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Bar songs

The New Neo Posted on by

I’m not sure why I decided to do a post on bar songs today. Cabin fever, perhaps?

As you may know, I hardly drink alcohol. And even the shutdown hasn’t gotten me to do much drinking, except for maybe a thimbleful an evening of my favorite brew, Amaretto. And I only drink that because it’s my substitute for dessert.

But the other night the genre of “bar songs” came into my head, and so bar songs it is.

First this one:

And next, of course:

A story-song from Harry Chapin:

I guess this next one isn’t really a bar song. But it’s a drinking song, and I loved it when I was very young:

Joni Mitchell being her unique self:

This is more about alcoholism than bars, but it’s close enough and I like it:

Let’s skip all those numbered bottles of beer on the wall. You’ll be glad we did.

How about this one? (originally a Russian song with completely different lyrics and meaning):

Those were the bar songs that came to mind. But I thought I’d look up a few more, and when I did I found a huge number of country songs about drinking. Huge, huge. I often like country music, but not most of these.

For example, this one is obviously mega-popular because it’s got 68 million views. But it doesn’t do much for me:

Merle Haggard, IMHO better:

Oh hey, why not?:

Comments

Bar songs — 112 Comments

  3. I remember the Kingston Trio’s Album that I listened to when I was a Senior in high school and Scotch and Soda was a favorite. Heck the rest of their songs were fantastic too.

  9. Bars, alcoholic drinks and drinking alcohol in bars are common themes in Blues music, and jazz, even instrumental jazz. I could pontificate on this topic far longer than anyone here would care to read, but for something fun and unique, I’ll refer you to this Xavier Cugat album, “Cugi’s Cocktails.” You all probably know Cugat
    through his famous, fifth (!) wife, Charo. Interestingly, there is much controversy around Charo’s actual age; she has given several different years. She was certainly young when she and Xavier met and wed, but how young is a matter of speculation. There are also some claims that Charo lies about her age to appear younger, and she may not have been so scandalously young when marrying 66 (!) year old Cugat.

    Anyway, you probably know about Charo, but you may not have heard of Cugat, who was equivalent to Desi Arnaz as a famous, Latin bandleader. For the “Cocktails” album Cugat takes jazz standards based on mixed drinks and gives them Latin arrangements. Today it’s classified as “Lounge” music. It’s a fun album and a few of the arrangements rise above kitschy and are quite good. You’ve probably heard “One Mint Julep” from this album. It’s one of the more popular performances of that standard. Here are the songs on the album along with their “style” in parantheses.

    Cuba Libre (Gurarcha), One Mint Julep (Cha-Cha Twist), Old-Fashioned (Beguine), Daiquiri (Bossa Nova), Cocktails For Two (Cha-Cha), Rum & Coca Cola (Mambo), Cugi’s Cocktail (Hully Gully Cha Cha), Grasshopper (Rhumba), Blue Champagne (Bossa Nova), Zombie (Bolero), Manhattan (Cha-Cha), Singapore Sling (Rhumba)

    And here is the album from youtube:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W104JM8MkK8

    My kids all know this album well. Most weekend days and many weekday evenings I played latin jazz throughout the house as background music. Also a lot of jazz from the 40s, 50s and 60s as well as Big Band.

  12. Rufus T. Firefly:

    My parents were BIG ballroom dancers and especially liked Latin dance. They had a gazillion of Cugat’s records.

  14. The story of Mary Hopkin is an interesting one. She was an 18 year old from Wales who appeared on a televised talent show which was seen by the model Twiggy who then recommended Hopkin to Paul McCartney and she became one of the first artists signed to the Beatles Apple Records and ‘Those Were The Days’ was produced by McCartney and it became a huge hit in the UK and US.

    She went from obscurity to being produced by a Beatle in a very short time.

  15. I think a lot of Blues songs have bar and alcohol themes for the same reason so many Country songs do; the performers spend a lot of time in bars, as do their listeners, and they embrace that lifestyle and the lives of “barflies,” rather than looking down their noses at them.

