# Songs set entirely in bars **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 6, 2019, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-set-entirely-in-bars/838238 "2019-08-06T14:19:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-set-entirely-in-bars/838238/1 "2019-08-06T14:19:36Z")
Naturally, the top one is Billy Joel’s “Piano Man.” No song will ever set the tone of a bar better. I also love Tom Paxton’s [Saturday Night](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc_BYBVbEGg). What other songs are set in a bar? ---
**Author:** ![FastDan1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fastdan1/32/427_2.png) [@FastDan1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FastDan1)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-set-entirely-in-bars/838238/2 "2019-08-06T14:22:04Z")
_All I Wanna Do_ - Sheryl Crow We are drinking beer at noon on Tuesday In the bar that faces the giant car wash And the good people of the world Are washing their cars on their lunch breaks Hosing and scrubbing as best they can In skirts and suits ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-set-entirely-in-bars/838238/3 "2019-08-06T14:22:30Z")
Good lord - how much time do you have? Three quick ones - Misery and Gin, Bartender Blues and More to be Pitied than Scolded. “Too much beer and wine. Too many good times. The lure of the honky tonk wrecked her young life.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-set-entirely-in-bars/838238/4 "2019-08-06T14:23:21Z")
Two off the top of my head are “Gimme Three Steps” by Lynyrd Skynyrd and “Lola” by the Kinks. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-set-entirely-in-bars/838238/5 "2019-08-06T14:30:38Z")
“Coward of the County” by Kenny Rogers “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)” by Rupert Holmes “Single Bars and Single Women” by Dolly Parton, written by Michael O’Donoghue “Third Rate Romance” by Amazing Rhythm Aces “Queen of the Silver Dollar” by a bunch of acts, written by Shel Silverstein ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-set-entirely-in-bars/838238/6 "2019-08-06T14:32:32Z")
Okay, I messed up the title. I was thinking of songs set ENTIRELY in bars. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-set-entirely-in-bars/838238/7 "2019-08-06T14:33:40Z")
“Tubthumping” by Chumbawumba ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-set-entirely-in-bars/838238/8 "2019-08-06T14:34:37Z")
Joe Diffie’s “Prop Me Up Beside the Jukebox (If I Die)” ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-set-entirely-in-bars/838238/9 "2019-08-06T14:35:50Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Okay, I messed up the title. I was thinking of songs set ENTIRELY in bars. Well, scrap songs 1, 2 and 4 in post # 5 then… ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-set-entirely-in-bars/838238/10 "2019-08-06T14:38:23Z")
“Saturday Night at the Twist and Shout” by Mary Chapin Carpenter. I know the exact bar well. It was in Bethesda, MD and I once had to step over a very drunk Root Boy Slim to get to the men’s room there. “Copacabana” by Paul Allen ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-set-entirely-in-bars/838238/11 "2019-08-06T14:43:07Z")
So far as I can tell, the patrons in Semisonic’s “Closing Time” haven’t yet left the bar by the song’s end 😃 They’re on their way out, but lingering from the bartender’s perspective. Bruce Springsteen’s “Glory Days” is arguable. The part about him staying in the bar to catch up with the ol’ baseball player is in the first stanza. But is that a frame story in which The Boss is recounting the rest of the song to the ballplayer at the same bar? Or are the stanzas about four separate independent encounters? In the latter case, three of the four stanzas either take place in a bar (Stz 1 & 4) or describe being at a bar (Stz 3). Stanza 2 – about the girl “that could turn all the boys’ heads” – takes place in the girl’s home with Bruce and her having drinks. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-set-entirely-in-bars/838238/12 "2019-08-06T14:46:02Z")
“Before The Kiss, A Redcap” by Blue Oyster Cult _So grab your rose and ring side seat, We’re back home at Conry’s bar The blond girl with her tattoo, Reds and wine, cokes of course…_ ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-set-entirely-in-bars/838238/13 "2019-08-06T14:49:19Z")
“One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer” by John Lee Hooker unequivocally takes place in a bar. George Thorogood’s incorporated “One Bourbon” as the second half of a cover medley with another Hooker tune “House Rent Boogie”. “House Rent” opens with the line “_Want to tell you a story …_” If the singer is either addressing the bartender or another bar patron, then the entire medley takes place in a bar. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-set-entirely-in-bars/838238/14 "2019-08-06T14:51:39Z")
Frank Sinatra’s “One More for the Road” \*It’s quarter to three There’s no one in the place except you and me So set 'em up, Joe I got a little story you oughta know We’re drinking, my friend, To the end of a brief episode So give me one for my baby And one more for the road …\* ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-set-entirely-in-bars/838238/15 "2019-08-06T14:57:07Z")
Kenny Rogers’ “You Picked a Fine Time to Leave Me, Lucille” ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-set-entirely-in-bars/838238/16 "2019-08-06T15:04:34Z")
Tom Waits-The Piano Has Been Drinking Heck, most of Tom Waits stuff is in bars. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-set-entirely-in-bars/838238/17 "2019-08-06T15:06:25Z")
[**Trees of Mystery** _in ‘Mooks On Parade’_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toG4fxrdoEg&list=PL8B1AEB85344674C3&index=2&t=0s) is an incredibly obscure, fucking amazing album that is set up as a single set list performance in a bar. The first track is the MC thanking the previous act and introducing the band and the last track is the band finishing and the bar shutting down, so technically every song is set in a bar, even tho every individual song isn’t about being set in a bar. That link goes to a playlist of the entire album. **Moonshine Bandits** are a ludicrously silly and catchy country/rock/rap group and perhaps unsurprisingly, several of their songs take place entirely in a bar. Check out [Super Goggles](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=su5Xy-Oot60) and [Dive Bar Beauty Queen](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBAwC5zfZoA). And, of course, **Hunters & Collectors** brilliant [Carry Me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ef7X6JuQas) is set entirely in a bar. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-set-entirely-in-bars/838238/18 "2019-08-06T15:10:09Z")
“Hey Bartender” (the version I’m familiar with is by [The Blues Brothers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzP0GCILr7c)) ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-set-entirely-in-bars/838238/19 "2019-08-06T15:15:00Z")
No mention of George Jones’ “Bartender’s Blues” or Merle Haggard’s “Swinging Doors”? Amazing. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-set-entirely-in-bars/838238/20 "2019-08-06T15:29:39Z")
“[The Bride Stripped Bare by ‘Bachelors’](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVartwb4GnA)” by the Bonzo Dog Band is about a doing a gig in a pub. Much of “Dixie Chicken” by Little Feat takes place in a bar (in the Commodore Hotel in Memphis). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-set-entirely-in-bars/838238.md?page=2)