“I feel bad for people who don’t drink. When they wake up in the morning, that’s as good as they’re going to feel all day.” – Frank Sinatra

With the exception of Fall – which is my favorite of the seasons because, well, football… and if I’m being honest I’ve always liked good jacket weather – Spring is one of my favorite times of the year. Or my second favorite time of year to be more direct about it. I believe it was Lord Tennyson who said, “In the spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.” I think that is just a fancy way of saying “Come spring, dudes turn lusty.” That may indeed be true, Mr. “Charge Of The Light Brigade” is probably spot on about that, but in Spring a young man’s fancy also turns to drinking! Well, at least around here it does… I mean, “bourbon” is in the name of the blog.

It’s St. Patrick’s Day, the only religious holiday I ever observed, that really kicks off the spring/summer drinking season. I’ve written about the glories of summer drinking before and the end of summer transition to autumnal drinking as well. Although as an aside, I’ve retired from the glories of drinking in the street on St. Patrick’s Day. My St. Patty’s Day drinking jersey is hanging up in the rafters, in a place of honor. I’d share some of those stories, but those records are sealed until twenty-five years after I’m gone…and even then, only with heavy redactions, but I digress. We’ve reached U.S. Tax Day with Easter right around the corner and it’s almost time for languid afternoons on groovy bar patios, or an ice cold beer by the pool. It’s an exciting time of year as the world turns green again…a time of “rebirth.” I grilled out for the first time this season last Sunday…I’m still learning how to grill, (I always lived in apartments with no balcony so never had the opportunity to burn meat over an open flame) and I’ll admit, Sunday was a grilling disaster. I haven’t eaten meat that well done since I moved out of my parent’s house. It probably doesn’t help that whenever I’m manning the grill, I’m usually holding a rocks glass full of vodka.

As I stood by the grill on Sunday, I couldn’t help but think, per usual, I need some tunes. AC/DC’s “Have A Drink On Me” popped into my head. I’ve always loved drinking. I started to imbibe at way too young an age to admit to here in writing. As I’ve grown older I’ve made the transition to large quantities of alcohol to more of a high quality of alcohol. Give me a fine bourbon by the fire pit and I’m good. Although I still fall victim to the unnecessary nightcap more than I’d care to admit. As is obvious, I’ve always liked rock n roll. I couldn’t help but think, as I was destroying two wonderful steaks (I think I fried my meat thermometer), why not combine my love of drinking with my love of rock n roll with a playlist of all those great rock songs about drinking.

Now, in terms of full disclosure, I did a playlist on this subject when I first started B&V and I dedicated it to a dear friend of my wife, and I hope a friend of mine, Nancy. We lost her, way too young, a while ago and we still miss her. But that original drinking playlist wasn’t fully realized in my mind. I focused on songs that merely celebrated drinking, anthems like “Mas Tequila.” It really didn’t capture the whole experience. And, admittedly, drinking can have ups and downs. When it comes to drinking tunes you could go from standing on a table singing “I Drink Alone,” to sitting in darkened room while staring at the fire ruminating as “Whiskey Girl” plays in the background…thinking about regrets (“I’ve had a few”). On this Drinking 2.0 playlist, I’ve tried to capture the whole drinking experience, from the good and celebratory to the bad and regretful side of things. I saw an actor who once said about drugs, “It starts as fun, becomes fun with problems, and ends up being just problems.” You could probably say the same about booze. If you’re struggling out there, I urge you to get help. I’m currently on a sabbatical from drinking to reset the ol’ neurotransmitters. It does a body good to lay off once in awhile and that’s coming from me. Fine bourbon is too good to quit for any extended period of time.

Here is our revised Drinking Playlist that will take you from the joy of Jimmy Rogers’ “Sloppy Drunk” to the sadness of Sinatra’s “One For My Baby (And One More For The Road).” As usual, I’m all over the place in terms of genres and moods. Play these in order, or shuffle them, season to taste. If you hit a track you don’t like, skip it…it won’t hurt my feelings. My whole goal in my themed playlists is to put a song back in your ear that you haven’t heard in a while, or turn you onto something you’ve never heard. These are my favorites, but maybe you have one or two tracks that might fit in nicely here so leave those suggestions in the comments and I’ll add them on Spotify. Most of all I hope to provide some enjoyment here…especially if you’re actually drinking while this music is jumping out of your speakers…my pithy comments on each track below.