    Regarding jazz instrumentals, in one of the bands I was in we’d usually start each practice jamming, to get warmed up. Someone, often the bass player, would start a bit of a riff and we’d all find a place to fall in. Occassionally one would develop into something above an exercise in tuning up and dexterity and we’d work it into a number.

    The next time we’d put together a set list, rather than writing, “that tune we jammed to three Thursdays ago” we’d give it a name. One or more of us would throw out suggestions; and it seemed that most of the suggestions centered on alcohol, food or women’s names. It was very informal, but when someone seconded one of the suggestions that name typically stuck. I’m sure it’s the same for most jazz groups. Songs like, “Cold Duck Time” almost certainly got their names that way.

  16. Fiddler on the roof is not a bar song
    and 99 bottles of beer on the wall is missing..

    and you left out a whole genre of cry in your beer country…

  18. Crying in Your Beer – KLAW’s Top 6 Sad Classic Country Songs
    1) George Jones — He Stopped Loving Her Today
    2) Hank Williams Jr. and Hank Williams Sr. — There’s a Tear in My Beer
    3) Skeeter Davis — The End Of The World
    4) Travis Tritt — Anymore
    5) Vince Gill — Go Rest High On That Mountain
    6) Vern Gosdin — Chiseled In Stone

    no.. i dont particularly like those (other than the first 2)..
    i prefer other more ‘fun’ tunes.. like

    she got the gold mine i got the shaft
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyqe8n-pbqQ

    would Jesus wear a Rolex on his television show
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ6ltWPqfpA

    dont listen to a lot of country… dont listen much to music any more as i got older and started realizing how they were written, what bars they took from what pieces or how they slowed em down to make em sound different to make the new tune seem new and familiar at the same time… and i really hate the common practice of the start of the song being the refrain that closes the end of the song which isnt played at the end so that you have to hear it again to feel right.. et cetera et cetera..

  19. neo,

    I play in a Big Band and it is such great fun to watch the dancers. I honestly think I get as much joy from watching them as they do from listening and dancing. It is great to see folks as old as 80 dance, and quite a few in middle aged and a bit older still have a lot of energy, but there are a surprising number of 20 somethings getting into Swing and Latin dancing. Some of them even dress in ’40s era clothing; long skirts and gloves for the women; zoot suits, spats and fedoras for the men.

    I’ll try not to make this such a long story, but we were playing a weekday gig right outside of a professional hockey arena when the home team won a very exciting game in overtime. Many of the fans were so wound up from the excitement of the game that they weren’t ready to go home and wandered into the bar where we were playing. It was obvious most of them had never seen a live, Big Band. They were in their 20s and 30s. I’m sure some of them had never even heard any of the standards. They were astounded! I don’t think they had any idea what a group of live, unmic’ed, unamp’ed musicians could do; especially with the help of compositions by Basie, Ellington, Miller… Watching from behind my stand I could see many of them calling friends and putting their phones on a video call to share what they were experiencing. They also couldn’t believe the choreography and athleticism of the dancers. It was such a neat thing to watch people discovering the genre of Big Band dance music for the first time.

  20. Let’s not forget Johnny Carson ended his run with Bette Midler singing to him. A bar song made famous by Francis Albert Sinatra; “One for My Baby.”

  21. Artfldgr,

    ‘Chiseled In Stone’ is one of the saddest but also greatest country songs of all time Vern Gosdin who they called ‘The Voice’. One of the greats.

    ‘Chiseled In Stone’

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTrPJvEzmwQ

    ‘you don’t know lonely ’til it’s chiseled in stone’

    What a killer lyric.

  22. By the way; I can’t stand Billy Joel’s, “Piano Man!” But the true story behind it is great.

    For a better Billy Joel song on this topic how about, “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant.” O.K., it’s not a bar. It’s a restaurant, but; “… bottle of red, bottle of white… bottle of white, bottle of red.”

