007, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-bar-songs/414467/25 "2007-08-06T16:26:05Z")
It took 22 posts before Piano Man?! It’s a classic, and is probably mandatory at any sing-a-long piano bar I’ve ever been to. Just make sure you don’t play it until right before last call, since it’s the one everyone sings to while they put their arms over the shoulders of the guy next to him. Everyone must be good and sauced before it gets played! ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2007, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-bar-songs/414467/26 "2007-08-06T16:37:38Z")
OK, so I don’t know a lot of the songs people have already mentioned, and I might be missing the OP’s point entirely, but here goes. When I’m in a bar, having a lonely bourbon, I want to hear “9th and Hennepin” by Tom Waits. Rarely does it spark an impromptu sing-along, but as far as I’m concerned, there is no better bar song. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2007, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-bar-songs/414467/27 "2007-08-06T16:45:45Z")
[My roommates make a good case for _I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)_](http://vimeo.com/262805). I know this is karaoke, but how hard do you think it would be to have a bunch of drunk people to sing along to the chorus? ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2007, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-bar-songs/414467/28 "2007-08-06T17:37:15Z")
[QUOTE=John Carter of Mars] Damn, I knew I’d forget a great one! Chris Hillman’s _High Fashion Queen_ [/QUOTE] I’m glad you brought that one up! I, too, love that song, but the very end of it has had me scratching my head for over thirty years: “There’s nothing new that can be said about dirt And there’s nothing left inside your heart but the same old hurt Of an old love’s fancy life has left you stranded in a dream Ain’t you glad you’re a high fashion queen” What the hell is a “high fashion queen?” Is the “you” Hillman and Parsons sing to male? female? A gay male? (As in drag queen?) In either case, why is the person they sing about checking out the women, searching for “her” constantly? I’ve always found it utterly confusing. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2007, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-bar-songs/414467/29 "2007-08-06T17:53:03Z")
“Sultans of Swing” by Dire Straits is good bar music. That is, it’s a good song set in a bar, that should be played in a good bar. I don’t think it would suit a bad bar. On a more traditional note, I’d call “Old Dun Cow” a bar song, although it’s certainly a drinking song as well. “Ramblin’ Rover” also works well in a bar, but it works best if sung out on the floor, teasing regulars by hinting that they’re examples of the sorts of people mentioned in the song (although the “sober men in plenty” are hard to come by in a pub). Almost, but not quite, completely irrelevant: I went to a Tran-Siberian Orchestra concert last Christmas. The whole thing was wrapped around a song/poem/story thing set in a bar on Christmas eve, and was incredibly poignant. If “Piano Man” makes you sappy when you’re three sheets to the wind, this might have made you weepy if you were stone-cold sober. I’m not a Christian, but…well, a line from another song ran through my head at the end of the show: “Ma’am, I am tonight.” This, on top of kick-ass music and a stunning light-show. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2007, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-bar-songs/414467/30 "2007-08-06T18:10:49Z")
[QUOTE=Labdad] What the hell is a “high fashion queen?” Is the “you” Hillman and Parsons sing to male? female? A gay male? (As in drag queen?) In either case, why is the person they sing about checking out the women, searching for “her” constantly? I’ve always found it utterly confusing. [/QUOTE] Just a WAG… maybe it’s shorthand for a barroom stereotype. The guy in the song spends all his time chasing down the “high fashion queens” - the women in the lyrics that **John Carter of Mars** quoted - without ever realizing that he’s become one himself. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2007, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-bar-songs/414467/31 "2007-08-06T18:21:50Z")
[QUOTE=Enginerd] Just a WAG… maybe it’s shorthand for a barroom stereotype. The guy in the song spends all his time chasing down the “high fashion queens” - the women in the lyrics that **John Carter of Mars** quoted - without ever realizing that he’s become one himself. [/QUOTE] And that’s as good a guess as any. You know, I saw Chris Hillman perform the month before last at a little club here in Atlanta, and thought to myself, “here’s your chance to ask what the hell this song’s about.” But I was too embarrassed to ask him! ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2007, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-bar-songs/414467/32 "2007-08-06T21:37:57Z")
[QUOTE=HazelNutCoffee] On Thursday I went drinking with some friends at our local bar. Someone put on Gin Blossoms’ “Hey Jealousy” and pretty soon everyone was singing along. [/QUOTE] I was going to mention “Hold Me Down”, about drinking getting out of control. Mellow, sing along classic? “Brown-Eyed Girl”. ---
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2007, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-bar-songs/414467/33 "2007-08-06T21:41:57Z")
[The Rodeo Song](http://www.themadmusicarchive.com/song_details.aspx?SongID=491) by **Garry Lee & the Showdown.** Warning: NSFW! ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2007, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-bar-songs/414467/34 "2007-08-06T21:44:15Z")
“One for My Baby,” sung by Sinatra, Laine, and many others. ---
**Author:** ![akira5822](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@akira5822](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akira5822)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2007, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-bar-songs/414467/35 "2007-08-06T22:17:44Z")
I used to freqent a bar that would really get rolling when \*\*Dr. Hook " On the cover of the rolling stone" \*\* would play on the jukebox. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2007, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-bar-songs/414467/36 "2007-08-06T23:29:02Z")
[It’s five o’clock somewhere](http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/alanjackson/itsfiveoclocksomewhere.html) [Those were the days](http://artists.letssingit.com/mary-hopkins-lyrics-those-were-the-days-my-friend-v7x2lgm) > [@](#): > > Once upon a time, there was a tavern > Where we used to raise a glass or two > Remember how we laughed away the hours, > Dream of all the great things we would do ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2007, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-bar-songs/414467/37 "2007-08-07T00:01:04Z")
Way back in another life… I would frequent Bull’s Tavern in San Luis Obispo, California. It was a tavern law that “Moondance” be played once an hour. If a patron didn’t do it, the bartender would. ---
**Author:** ![Key\_Lime\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/48db29/32.png) [@Key\_Lime\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Key_Lime_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2007, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-bar-songs/414467/38 "2007-08-07T00:06:06Z")
There was a day when any western bar would be instantly animated by “Friends in Low Places” (Garth Brooks). Don’t know if this is still true. ---
**Author:** ![Who\_me\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/958977/32.png) [@Who\_me\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Who_me_1)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2007, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-bar-songs/414467/39 "2007-08-07T12:58:02Z")
I’ll submit [Boom, Boom, Out go the Lights](http://www.lyricsdownload.com/pat-travers-boom-boom-out-go-the-lights-lyrics.html) as a great bar song. [Youtube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVEl6PdR39Y) ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2007, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-bar-songs/414467/40 "2007-08-07T13:56:41Z")
Tubthumping - Chumbawumba 3 AM - Matchbox 20 6th Avenue Heartache - The Wallflowers Scenes from an Italian Restaurant - Billy Joel Living on a Prayer - Bon Jovi (at least in any Hoboken bar) Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC So Loney - The Police One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer - George Thorogood [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-bar-songs/414467.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-bar-songs/414467.md?page=3)