# Your favorite drinking songs. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 1, 2001, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-drinking-songs/56361 "2001-03-01T08:50:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mofo\_Rising](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mofo\_Rising](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mofo_Rising)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2001, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-drinking-songs/56361/1 "2001-03-01T08:50:07Z")
Here I am in America where drinking songs do not prolifigate in the local pubs. (They call them bars here.) While this does not normally bother me, I noticed that they do not usually have drinking songs. I didn’t notice this of course until I downloaded a drinking song from Napster. “He must have been an admiral, a sultan, or a king. And to his praises we will always sing. . .” Hell, I’ll sing this song by myself, if I hadn’t convinced my friends to sing it with me. So what are your favorite drinking songs? P.S. Don’t say “Tommy Boy”. ---
**Author:** ![Mofo\_Rising](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mofo\_Rising](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mofo_Rising)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2001, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-drinking-songs/56361/2 "2001-03-01T08:51:43Z")
Of course I meant “Danny Boy”. I was not drunk when I wrote this. Not at all. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2001, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-drinking-songs/56361/3 "2001-03-01T09:03:54Z")
Did you really mean “prolifigate”? 🙂 Irish drinking songs are the best. In fact, there’s an album of those called “All the Best Irish Drinking Songs”, which you can pick up cheap. Many of those tie for my favorite … Waxie’s Dargle, Tim Finnegan’s Wake, Whiskey in the Jar, Spanish Lady, etc. On this side of the world, there’s “O They Had to Carry Harry to the Ferry”, which they sing a lot in Berkeley. Go Bears! ---
**Author:** ![fistsforfree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7ea924/32.png) [@fistsforfree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fistsforfree)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2001, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-drinking-songs/56361/4 "2001-03-01T09:10:29Z")
The Pogues’ “Boys From The County Hell” \ \*\*"And now I’ve the most charming of verandas, I sit and watch the junkies the drunks the pimps the whores, Five green bottles, sitting on the floor… I wish to Christ, I wish to Christ That I had fifteen more. ``` Well, it's lend me ten pounds and I'll buy you a drink, and NEVER wake me early in the morning The boys and me are drunk and looking for you, we'll eat your frigging entrails, and we won't give a damn My daddy was a blueshirt and me mother a "madame" my brother earned his medals at Mai Lai in Vietnam"** ``` ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2001, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-drinking-songs/56361/5 "2001-03-01T14:26:39Z")
Everybody, to the tune of “The Star-Spangled Banner!” To Anacreon in heaven, where he sat in full glee— A few sons of harmony sent a petition That he their inspirer and patron would be, When this answer arrived from the jolly omniscient: ‘With fiddle and flute, no longer be mute— I’ll lend you my name and inspire you, to boot; And besides, I’ll instruct you, like me, to entwine The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus’s vine!’" ---
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2001, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-drinking-songs/56361/6 "2001-03-01T14:53:45Z")
“Wasted Rock Ranger” A buddy of mine showed me this song many moons ago…he said it was a real song by a real band at one point, but I don’t know who or when. I haven’t seen the guy in ages, but now I always play this when I’ve been drinking. An excerpt: Hey I’m a wasted rock ranger I live the life of danger On the road to find a higher high I don’t need no one’s affection, All I need is my injection An out-of-tune Les Paul will get me by… ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2001, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-drinking-songs/56361/7 "2001-03-01T14:57:32Z")
“Gold, gold, gold, gold, Gold, gold, gold, gold…” ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2001, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-drinking-songs/56361/8 "2001-03-01T15:30:37Z")
You’re missing something if you don’t get evenings of drinking songs going in the pubs. Heck, we even get them happening a lot in Canada. You’re looking for drinking songs…no sad ones like “Danny Boy”…let’s see… Good songs where the subject is alcohol itself: “Duncan” “The Pub with No Beer” “What Shall We Do with a Drunken Sailor” “The Wild Rover” (Well, alcohol isn’t really the subject but the good part in it is when the singer tells off the pub landlady) Other general songs we’ve had fun with in the pub: “The Black Velvet Band” “The Wild Colonial Boy” “Farewell to Nova Scotia” “The Irish Rover” “Patsy Fagan” “Whisky in the Jar” “Mairi’s Wedding” “Botany Bay” “Bound for South Australia” “Maggie May” (The traditional song–not Rod Stewart’s) “The Unicorn” (Great fun and most people seem to know the chorus.) “Barrett’s Privateers” (Stan Rogers’ classic must be done _a capella_ of course.) “I’m Not a Pheasant Plucker” (Get a roomful of drunks singing this one and watch the fun.) Those should do for a start. I will include one “sad” one that usually gets done at least twice a night in the pubs I’ve been to: “Fields of Athenry” ---
**Author:** ![that\_darn\_cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/59ef9b/32.png) [@that\_darn\_cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/that_darn_cat)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2001, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-drinking-songs/56361/9 "2001-03-01T15:31:08Z")
Doug Anthony All-Stars **Broad Lick Nicht** [http://annagizer2.homestead.com/Broad.html](http://annagizer2.homestead.com/Broad.html) ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2001, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-drinking-songs/56361/10 "2001-03-01T15:50:26Z")
Yeah, the Irish ones are the best ones. Certainly the aforementioned “Finnegan’s Wake.” Also… “Whiskey, You’re The Devil” “Bold Thady Quill” “Rosin The Bow” “Real Old Mountain Dew” “Courting In The Kitchen” “Jug Of Punch” All available on the classic Clancy Bros. album, COME FILL YOUR GLASS WITH US. And the Grateful Dead’s version of “Whiskey in the Jar” is worth hearing, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2001, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-drinking-songs/56361/11 "2001-03-01T20:21:58Z")