1. AC/DC, “Have A Drink On Me” – One of my all time favorites from Back In Black. Written for Bon Scott whose untimely demise inspired a lot of the music on that album.
2. George Thorogood & the Destroyers, “I Drink Alone” – I’m not a huge Thorogood fan, but this one was a must.
3. Jimmy Rogers, “Sloppy Drunk” – I love the blues and I love this song. It was covered ably by Jimmy Page & the Black Crowes on Live At The Greek.
4. Social Distortion, “Ball And Chain” – The “ball and chain” here isn’t the spouse, it’s the booze. I said I was going to cover all ends of the drinking spectrum from good to bad…
5. Eric Burdon & War, “Spill The Wine” – How do you not love a song with the lyric, “This really blew my mind, the fact that me an overfed, long-haired leaping gnome should be the star of a Hollywood movie…” That description could be me in college.
6. The Who, “However Much I Booze” – From the 1975 album, an underrated gem, Who By Numbers.
7. Van Morrison, “Stop Drinking” – A jaunty little tune that frankly makes me want to drink wine, which seems to run counter to the intent.
8. The Kinks, “Alcohol” – A true cautionary tale…
9. Semisonic, “Closing Time” – Ah, back in the old days, the party rarely ever stopped at closing time.
10. Sammy Hagar, “Mas Tequila” – Sammy extolling the virtue of the most dangerous of all the types of booze. They knew which drug to legalize with tequila.
11. Van Halen, “Take Your Whiskey Home” – “Ya know that you’re headed for a whole lot of trouble
    If you take your whiskey home…”
12. Bad Company, “Gone Gone Gone” – “She’s gone, gone, gone, I better get the boys round and do some drinkin’ fast…” Oh if I had a dollar for every time I was in this situation.
13. Chris Stapleton, “Tennessee Whiskey” – I don’t know much about Stapleton but everything I’ve heard is amazing. This one is a favorite.
14. Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs, “My Old Friends” – From the great Vagabonds, Virgins, & Misfits released last year.
15. Fats Domino, “Whiskey Heaven” – One can only hope, when we die, heaven turns out to be a wonderful bar, where Fats is playing piano and the whiskey is free. Now that’s truly a whiskey heaven.
16. Stray Cats, “Lookin’ Better Every Beer” – I think we’re all guilty – men and women – of drinking someone pretty/handsome… The ultimate “beer goggles” song.
17. The Kinks, “Have Another Drink” – The Kinks, who warned us about drinking on the earlier song, are now encouraging us to have a drink… It can all be confusing.
18. Eagles, “Tequila Sunrise” – I’ve never liked this particular cocktail, but who doesn’t dig this country-rock weeper from Glenn Frey and the lads in the Eagles.
19. The Pogues, “Streams Of Whiskey” – I’m only now getting into the Pogues… really dig this track.
20. Jimmy Buffett, “Margaritaville” – I’ve never been a huge Buffett fan, but since his passing I felt I had to tip the hat to him on this playlist.
21. Beastie Boys, “Brass Monkey” – Equal parts rum and vodka with some OJ, this cocktail sounds quite refreshing.
22. The Blues Brothers, “Hey Bartender” – The Blues Brothers’ Briefcase Full Of Blues helped me realize in high school that most of what I liked was blues-based rock. The word “blew” in the song means “bought a round.” My mom was confused by this song back in the day and was concerned it was some Gay anthem… not that there’s anything wrong with that.
23. Green Day, “Hitchin’ A Ride” – “I’m off the wagon and I’m hitchin’ a ride…”
24. The Doors, “Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)” – I’ve been listening to a lot of psychedelic rock of late and the Doors play heavily in that realm. “For if we don’t find the next whisky bar, I tell you we must die” sounds a little intense but I’ve felt this way on a Kentucky Derby Day once upon a time.
25. Tom Waits, “Jockey Full Of Bourbon” – Speaking of the Derby…
26. Gillian Welch, “Whiskey Girl” – This track grabs me by the heart and won’t let go.
27. The Who, “Old Red Wine” – Pete Townshend wrote this one as a tribute for the late John Entwistle who collected rare wines.
28. ZZ Top, “Whiskey’n Mama” – At my house, growing up, it was more likely to find mama drinking gin and tonics – which she once told me were the perfect refreshing drink on a hot summer afternoon, but hey, I dig the whiskey angle here.
29. Foreigner, “Double Vision” – Please don’t drink and drive when you’re in this kind of shape. What a monster riff.
30. Lynyrd Skynyrd, “Whiskey Rock-A-Roller” – This could literally be B&V’s theme song.
31. Ozzy Osbourne, “Suicide Solution” – Another track inspired by Bon Scott’s untimely passing from choking on his own vomit after a bender, the way rock stars used to die back in the day.