  24. Rufus, that final Tonight show with Johnny Carson was incredible. Midler was on fire first with “Miss Otis Regrets” and then “One For My Baby”.

    Just don’t think about her politics.

  25. Here’s a genuine bar song by no less than Kurt Weil. I thought that this one and “Those were The days” were both from the Three Penny Opera, wrong on both counts. With no further ado, Alabama Song.

    https://youtu.be/PAK5blgfKWM

  26. Later in life, Mary Hopkins regretted singing that song, since it went against her preffered song stylings.

  27. Merle Haggard is an all-time great and “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink” is one of his best songs. Merle singing the great Lefty Frizzel/Sanger D. Shafer song “That’s the Way Love Goes” is as good as it gets.
    But Neo, I humbly submit this piece on bar songs is missing the genre’s ne plus ultra. Penned by one of America’s greatest songwriters and performed achingly by the greatest country singer of all, Bartender’s Blues is the very definition of the term “bar song”. James Taylor writing and George Jones singing – two great American originals. You just can’t top that.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTFXRIY6-fE
    Enjoy!

  28. I think my age was in single digits when I first heard “Scotch and Soda.” I had no idea what either one was but loved the song. When I listen now, I hear and know what I must have only sensed then – it’s a masterpiece of phrasing and timing. The unrushed, loping nature of the song is what gives it its grace and power.

  29. What about Frank Sinatra singing “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 ought to know….
    We’re drinking my friend, to the end, of a brief episode
    So make it one for my baby, and one more for the road

  30. Artfldgr:
    “To Life” is a drinking song that takes place in a tavern. Just about everyone is drunk in it, too. As I indicated, not all the songs are bar songs in the strict technical sense.

    I referenced the bottles of beer song, too, just after “Down Where the Drunkards Roll.” Perhaps you missed the allusion.

  33. Paul in Boston:
    Funny thing – in the draft of the post I had originally included “Alabama Song,” with a somewhat tedious detour into the different versions and history. I deleted it because the post got too long, but also because I never really cared for the song for some reason.

    Oh, don’t ask why; oh, don’t ask why. 🙂

  36. Here are two drinking songs performed by musicians who lived the songs they performed.
    Bob Wills – Bubbles in My Beer (1947). Tommy Duncan, the vocalist in Bubbles, got tired of Bob’s drinking. When Bob overheard Tommy Duncan complaining about his drinking, he fired Tommy Duncan.

    Willie Nelson – Whiskey River. Willie’s sobriety, or lack of it, is an open book. But,like Keith Richards, he keeps ticking. Willie will turn 87 in several days.

  39. Years back, there was a local band called the McKrells*. They were celtic bluegrass, I think. Music knowledge really isn’t my thing. If I like a song, I like it, regardless of genre.

    The McKrells had a great bar song, ‘All of The Hard Days Are Gone”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUdtGSZWuCk

    *They may still be around but if they are, I haven’t heard anything of them. Their lineup changed frequently, all except the lead singer/songwriter/guitar/banjo guy, Kevin McKrell.

  40. Rufus T. Firefly,

    Big Band music is right up there with classical for me in my favorite genres.

    I’m not sure if has something to do with my synesthesia but I frequently hate songs with words. I can’t explain why but most times, listening to people sing in songs is very discordant to me or I feel it just gets in the way of the actual music. But I love listening to Big Band, though most of my 40-something peers detest it. Perhaps I’m just an old soul.

  41. The Celts are well-known for both their love of songs and their love of drinking- both Protestant Scots and Catholic Irish. I, of partial Scots to Scots-Irish (Protestant) descent, know many more Irish (Catholic) drinking songs than Scottish (Protestant) drinking songs. Catholic Celts drink no more than Protestant Celts, but the Catholic Celts have the bigger fame of drinking songs. Regarding Scots to Scots-Irish affinity for music- just look at American Country music- which has deep Scottish roots.

