There is, quite literally, no way for me to pick my “favorite” song about drugs or alcohol. Almost all of my favorite songs are about, or are inspired by, or make reference to some generic or specific sin-substance. At the risk of overstating the case, I might even conjecture that ALL great music has some direct or indirect connection to drugs and/or alcohol.
Drugs and alcohol are to songwriting what motor oil is to an engine.
I grew up in a tee-totalling household. Never saw a drop of alcohol and never smelled a cigarette or a toke of wacky tobacky from the age of zero to 17, when I moved out of my childhood home. Although my close friends will never believe this, I had exactly ZERO personal experience with drugs or alcohol before my sophomore year in college. (My first experience was with Zima, bless my heart.) I’ll assume it goes without saying that I’ve taken a ride at several rodeos since, but even now, in my 40s, I remain on the very conservative side of substance use.
I’ve always hated the jacked-up “speedy” feeling– I can only have exactly 2 cups of coffee, and not a drop more, every morning– so, thankfully, I never was even remotely tempted by any variation of “uppers.” Weed has always made me either giggly and silly, or sleepy and boring,. so it’s never really been much of a draw for me, either.
I regularly consume caffeine, nicotine, and adrenaline in measured amounts, but my real weakness is for liquids of the brown and strong ilk. Especially whiskey/bourbon, which I truly love.
So, my pick for today is Chris Stapleton’s “Tennessee Whiskey,” a song that I had never heard before meeting my girlfriend a little over six months ago. She loves this song, and the first time she played for me, I fell in love with it, too.
What I love most about this song is the easy and slow, ambling, almost laziness of it. The just-hang-on ’cause we’re-getting-around-to-it, unrushed and unbothered-ness of it. This song is like the musical version of someone pouring you a Jack and Coke over ice on a hot summer afternoon in Memphis, then picking up a six string and motioning for you to come on over here and take a load off for a minute on the porch swing.
And also that person saying “I love you so damn much, sweetheart.”
The other thing I love about this song is that it translates so easily from the genre of country to blues, or gospel, or soul. As I’ve said many times before on this blog, there’s nothing I love more than three chords and sad story, but this is three chords and a sweet story. Here’s a snippet of my favorite band, The Chris McDaniel Band, playing it on Beale Street earlier this week:
I can’t think of any better song for today’s #30DaySongChallenege. “Tennessee Whiskey” is, ultimately, about the strongest drug of all– L.O.V. E.– but it sure does drench that love in the kind of warmth that leaves you drunk and stoned and so, so happy.
Runners-up for #30DaySonghallenge, Day 9:
- Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit”
- Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s “White Lines (Don’t Do It)”
- Third Eye Blind’s “Semi-Charmed Kind of Life”
- Johnny Cash’s “Cocaine Blues”
- Snoop Dogg’s “Gin and Juice”
- Bob Dylan’s “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” (though Dylan has always insisted that this song is NOT a drug song)