Don’t forget American Pie if you’re gonna include Freebird. Those two songs at the end of a drunken night always guaranteed me and my friends gathered in a circle, arms around each other’s necks, wailing horribly off-tune and winding down the party.
Honorable mentions to:
“I love this bar” - Toby Keith
“Alcohol” - I don’t know the singer, but it’s country’ish
“One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer” - George Thorogood
“Du Hast” - Rammstein [This one only works if everyone’s drunk, angry, and ready to cause property destruction]
Thorogood didn’t deserve to down the dregs of the shot glasses left by Amos Milburn, who co-wrote “One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer” and also wrote “Bad, Bad Whiskey”.
Anyway, the best drinking song is the American National Anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” which originally was an English drinking song (albeit with different lyrics). And when you consider how many millions of Americans are drinking beers while waiting, in stadiums, homes and bars, for a game to start, there’s no question that it is also the most drunk-to song out there, in the USA, anyway.
“O’ER THE LAND… OF THE FREE
AND THE HOME… OF THE BRAVE!! [Woo-hoo!]”
I like the revised version, to be sung to the same tune immediately after the first verse, preferably while steaming drunk. Causes great hilarity:
Indicate the way to my abode,
I am fatigued and I wish to retire.
I had a little tipple sixty minutes ago
And it’s infiltrated into my cranium.
No matter where I perambulate,
Over earth or ocean or undulating water,
You can always hear me incanting this melody,
Indicate the way to my habitual abode.
And another one is the trad Irish song Carrickfergus, with the great singalong lines:
“…I’ll sing no more now, 'till I get a drink.
For I’m drunk NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW
And I’m seldom sober…”
Aww, come on, no Hey Jude? A good crowd can keep the party an extra 30 minutes, and happy, too.
Violent Femmes. “Add it up”
Another great sing-along, but much more likely to end up with fights in the parking lot.
Psychostick. “The Beer Song.”
When it’s warm it tastes real crappy
But cold beer will make me happy
When I throw up on the floor
I can go and drink some more
They say beer will make me dumb
It are go good with pizza
Now that we have drunk some beer
Let’s go drive a car
I bet most people don’t know that that song has words. The version with no words (other than Hey) is called “Rock & Roll Part 2,” while the version with words is called “Rock & Roll Part 1.” They were released together as the A and B side of a record.
Slightly off the OP’s topic, I nominate the best post-binge song, Squeeze’s “When the Hangover Strikes”. It’s hilarious. There’s something about the contrast between the debased subject matter and the high, glossy style (and languid glamour) of the music and torchy vocal delivery that tickles my funny bone every time I hear it… and the “Oh… oh, ooooh me…” bits just push the mordant wit over the top. The rue, the shameless self-pity, the ravaged brain and body… oh, it’s great!