Drinking Songs: 20 Songs About Drinking And To Have Fun Too

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Are you planning a drinking party for your friends and family? Throwing a party is one thing, but attempting to cater to each and every guest’s musical preferences is another. Fear not, because we’ve compiled a list of 20 of the best drinking songs. A playlist that may be listened to by anyone, anywhere.


Shot For Me – Drake

In “Shot For Me” the Canadian celebrity sarcastically reminds his ex-girlfriends to remember how fantastic he must have been when they drank a glass of Canadian Club or whatever they drank in Toronto. While Drake was in his twenties and thinking of himself as a performer, this song was released.

Expert Tip: This song sounds like something The Weeknd would perform. It’s because this booze-soaked R&B homage to former lovers was written by Abel Tesfaye.


Friends in Low Places – Garth Brooks

Whenever the jukebox begins to play Garth Brooks’ 1990 hymn to drinking the blues away, you simply cannot help but sing along with all the peers in your drinking session. You’ll catch yourself line dancing with acquaintances and testing your vocal range to see whether you can hit those low notes in the song’s iconic chorus.

There will, of course, be loads of whiskey and beer on hand. Interesting fact: The Kansas City Royals (two winning seasons in the previous 19 years) selected ‘Friends in Low Places’ as their sixth-inning karaoke anthem, making it the perfect combination of song and terrible professional team.

It serves as a continual reminder to fans who are suffering that sorrow loves company and liquor.


One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer – George Thorogood and the Destroyers

This fantastic creation was initially recorded in 1953 and went on to become one of the few of its kind to enter the Billboard R&B chart’s Top Ten. In his 1966 cover, John Lee Hooker helped popularize the song, but Thorogood elevated it to yet another height of bitching in his 1977 rendition, using another of Hooker’s songs.

House Rent Boogie as a backdrop to explain the regretful singer’s predicament.


After the Afterparty – Charli XCX Pop Bottles

Charli XCX and her buddy Lil Yachty have no hesitation about continuing the party, forever and ever. This incredibly powerful pop song is for someone who doesn’t know when to quit (for good or worse), no matter the circumstances, weeknights, or obnoxious neighbors.


Birdman ft. Lil Wayne and Jadakiss

When Lil Wayne and Cash Money Records co-founder Birdman were still on friendly terms, they collaborated on this champagne-soaked song featuring a Jadakiss sample. While hearing the two discuss their costly jewelry, shoes, and Marc Jacobs glass is entertaining, the true message is to “begin with straight shots and then pop bottles.”


Beastie Boys’ Brass Monkey

This is a self-evident remark, yet this song was released before the Internet. This implies that thousands and large numbers of 12-year-olds in 1986, I’m guessing they couldn’t figure out what on earth the B-Boys were whine-shouting over. We can’t deny that we all mistook the rap for a monkey, and that brass monkey was a gutter mimosa.

Later, it was discovered that the true meaning of the phrase is that friends are greater than the internet.


White Lightning – George Jones

There are plenty of songs about beer and whiskey, but there are not that many about moonshine. It’s only this one. Maybe it’s because those who consume methanol-laced Mountain Dew wind up with one-strap overalls and the same number of teeth. On the Day the Music Died.

Expert Tip: “White Lightning” by the Big Bopper propelled George Jones to No. 1 in 1959. This was practically the Eisenhower era “Sippin’ on Some Syrup”.


Sunday Mornin’ Cornin’ Down – Kris Kristofferson

The majority of the songs in this collection are about wild nights out but only Kris Kristofferson decided to write one about the hazy mornings after.

The national troubadour’s ode to daytime beers, sleepy city streets, fried-chicken envy, and thumping headaches is one of the sweetest country songs ever written (Johnny Cash does a stellar rendition): far from being a hangover-style (or Katy Perry’s ‘Last Friday Night’) recap of a wild night.

Kristofferson’s song is a quiet, introspective number that keeps popping with descriptive poetry and self-ref Someone now grants this man’s request and gets him stoned.


Happy Hour – Housemartins

Is this British smash from 1986 the happiest drinking song in our lineup? We’re going to vote yes, thanks to the jangly Smiths-esque guitars, our 200 percent sing-along ability, and the reality that watching the video without smiling is completely impossible.

The video, which is set in a true British boozer (translation: ‘pub’) has a wonderfully awful dancing routine and Claymation, as well as a young Norman Cook, a.k.a. Fatboy Slim, portraying the Housemartins’ bassist. That’s pretty cool.


Tipsy – J-Kwon

Ever since its release in 2004 ‘Tipsy’ an addictive hip-hop glorification of being intoxicated, has been setting off parties. The song is simple ‘Everybody in the club becoming tipsy’ sung four times (followed by a Ying Yang-style whisper of the same lyric).

J-Kwon, a 17-year-old rapper from St. Louis, might’ve been a fresh-faced kid when he produced this dance-floor hit (public service reminder: teen drinking is extremely dangerous) but he showed wisdom above his years by following hip-golden hop’s rule: club + booze = glory.