32. Cream, “Sweet Wine” – A fine pastoral song about moving to the country and drinking sweet, sweet wine. The only sweet wine I like is a tawny port.
33. Rickie Lee Jones, “After Hours (Twelve Bars Past Midnight)” – The lyric “All the gang has gone home, Standing on the corner, All alone…” stirs up some real ghosts for me.
34. Van Morrison, “Moonshine Whiskey (Live)” – I generally try to avoid moonshine, that stuff can peel paint off a wall.
35. Lynyrd Skynyrd, “Poison Whiskey” – Just a good ol’ funky Southern rock song. Their first two records were just money!
36. Tom Waits, “Gin Soaked Boy” – I have been both the narrator and the gin-soaked boy of this song. Well, not gin, it’s the alcohol with the most impurities. I’m more of a vodka guy.
37. AC/DC, “Whiskey On The Rocks” – I prefer mine neat, but this is a great song despite the ice.
38. Pat Travers Band, “Snortin’ Whiskey” – This guy sounds like all kinds of trouble.
39. Don Henley, “You’re Not Drinkin’ Enough” – Nothing solves a broken heart like a glass of whiskey with a beer back.
40. The Jeff Beck Group, “I’ve Been Drinking” – To my point above in #39, Rod, Jeff Beck and Ronnie Wood laying down some heavy blues. What a guitar solo! Beck was a maestro on the six strings.
41. Johnny Cash, “Sunday Morning Comin’ Down” – A song written by Kris Kristofferson, sung by Johnny Cash about that horrible hungover feeling on a lonely Sunday. This used to be a standard Sunday for me back in the day.
42. Neil Young & Crazy Horse, “Bartstool Blues” – From the fabulous album Zuma.
43. Elton John, “Elderberry Wine” – One of my all time favorite Elton deep tracks.
44. Buddy Guy, “Cognac (Featuring Jeff Beck, Keith Richards)” – Buddy Guy – who is already a guitar heavyweight – brings in a couple of additional guitar heavyweights – to extol the virtues of cognac. I used to always have a cognac nightcap back in the day…or was it brandy?
45. Eric Clapton, “Bottle Of Red Wine” – The Rock Chick used to cook us dinner when I was courting her… my job was to bring a bottle of wine. I knew nothing about wine so I’d always buy the bottles with cool labels. It apparently worked…
46. The Band, “Strawberry Wine” – I love the Band – and was sad to see Garth Hudson pass earlier this year – but strawberry wine sounds terribly sweet to me.
47. Def Leppard, “Me And My Wine” – I’ve sort of rediscovered Def Leppard since the release of the deluxe edition of Pyromania…a good band I’d drifted away from.
48. The Doors, “Roadhouse Blues” – “I woke up this morning and I got myself a beer, the future’s uncertain and end is always near…” Sums up our current situation.
49. Arc Angels, “Paradise Cafe” – The Arc Angels slagging dissolute college kids, “drinking their life away.” Is there a different way to live while you’re in college?
50. Lucinda Williams, “Drunken Angel” – “Drunken angel, you’re on the other side…” Nice track written about a guitar player who left the scene too early.
51. Cream, “Strange Brew” – This may be a stretch, who knows what “brew” Cream were talking about back in the 60s, but with all those craft beer aficionados out there… I thought it fit.
52. Van Halen, “Romeo Delight” – “I’m takin’ whiskey to the party tonight and I’m lookin’ for somebody to squeeze.”
53. Airbourne, “Cheap Wine & Cheaper Women” – Airbourne were a poor man’s AC/DC… are they still around?
54. Ramones, “Somebody Put Something In My Drink” – It’s a weak move to spike somebody’s drink with a mickey. I can’t imagine how many women have been slipped something over the years. Sad.
55. Green Day, “Blood, Sex & Booze” – A jaunty little track about everything that’s important.
56. Albert Collins, “I Ain’t Drunk” – One of my all time favorite blues tunes… “I’m not drunk, I’m just drinkin’.” Sounds like denial to me?
57. Thin Lizzy, “Whiskey In The Jar” – Also ably covered by Metallica.
58. ZZ Top, “Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers” – This could describe my high school squad.
59. Guns N Roses, “Nightrain” – Oh I had my share of time on the nightrain… “Wake up late, honey put on your clothes and take your credit card to the liquor store…”
60. Kiss, “Cold Gin” – Again, I’m more of a vodka guy. I can’t imagine drinking warm gin?
61. AC/DC, “Carry Me Home” – A hearty tale of a man too drunk and broke to get home…”I’m bleary eyed and you’re waiting for the sunshine to come and kill me…” Ah, those late-nighters.
62. Van Halen, “Bottoms Up!” – I saw Van Halen play this song live once… Man, I miss that band.