    Clancy brothers and Tommy Makem – Whiskey, you`re the devil

    The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem: The Moonshiner

    While these Irish songs celebrate drinking, here is a recent American song that does not celebrate drinking- not at all. Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats – S.O.B

  42. Just my opinion, but “Go Rest High on That Mountain” is about as much a bar song as is “Taps”.

    “I Love This Bar” is a cultural piece, or even a culture war piece. See the youtube video.
    Songs about alcohol and mood and loss are different from bar songs. In the latter, one is lost, sad, confused and everybody else is having a good time. Back in the day, cigarette smoke stung your eyes…. There might be a couple whose interactions make you long for…the good times, or remind you of a recent step on the road to where you are now.

  44. Re. Mary Hopkins: Her “Postcard” album includes a particular favorite — a fresh take on that brassy standard, “There’s No Business Like Show Business.” Moody, melancholy, a genuine revelation. Worth checking out, IMO — and ditto the entire LP.

  45. My favorite old bar would start up the following playlist at the end of every night. I think I’m missing one or two:

    “Drink Drink Drink!” from the Student Prince
    “Those Were the Days” (see above)
    and the last was always: “One for My Baby” Sinatra

  46. Wonderful post NEO. And all the great comments. A nice respite from that word not to be spoken tonight.

  49. NEO: Just about everyone is drunk in it, too. As I indicated, not all the songs are bar songs in the strict technical sense.

    oh… ok…
    then you left out the Carmina Burana by Orff..
    Carl Orff – O Fortuna ~ Carmina Burana
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXFSK0ogeg4

    Carmina Burana is a scenic cantata composed in 1935 and 1936 by Carl Orff, based on 24 poems from the medieval collection Carmina Burana

    The selection covers a wide range of topics, as familiar in the 13th century as they are in the 21st century: the fickleness of fortune and wealth, the ephemeral nature of life, the joy of the return of Spring, and the pleasures and perils of drinking, gluttony, gambling, and lust.

    if i remember correctly the poems were by defrocked monks..

    yeah.. big on classical given when i did music in my youth and played Lincoln center.. as my cousin did.. and the wife of maurice seymour family friend…

    this is the one thats about drinking:
    Carl Orff – Carmina Burana “14. In taberna quando sumus”, Conductor: Adel Shalaby
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkgX8PUA3F8

    The mistress drinks, the master drinks,
    the soldier drinks, the priest drinks,
    the man drinks, the woman drinks,
    the servant drinks with the maid,
    the swift man drinks, the lazy man drinks,
    the white man drinks, the black man drinks,
    the settled man drinks, the wanderer drinks,
    the stupid man drinks, the wise man drinks,

    The poor man drinks, the sick man drinks,
    the exile drinks, and the stranger,
    the boy drinks, the old man drinks,
    the bishop drinks, and the deacon,
    the sister drinks, the brother drinks,
    the old lady drinks, the mother drinks,
    that woman drinks, that man drinks,
    a hundred drink, a thousand drink.

    and you cant do drinking songs justice unless you add Monty Pythons philosophers drinking song!!!!!!!!
    The Philosophers’ Drinking Song
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QgCfnBtF7M
    🙂
    Immanuel Kant (a real pissant who was very rarely stable)
    Martin Heidegger (a boozy beggar who could think you under the table)
    yada yada..