Well, it’s been a while since I’ve gone out drinking, but one of our favorite tunes to sing at the top of our lungs was David Allen Coe’s “You Never Call Me by My Name.” I think that’s the title. An excerpt: Well I was drunk the day my mom got out of prison. And I went to pick her up in the rain But before I could get to the station in my pick-up truck, she got run over by a damned old train… And you don’t have to call me darlin’, darlin’. And you don’t have to call me Charley Pride. And you don’t have to call me Merle Haggard, anymore And you don’t have to call me (I wonder why you don’t call me?) Why don’t you ever call me by my name? Yee-haw! Good ole Texas drankin’ songs! Those were some good old days, by golly! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2001, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-drinking-songs/56361/12 "2001-03-02T03:33:20Z")
I once wrote a drinking song, about good ol’ Jim Beam Kentucky Bourbon. It’s sung to the tune of Amazing Grace, and it goes like this: Jim Beam, Jim Beam, Jim Beam, Jim Beam, Jim Beam, Jim Beam, Jim Beam, Jim Beam, Jim Beam, Jim Beam, Jim Beam, Jim Beam, Jim Beam, Jim Beam, I forget the rest of it, but next time I get drunk I’ll just make something up. ---
**Author:** ![Sylkyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@Sylkyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylkyn)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2001, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-drinking-songs/56361/13 "2001-03-02T04:14:52Z")
Well, thanks to my hubby being a country music freak, our favorite “rowdy” drinkin’ song is, “Friends in Low Places”, by Garth Brooks. It is quite fitting…especially for my husband’s friends. And my friends as well, when we’re all lit and singing at the top of our lungs. But we also have a favorite sad drinkin’ song, another tune by Garth, called “The Dance”. Yeah…if you ever want to start a real downpour of tears, get swacked and turn that song on. Hell, you really don’t even have to be drunk to cry hearing that song. But it sure does add to it. I bet it’s really difficult to tell I’m from Alabama, isn’t it?? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TexasSpur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a6a055/32.png) [@TexasSpur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TexasSpur)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2001, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-drinking-songs/56361/14 "2001-03-02T05:52:29Z")
Willie Nelson- Whiskey River Pat Green- George’s Bar Merle Haggard- Think I’ll just stay here and drink Hank Williams Jr.- Family Tradition Cory Morrow- Drink One More Round Roger Creager- Love Robert Earl Keen- Road Goes on Forever ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2001, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-drinking-songs/56361/15 "2001-03-22T09:02:33Z")
Just had to raise this from the dead. When I was attending a liberal-arts college in the late '80s, my crowd’s favorite drinking song was Yellow Submarine. We went through the verses once, arguing all the while about the words, but went all out on the chorus. Multiple choruses, because we added our own as we went along. We all live in an orange tangerine… We all live in a Playboy (porno) magazine… We all live in a can of Valvoline… We all live in a jar of Vaseline… We all live in a tub of margar-eene… And so on. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2001, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-drinking-songs/56361/16 "2001-03-22T15:48:49Z")
**Lost Highway** - Hank Williams **Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound** - Hank Williams, Jr. **There Stands the Glass** - Webb Pierce **The King Is Gone (And So Are You)**- George Jones **Killing Time** - Clint Black **It Won’t Hurt** - Dwight Yoakam **White Lightnin’** - George Jones **Dooley** - The Dillards **That Good Old Mountain Dew** - (?) **If Drinking Don’t Kill Me** - George Jones ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2001, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-drinking-songs/56361/17 "2001-03-22T15:58:53Z")
“Lighting Bar Blues” by Hoyt Axton, as interpreted by Arlo Guthrie and especially Commander Cody, wherein Lone Star Beer is substituted for Ripple Wine: ``` "I don't need no diamond ring I don't need no Cadillac car Just want to drink my Ripple wine Down in the Lightnin' Bar." ``` ---
**Author:** ![Odieman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a87d85/32.png) [@Odieman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odieman)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2001, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-drinking-songs/56361/18 "2001-03-22T16:39:31Z")
“A Pair of Brown Eyes” and “The Old Main Drag” by the Pogues, hell anything by the Shane MacGowan era Pogues qualifies. “Dumas Walker” by the Kentucky Headhunters “Here Comes a Regular” by the Replacements Half of the songs by Hank Williams Sr, and “Drinking Wine Spo De Ode” By Jerry Lee Lewis and of course “One Scotch, One Whiskey, One Beer” by George Thorogood. Keith ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2001, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-drinking-songs/56361/19 "2001-03-22T17:12:47Z")
An how could I forget **Red Neck, White Socks and Blue Ribbon Beer**? And from Hank Williams, **My Bucket’s Got a Hole in It (I Can’t Buy No Beer)**. ---
**Author:** ![monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monster)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2001, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-drinking-songs/56361/20 "2001-03-22T18:14:49Z")
At first I thought you were asking about songs that you play drinking games with. Of course, the best is “Roxanne” by the Police. The room is divided into two groups. The first group drinks when the word “Roxanne” is sung. The second group drinks when the words “red light” are sung. It gets real interesting towards the end of the song. Secondly, along the same lines is “I Want You to Want Me”, by Cheap Trick. Same idea, but with three groups drinking on “I”, the second on “want”, and the third on “me”. Very fun. Hint, you get the drunkest on “I”. But, if you’re talking just straight, drunk singing, I prefer “Piano Man” by Billy Joel. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-drinking-songs/56361.md?page=2)