Favorite Drinking Songs

Lightning bar blues, by Hoyt Axton--best version sung by Arlo Guthrie

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
Down in the Lightnin' Bar

Some people value fortune and fame
I don't care about 'em none
Just want to drink my Ripple wine
I want to have my good time fun
Have my good time fun

When I die don't cry for me
Don't bury me at all
Place my livin', laughin', lovin' bones
In a jar of alcohol
Hundred proof alcohol
 
Good list there PhilL,although I do like Johnny Cash's version of Sunday Morning Coming Down better.There is a story about that song,Kris K wrote it but wanted Johnny Cash to record it,Kris was mostly writing songs at the time.Somehow he got somebody with a helicopter to land it at the Cash residence,when Johnny came out to see who it was Kris told him about the song and he and Johnny became friends,at least that's how Johnny told it.
 
Butch, I'd heard that story before.
I certainly wouldn't argue with your choice of the Johnny Cash version.
I think the main reasons I went with the Kristofferson version for my list is that, Kris did write it and Johnny was already on the list with another song.

Same thing with the song Bottle of Wine, I had to choose the Tom Paxton version, and I must admit I love that song, it's simple and terrific.

I've added a couple of songs to the list today;
Beer For My Horses and I'll Never Smoke Weed With Willie Again - Toby Keith & Willie Nelson (again)
Mommas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys - Willie Nelson & Waylon Jennings

and then into the Way-back machine for:
The One-Eyed Riley - Oscar Brand
 
Five Dollar Fine by Chris LeDoux

We're a fun lovin' crowd
Kinda rowdy and loud
Our jukebox won't play no sad songs
So don't come in here
And cry in your beer
Cause we don't care about who done who wrong

We got a five dollar fine for whinin'
We'll tell you before you come in
And if it ain't on your mind
To have a good time
Ya'll come back and see us again

Well we don't really care
About your clothes or your hair
This party is open to all
We like a good joke
And it's alright to smoke
We got just one rule on the wall

We got a five dollar fine for whinin'
We'll tell you before you come in
And if it ain't on your mind to have a good time
Ya'll come back and see us again

Now there's too many fools
Makin' too many rules
That's one thing you can't say about us
Cause we all get along
When we sing the same song
There's just one thing that causes a fuss

We got a five dollar fine for whinin'
We'll tell you before you come in
And if it ain't on your mind
To have a good time
Ya'll come back and see us again
 
Don't even get me started on Chris Ledoux.PhilL,Weed With Willie is one of my favorite Toby Keith songs,I don't know how I forgot Beer For My Horses.Blake Shelton had a good one a few years ago called Playboys of the Southwestern World to that was pretty good.
 
Another good Chris LeDoux for the list Bars Shouldn't Have Mirrors, and I found a nice version by him of Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys.

The List is looking real good.

Added The Lord Loves A Drinking Man - Mark Chestnut
 
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To Anacreon In Heaven

To Anacreon in Heaven, where he sat in full glee,
A few sons of harmony sent a petition,
That he their inspirer and patron should be.
When this answer arrived from that jolly old Grecian:
Voice, 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’ vine."

The lyrics that Francis Scott Key later put to that tune are better - but it isn't a drinking song. ;)
 
In Munchen steht ein Hofbrauhaus

Ein Prosit der Gemutlichkeit


After a liter or two of good German dunkle, everyone can sing these songs.

With a hearty "Zicki Zucki, Zicki Zucki, Oy! Oy! Oy!" afterwards.

"Du liegst mir im Herzen" is another favorite of mine.

The Irish have some great stuff too!

Whiskey in the Jar by either the Clancy Bros., Thin Lizzie, or Metallica, depending on mood

Seven Deadly Sins by Floggin' Molly

Tessie by the Dropkick Murphys

The Irish Rover
 
How could I have forgotten "God Loves a Drunk" by Richard Thompson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-noSz2XsIY

Will there be any bartenders up there in heaven?
Will the pubs never close? Will the glass never drain?
No more DTs and no shakes and no horrors
The very next morning, you feel right as rain

'Cause God loves a drunk, lowest of men
Like the dogs in the street and the pigs in the pen
But a drunk's only trying to get free of his body
And soar like an eagle high up there in heaven
His shouts and his curses they are just hymns and praises
To kick-start his mind now and then
O God loves a drunk, come raise up your glasses, amen

Does God really care for your life in the suburbs?
Your dull little life full of dull little things
And bring up the babies to be just like daddy
And maybe I'll be there when he gives out the wings

But God loves a drunk, although he's a fool
Oh he wets in his pants and he falls off his stool
And he can't hear the insults, and whispers go by him
As he leans in the doorway and he sings sally racket
He can't feel the cold rain beat down on his body
And soak through his clothes to the skin
O God loves a drunk, come raise up your glasses, amen

Will there be any pen-pushers up there in heaven?
Does crawling and wage-slaving win you God's love?
I pity you worms with your semis and pensions
If you think that'll get you to the kingdom above

Oh God loves a drunk, although he's a clown
Oh you can't help but laugh as he gags and falls down
But he don't give a curse for what people think of him
He screams at his demons alone in the darkness
He's staying alive for just one more pint bottle
Won't you throw him a few pennies, friend?
Ah God loves a drunk, for ever and ever, amen
 
George Thorogood is just a crappy cover band folks.


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Or the original...

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My favorite drinking song by my favorite drinking band The Dropkick Murphy's

The Dirty Glass



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Don't drink very much at all but what about Tom T Hall's "That Song is Driving Me Crazy" and "I like Beer"?

"Walk in the Irish Rain" - Irish Rovers
"Whiskey Whiskey" - Irish Rovers (may not have that title exactly right)
 
+1 on the Dropkick Murphys
Finnegans wake - Various Artists
Positively Bodies parkin lot - Mojo Nixon
Cemetary Gates - Pantera
Godsmack, Disturbed, GWAR....Then we start breaking things.....Ahhh good times....
 
George Thorogood is just a crappy cover band folks.


Granted, he is what he is BUT if not for some of his covers there are a lot of folks who would have never heard of some the lesser known Blues artists.
For that, I'll give him the nod.
 
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