    Zicke, zacke, zicke, zacke, hoi, hoi, hoi.
    ah… to scream Hey Baby! during oktoberfest!!!

    then there is latvian:
    Friends, why mourn? (Latvian drinking song: Draugi, k?d?? s?rot?)
    too much a downer to link to..

    but this one makes you think they are going to sing

    Drink Drink Drink to old Vienna!
    Drinking Song – AndrĂ© Rieu & The Platin Tenors [operatic]
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v3QrUvYj-Y

    and lastly… a pseudo drinking song.
    Billy Joels.. piano man
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxEPV4kolz0

  51. hows this version of sultan of swing
    Dire Straits-Sultans Of Swing Gayageum ver. by Luna
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFiyZB5ucgo

    my tastes in music is too eclectic for 99% of everyone.

    she does a lot of metal cover pieces, which sound awesome for some…

    Pink Floyd-Comfortably Numb solo Gayageum ver. by Luna
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSRjkKGoZ7U

    AC/DC- Back in Black Gayageum cover by Luna
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEpVDafY6Z8

    The gayageum or kayagum is a traditional Korean zither-like string instrument. It has 12 strings, though some more recent variants have 21 or other numbers of strings. It is probably the best known traditional Korean musical instrument. Its body is made of Paulownia wood.

  54. ok… this is not a drinking song… but its by my favorite child musician.
    she is about 10 or 11 now… but this was when she was around 8
    too young to drink… hope she doesn’t sour her life

    KANEAIYOYOKA “Happy”/ ??????? “???
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maL3q2bqYW0

    if it dont make you smile… then your dead…
    and if your dead, it will still make you smile
    her talent is EXTREME… (her led zepplin is bang on!)

  55. Soeaking of polkas, they tell me there is no beer in heaven.

    As a Milwaukee friend of mine put it, “In heaven there ain’t no beer– that’s why the Brewers play here.” Beer and baseball just naturally go together: here’s an article on the connection between the American pastime and beer marketing:
    https://ballparkdigest.com/2017/02/02/the-glory-days-of-baseball-and-beer-marketing/

    I personally have no doubt that there’s both baseball and beer in heaven.

    Another polka that mentions beer drinking, the Frankie Yankovic version:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xQRZP11NXs&ab_channel=WayneHarvey

  58. My wife and I have taken advantage of lockdown to complete our education in cocktail culture. Working on our PhDs now…

  59. I am indulging in Whiskey and coke in homage to the bartenders who used to serve me. So nice and relaxing… no nice politics today.

  60. Billy Joel’s fine Piano Man reminds me of his better Captain Jack (will get you high tonite.) (Well, you’re 21 and still your mother makes your bed.
    And that’s too long.)

    I’m so glad somebody else did mention Tom Waits & The Piano Has Been Drinking (not me).
    A couple nights ago wife and I saw “Adrift”, with two different covers of the song ”
    Hope I don’t Fall In Love With You”, which I recognized (usually fun!).
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtLVXBqfqBY
    (The movie was a good dramatization of surviving at sea for 41 days after a storm; based on a true story.)

    The song I thought of in reading the post was I Can’t Wait To Get Off Work
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xACPepZqFxk

    It’s got one of my favorite lines: “Tom do this, Tom do that. Tom, don’t do that.”

    We love dancing, and most Slovaks have to learn to dance, in a class, and for their version of a prom, usually with parents to start. Many then stop, but soon start up again, and Latin & Swing are quite popular. Plus there are many Balls in the pre-Lent Ball Season. I’d guess that 90% play the “Roll Out The Barrel”. I always remember an old Burgie beer commercial to that tune.

    Thanks Artfl, for the gayageum; I’d actually heard it before for the Pick Floyd cover, tho didn’t look it up; the Sultans of Swing cover was cool.

    In Heaven, there is no beer.
    That’s why, we drink it here.
    And when, we’re gone, from here,
    All our friends will be drinkin’ all the beer.
    (5am…)

  65. I don’t drink alcohol at all, but I still enjoy drinking songs. One of my favorites comes from a war movie, “The Enemy Below”: a simple ‘friendship and beer’ drinking song set to the old German march ‘Der Alte Dessauer’.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7IyijkgdhA

    Others I like… Lots of Irish stuff — Dicey Reilly, Good Old Mountain Dew, All For Me Grog… The group Gaelic Storm specializes in drinking songs, like “Johnny Tarr” and “Don’t Go for the One” and “Hills of Connemara.”