63. Bad Company, “Whiskey Bottle” – B-side from one of this year’s Rock Hall of Fame nominees Bad Co. A tough tale of a musician on the road, holding a whiskey bottle and dialing for a hook up. Musicians… what are you gonna do?
64. Lou Reed, “Underneath The Bottle” – For some of us, it’s hard to get out from underneath the bottle. If you’re struggling with it, seek some help. It doesn’t have to go bad.
65. The Little Willies, “I Gotta Get Drunk” – Norah Jones lending her angelic voice to a Willie Nelson track. What’s not to love? I love Willie’s version but we needed to hear from some ladies here.
66. The Replacements, “Here Comes A Regular” – This is not only the saddest song on the playlist, it may be the saddest song ever written. I had to include it though, it’s just too good. “I used to live at home, now I stay at the house.” This could have been me, were it not for the Rock Chick.
67. Rod Stewart, “The Drinking Song” – Rod as an old man looking back through regret tinged glasses (yet defiant) and offering a form of an apology. “It was the drink that made me do it…” I could say the same, Rod, I could say the same.
68. Willie Nelson, “Whiskey River” – One of the many Willie Nelson iconic songs. “Whiskey river, take my mind.” There’s more groove in this song than I remembered.
69. Molly Hatchet, “Whiskey Man” – I used to be a big Hatchet fan… I owned Flirtin’ With Disaster on vinyl… I don’t know what happened to it.
70. The Replacements, “Beer For Breakfast” – Breakfast of champions, indeed. Been a long time since I did this. Put a little tomato juice in the glass, followed by some beer…the red beer. The only real cure for a hangover.
71. Oasis, “Cigarettes And Alcohol” – I frankly like Rod Stewart’s cover of this song better, but he’s been all over this playlist already. And the Rock Chick would never forgive me for skipping the chance to add Oasis to a playlist.
72. Scorpions, “Blackout” – Leave it to the Scorpions to take it too far. I love those guys.
73. Sheryl Crow, “All I Wanna Do” – A woman and an ugly man sit in a bar day drinking while watching people wash their cars across the street from the bar… “I like a good beer buzz early in the mornin’.” Well, who doesn’t love that?
74. Rod Stewart, “Legless” – Rod returns, this time to declare he’s ready to do some drinkin’. “Legless” must be a British term? Great Friday, Happy Hour vibes on this track.
75. The Rolling Stones, “Pass The Wine (Sophia Loren)” – The Stones gettin’ funky. “So pass me the wine, baby, and let’s make some love.” Well that’ll cure anything that ails you…
76. Muddy Waters, “Champagne And Reefer” – Muddy just knew how to live. “Give me champagne when I’m thirsty, and reefer when I wanna get  high…” This version is taken from one of those great, late-career Johnny Winter produced records.
77. Jack White, “Just One Drink” – I just saw Jack live on the No Name tour and it was amazing.
78. John Lee Hooker, “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer” – This seems like a heavy order for just one person…but John Lee Hooker knew how to live.
79. Stevie Ray Vaughan, “Life By The Drop” – Stevie Ray laying down some spectacular, regretful, acoustic blues.
80. Tom Waits, “The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me)” – As many Tom Waits tracks as I have on this playlist, I could have had many more… With a lyric like, “And you can’t find your waitress with a Geiger counter and she hates you and your friends and you just can’t get served without her…” I suspect that more than the piano has been drinking.
81. Frank Sinatra, “One For My Baby, (And One More For The Road)” – The Chairman, who knew his way around a whiskey glass, singing about a conversation with a bartender at 2:45am. Heaven knows, I’ve been there more than once in my life. “We’re drinkin’, my friend, to the end of a brief episode…” This track is the perfect set ender here…

Like Nancy (who turned me onto the idea of creating playlists), our friend who I dedicated my original Drinking Playlist to, I’m very fond of a lot of the songs on this playlist. Again, if there is a drinking song I missed, let me know in the comments and if it fits I’ll add it. I do love drinking, now in a more restrained manner… although sometimes in a non restrained manner, I mean I’m not gonna lie about it… that’d be a sign of a problem. And please, please, don’t drink and drive, ever. In the Lyft era, DUI’s should be a thing of the past!

I know these are dark times. I know the urge to drink every night is strong, but be careful and take care of yourself out there. Don’t succumb to the darkness. Turn up some rock n roll, grab the ones you love and we’ll get through it.

Cheers!