Raspberries, Strawberries, The Kingston Trio
“Raspberries, Strawberries, the good wine we brew. . .”
Have Some Madeira, M’Dear, Flanders and Swann
“I don’t care for sherry, one cannot drink stout
And port is a wine I can well do without
It’s simply a case of chacun a son gout
Have some madeira, m’dear”
Unless I overlooked it, I’m surprised this one wasn’t yet mentioned:
“No Sugar Tonight” by the Guess Who. I realize that the references are metaphorical more so than literal, but that still counts, right?
“Suzanne” - Leonard Cohen “she feeds you tea and oranges that come all the way from China”
“Case of You” - Joni Mitchell “you’re in my blood like holy wine”
“Hallelujah I Love Her So” - Ray Charles “every mornin’ 'fore the sun comes up, she brings me coffee in my favorite cup”
“Pennyroyal Tea” - Nirvana
…a song about an arbotifacient herbal tea, from their album (ironically) In Utero.
ETA : “Lilac Wine” - Jeff Buckley
(feeling 90’s-nostalgic tonight…)
Here are a couple that can be attributed to Marley:
“One Cup of Coffee”
“Easy Skanking” (herb for my wine… honey for my strong drink…)
ETA there’s also “Is She Really Going Out With Him?” by Joe Jackson (…from my window I`m staring while my coffee goes cold…)
All Along The Watchtower, Jimi Hendryx
“Businessmen, they drink my wine; ploughmen dig my herbs. . .”
“Two Dollar Wine” by one of the greatest bands to ever hail from Athens, Georgia – The Glands: “Tastes like two dollar wine (tastes like two dollar wine, yeah)/Sounds like a pretty good time (Sounds like a pretty good time, yeah…”).
One of the few songs I know that MENTIONS cocoa (but not in the title) is “If I Didn’t Love You” by Squeeze:
The last verse goes…
If I didn’t love you, I’d hate you.
Cocoa mugs sit side by side.
It’s time to poke at the fire,
But it’s “Not tonight” looks I find.
Taking a bite on a biscuit,
The record jumps on a scratch.
Tonight it’s love by the fire,
But the door of your love’s on the latch.
(Translation: the narrator had put a romantic record on the stereo, built a fire and made two cups of cocoa, in hopes he and his lady would have sex. But it turns out she’s not in the mood, and he’s left sitting in frustration by the fire, listening to the record stuck on a scratch.)
“Rock Island Line” by Johnny Cash (originally written by Kelly Pace):
Now the engineer said before he died
There were two more drinks he’d like to try
Conducter asked him “what could they be”
“A hot cup of coffee and a cold glass of tea”
“Cigarettes and Coffee” by Otis Redding.
You’re the Cream in My Coffee, recorded by many different artists (in this case, by Bob Haring’s orchestra)
Black Coffee by Wingy Manone
The Coffee Song, here performed by Frank Sinatra
The Coffee Cantata by J.S. Bach (it’s in German, but it is about coffee)
Cup of Coffee by Garbage.
Another song that mentions cocoa?
“Things That Make You Go Hmmmm…” by C & C Music Factory.
It begins…
“I was at the crib, sitting by the fireplace
Drinking cocoa on the bear skin rug.
The door bell rang. Who could it be?
Thought to myself then started to shrug.”
I don’t drink coffee
I take tea, my dear
Englishman in New York - Sting
All is memory taken home with me:
the opera, the stolen tea,
the sand drawing, the verging sea,
all years ago
Verdi Cries - 10,000 Maniacs
The other problem with cocoa is that in much of the country it is called “hot chocolate.”
If you find it in a blues song, for example, I can almost guarantee it will be called “hot chocolate.”
I got a nickel
you got a dime
Let’s get together
and buy some wine
Wine Spodeeodee - Hank Williams, Sr.
Colombian Blend by Tintin og Hårtørrerne
*Boil the water!
And crush the beans
Then blend it in a pot
This drink is fit for kings and queens!
So get it while it’s hot
Some folks need gin and tonic to get their motor going
Some folks prefer a cup of tea
Some folks need twenty beers before their legs are moving
But none of that applies to me
I want coffee
Coffee!
Coffee
Coffee!
It’s gotta be Colombian
It’s gotta be Colombian
Coffee
Coffee!
It’s gotta be Colombian Blend*
When I Take My Sugar to Tea, here performed by Harry Reser’s Radio Orchestra
Don Ho’s Tiny Bubbles is about wine.
Kate Bush - “Coffee Homeground”
Ozric Tentacles - “White Rhino Tea”
Donald Fagan - “Teahouse on the Tracks”
Heart - “White Lightning & Wine”