    Charlie Daniels Band has a couple of good ones, like “Drinkin’ My Baby Goodbye,” a standard country ‘crying in my beer’ song but set to a much faster, ‘happier’ tune.

    Believe it or not, there’s a couple of decent drinking songs in “The Lord of the Rings,” all written by hobbits of course.

  66. 1. How Can I Miss You When You Won’t Go Away/

    2. I Don’t Know Whether To Kill Myself Of Go Bowing.

    3. I Liked You Better Before I Knew You So Well.

    4. I Wouldn’t Take Her To A Dog Fight , Cause I’m Afraid She’d Win

    5. You’re The Reason Our Kids Are Ugly.

  67. I’ll be there at closing time –
    J. D. Souther
    https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ALeKk03zwyboWZkdiqNlH45WuF5zi0T-nA%3A1587852891153&ei=W7akXufjCJOmtQaWiY6wCA&q=i’lll+be+there+at+closing+time&oq=i’lll+be+there+at+closing+time&gs_lcp=ChNtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1zZXJwEAMyBggAEA0QHjIFCCEQqwIyCAghEBYQHRAeMggIIRAWEB0QHjIICCEQFhAdEB4yCAghEBYQHRAeMggIIRAWEB0QHjIICCEQFhAdEB46BAgAEEc6BwgjEOoCECc6BAgjECc6BQgAEJECOgUIABCDAToFCC4QkwI6AgguOgIIADoECAAQCjoHCC4QDRCTAjoECAAQDToECC4QDToGCAAQDRAKOgYILhANEAo6BwgjELACECc6BggAEBYQHjoHCCEQChCgAVDhlQZY4N0IYIX7CGgCcAF4AIAB4hGIAdI7kgEOMC4yMy4xLjIuMy45LTGYAQCgAQGwAQ8&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-serp

  70. Geez, talking about cabin fever, and no love for Jimmy Buffett’s ‘Boat Drinks’?

    “This morning I shot six holes in my freezer
    I think I got cabin fever…”

    Not technically a bar song, but the Irish Rovers ‘Wasn’t That a Party” isn’t too far off the mark.

  71. Dinah Washington: Drinking Again

    Mary Hopkin’s magnum opus was the charming Temma Harbor.

  72. Here’s one that most people know.

    Deacon Blues by Steely Dan

    People probably think of it as a blues song tribute to the losers in the world and about a guy who’s a musician, which it is.

    But there are a few lines:

    Drink Scotch whiskey all night long
    … —
    As I approach the stand
    I cried when I wrote this song
    Sue me if I play too long

    So I think the sax player anti-hero is either a performer at a music club that serves alcohol or plays at a bar that features live music.

  74. Little Feat’s, “Dixie Chicken” is a great story, told from the bar of the Commodore Hotel, that ends with an impromptu sing along in the bar.

    “… And all the boys there at the bar
    Began to sing along.”

  76. Rufus, I also play with a big band. As well as several other “bar band” endeavors. Or did prior to the “sheltering”.

  77. FOAF,

    Our gigs disappeared instantly when the virus appeared. I feel sorry for the musicians who rely on gigs as their “day job.” About half my band mates are working musicians and this has really impacted them.

    And, since all of the original Big Band listeners are well into the age demographic that is most at risk, I think it will continue to be a slow year for us.

  78. I don’t think anyone has mentioned one of the most famous songs sung in a bar in a movie, “As Time Goes By.”

    Because it wasn’t sung in a bar, it was sung in a nightclub.

  80. “It wasn’t sung in a bar, it was sung in a nightclub”

    According to the proprietor it was a “gin joint”. But what does he know?

  81. Also, “As Time Goes By” has lyrics that have nothing to do with drink or drinking or being drunk.

    “Nightclub” isn’t a bar, but it’s close enough for me. The Bogart character is drinking when the song is played, too. But the song itself? Nope; it’s about love and time.

  82. According to the proprietor it was a “gin joint”. But what does he know?

    How to be self-deprecating.

  83. That song by Joni Mitchell is right out too:

    “The last time I saw Richard was Detroit in ’68
    And he told me all romantics meet the same fate someday
    Cynical and drunk and boring someone in some dark cafe …”

    A dark cafe is clearly not a bar or even a nightclub! 🙂

  84. om:

    Sorry, I must disagree.

    Richard is making a generalization and a prediction for Joni’s future there.

    As for where he and Joni are at the time he’s singing, here’s the clue:

    He put a quarter in the Wurlitzer, and he pushed
    Three buttons and the thing began to whir
    And a bar maid came by in fishnet stockings and a bow tie
    And she said drink up now it’s gettin’ on time to close…

  86. A couple more country classics–George Jones, If the Drinkin’ Don’t Kill Me, her Memory Will. Brad Paisley, Whiskey Lullaby. Russ Mann, A Row of Fools on a Row of Stools.

  87. Neo:

    You got me there, now if she was a good dreamer in some dark cafe …. instead of in a bar.

    “Only a phase, these dark cafe days.”

  91. Wow, 90 replies! Neo, this must be getting to be one of your longest comment threads ever.

  92. John F. MacMichael:

    It’s a nice long length, but definitely not nearly the longest. I’ve got quite a few in the 100+s and I believe one of two that broke 200, but I have no idea which ones anymore.

  93. Rufus, I don’t think it’s just big bands that will be hurt. Live music will probably be one of the last things to come back on line. Does not foster “distancing” for either performers or audience.

  96. FOAF,

    I think once bars begin to open and the alcohol flows, bands will come back. Big. Maybe it will be one of the last things like you say. But I don’t think so. People keep saying this is going to change things “forever” and society will “never be the same”. They raise interesting points but I think that’s mostly hyperbole.

    When all is said and done, I think there are going to be some massive parties and celebrations. And people are going to want music.

    I imagine how impossible it will become to keep people ‘socially distant’ once they start drinking in groups. And that’s one way that you might be right and they open nearly last. But on the other hand, I think plenty of counties in many states are getting ready to open regardless of the proper order of opening or whatever they eventually call it.

  97. FOAF on April 26, 2020 at 7:58 pm said:
    Rufus, I don’t think it’s just big bands that will be hurt. Live music will probably be one of the last things to come back on line. Does not foster “distancing” for either performers or audience.
    * * *
    I wonder if orchestras will have to put the strings on one side of the stage and the wind & brass on the other — with little masks over the bells of the horns.
    And it will be interesting to see what happens with choirs.

    Rufus:
    Number-two-son is a big social dancer — mostly swing and Lindy — and he has been devastated more by the end of the weekly dance meetings than by having to work at home.

  99. AesopFan,

    That’s great to hear your son loves to dance and is helping to keep the music alive. There are cloth mutes for horns that sort of resemble masks. What do you do about spit valves, though? Brass players are basically aerosolizing their saliva with every note. Trumpets may be prohibited as deadly weapons.

    (One more comment to hit triple digits…)

  103. Neo:

    “It’s a nice long length, but definitely not nearly the longest. I’ve got quite a few in the 100+s and I believe one of two that broke 200, but I have no idea which ones anymore.”

    We’re just gettin’ started here…

    Oh, and speaking of Joni Michell and bars, ‘Raised on Robbery’ is a fantastic song. Absolutely nails the experience of an average guy getting hit on by a bar leech.

  105. Hey Lee, good Yiddish song – reminds me of my old college Folk Dancing class, where so many Jewish folk songs were danced. (Plus one beauty who was married with 2 kids, whose husband didn’t like dancing. They were in an open marriage, until they divorced a few years later.) (Tho I can’t tell Yiddish from Hebrew.)

    I also don’t understand Hungarian, but while my wife was in a “short” 2.5 hr meeting at the Ministry of Health, I waited outside listening to various stations and heard this song that I could see me enjoying drinking a bit and dancing to:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4ORk_VcHFs

    Perhaps the next 100 comments might include a broader version of unusual music we’ve been listening to recently. Or stations. Like this SomaFM alternative station I often have on in the background:
    https://somafm.com/bagel/

    Was the HR McMaster article already mentioned here? “How China Sees the World.” https://outline.com/JyMnhc

    Pretty important but sort of under the radar so far.

  106. Tom Grey,

    “Tho I can’t tell Yiddish from Hebrew.” Then Hebrew must sound a lot like German /sarc

    “Ein mal” is German for “One time,” or “one more.” “Mal” means “times” in the way we use that word in multiplication. German: “Zwei mal zwei.” English: “Two times two.” The answer, of course, is “vier.” “More” is “mehr” and time is “Zeit,” but they also use that multiplication “times” verb as a numeric modifier.

    It kind of makes sense, when you think about it. If a waitress takes your order and you and your wife want the schnitzel plate you say, “two times schnitzel,” “Zwei mal Schnitzel.” You also do the same when ordering drinks, which I think is the point of the Yiddish in that song.

  107. Tom Grey,

    I think that H.R. McMaster essay was mentioned here. I read it and I’m pretty sure it was from a suggestion of one of neo’s erudite comment’ers.

  108. sdferr,

    By that measure I suppose “The Canterbury Tales” also apply…

    Sort of reminds me of a good joke I heard the other day:

    A Priest, a rabbit and a Minister walk into a bar.
    “Excuse me,” the rabbit says, “but I think I may be a typo.”

  109. By that measure I suppose “The Canterbury Tales” also apply…

    Heh, to which, if I may: quod libet, and mixedly, skol!

  110. When neo first posted this I tried to find a way to work, Brave Combo in, but searching through their material I couldn’t choose a reference because their entire, 40+ year career has centered on “bar” songs. They are the ultimate bar/party band.

    If you’re not familiar with their work, go to youtube now and listen to a few hundred of their songs. I’ll wait.

    To give you just a hint of how fun, zany, intoxicating and eclectic they are; Simpson’s creator Matt Groening had them play at his wedding
    AND
    Talking Heads founding member David Byrne had them play at his wedding.

    They sing in English, Spanish, Polish, Russian, Yiddish, German, Czech (I think) and probably a hundred other languages. If it’s a party song, they sing it, especially if it’s a hundred years old, or older.

  111. A ballerina went into a bar, rearranged her tutu, sat down and said
    “Neo, this isn’t funny.”

  112. Tom Grey Glad you liked it!

    Here is a translation (not a nuanced one; pretty much a literal one):

    Note: “Bronfn” means whiskey or schnapps. Booze, I suppose, is as good a way to translate it.

    One more, one more, one more, one more…
    Once I’m happy, no more sorrow
    You work and slave for six whole days
    And Shabes have to borrow

    Borrow, borrow, borrow, borrow
    Who’d do it if they could choose
    It’s not profane to have no khreyn (horseradish)
    But Shabes needs some whiskey

    Whiskey, whiskey, whiskey, whiskey
    Whiskey is my comfort and delight
    When one shot follows another
    My soul gets merry and bright

    My soul so bright and my delight
    Unite and make romance
    When one shot follows another
    My feet begin to dance

    Dancing, dancing, dancing, dancing
    Tops the moral scale
    When one shot follows another
    I’ll dance with a woman

    With a woman, with a woman…
    Truly a major transgression
    But when one shot follows another
    I fear no indiscretion

    Dancing and singing, singing and leaping
    That’s where my talent lies
    When one drink follows another
    There’s light in both my eyes

    Eyes, eyes, eyes, eyes
    My eyes are shining bright
    When one drink follows another
    It’s, “By Whose word everything sees the light”

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