Beer – People Under the Stairs

This time in L.A, the rap trio isn’t exactly well-known. That appears to be on purpose, since Thes One and Double K never had any ambitions beyond throwing a wild house party, and had no wish to move hip-hop further than the scratching era of two turntables and a mic. They are blessed by God. To my liver and kidneys, your time is drawing close.

You like to hang out on Twitter, and we enjoy beer.’ K declares. The video from 2009 is a tribute to Laverne & Shirley. These guys would also make a wonderful comedy.


One Mint Julep – Louis Prima

Countless songs have explored momentary happiness within the fog of a drunken hour but within the phrases of this jazz-pop standard. “One mint julep/Was the beginning of it all.”

The song tells of getting stolen an intoxicated kiss from a lady after one sugary, minty cocktail, only to induce married (at her father’s demand) and eventually finally end up confused, hungover, and therefore the parent of six children, this can be a really strong drug of abuse.

Though Ray Charles’ instrumental song in 1961 was a smash. Louis Prima’s version has an unmistakable comedic tone that offers it the sting.


You and Me and the Bottle Make Three – Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

During the 1990s the planet decreed that America needed a big-band swing rebirth, and BBVD led the trouble with this boisterous song that assured a whole subculture would experience concussions as a result of ill-advised swing dancing after some beers. (It’s unclear if this contributed to a rise in dancefloor-related concussions.)

Expert Tip: The song was made famous by the film Swingers. Then, just like the Cherry’Daddies, they vanished from the common psyche. When it emerges, though, it’ll be a surprise hit for everybody who has ever said “that’s so money” casually.


Lived in Bars – Cat Power

This drinking playlist alternates between joyous and self-loathing music, as well as songs about having a drink. To be honest, I’m not certain where to place this 2006 gem. The sluggish first half and Chan Marshall’s history point to the latter.

But there’s also the song’s lyrics: “There’s nothing like living in a bottle” not to mention the melancholy beauty of her voice and the scurrying swing of the uplifting conclusion. But I suppose that’s exactly what makes this masterpiece, and Cat Power in general, so great: you can take it both ways, and most people do.


There’s a Tear in My Beer – Hank Williams Sr.

“Long Gone Lonesome Blues” was at the core of all of Williams’ songs, although only 1 had the title explicitly. Despite the very fact that the Alabama native was as rough as an old piece of donkey jerky, several of his songs were about sobbing. It transformed him into a bloke with a leather liver.

“These last nine beers” he sings therein high hillbilly moan and groans on this Nashville session, “have only convinced me that I’m gonna keep drinkin’ until I’m petrified.” A few years afterward, in 1953, they pulled his body from a caddy full of empty cans and lyrics papers.


Here Comes a Regular and Beer for Breakfast (tie) – the Replacements

According to what I’ve observed and seen on YouTube of their early gigs. The Mats created the bulk of their songs around drinking songs. The magnificently shambolic punk stuff roared sort of a teenager who’s seen a ghost of his older self slumped in an exceedingly neighborhood pub, emblazoned with a gas-station tag, barely ahead.

Young Paul Westerberg’s ballads, on the opposite hand, had the sorrow of a middle-aged nobody looking for his bloom. The Minnesotans managed to maneuver between these two gears without bursting the clutch, as seen by these 1985 and 1987 clips.


What Good Can Drinkin’ Do – Janis Joplin

Why is it called the “12-bar blues?” Mama Miss Pearl appears to possess visited a dozen bars before filming this at the age of 19. Nineteen! We were teased in high school too, but it inspired us to read books about dragons rather than wailing soul music that rips at your heartstrings.

Indeed, Joplin’s vocal cords sound sort of a public broadcasting notice, looking back you’ll hear her rushing away, it is a shiver down the spine, enough already to create us want to drink while also scaring us far from it forever.


Bank Holiday – Blur

As an American, a legal holiday is the closest thing I’ve had to a national holiday, but it hardly causes me to yell “Prost!” (Note: If Abe Lincoln could be a justification for drinking, you are a terrible alcoholic.) However, this 1994 Britpop stripling provided us with an image of the UK,1 minute and 42 seconds of binge culture.

“A six-pack of beer comes with the bank holiday! Then it is time to induce back to work! Ay, ay, ay!” Albarn barks back in a very slur laced with hops. It’s amusing how fans of Blur and Oasis argue. They were all thirsty for a drink.


Cigarettes, Whiskey, and Wild, Wild Women – Sons of Pioneers

A tune hymn to the chaos attraction of tobacco, brown whiskey, and the fairer sex, such an old-timey barn-burner has been performed a billion roughly times, with Buck Owens. Jim Croce and Ron Wood all provide fine renditions.

But which is that the best? it is the rendition performed by Sellers and a posse of feeling hillbillies during his Muppet Show hosting tenure within the wagon days. And no, we didn’t make it up because we were writing while drinking “whiskey.”


Sippin’ on Some Syrup – Three 6 Mafia

Cough medication combined with Sprite and Jolly Ranchers. What the hell, people can drink that? Sprite? When you’re cheap, you have got to induce imagination together with your addictions. Anything has the potential to become a habit “We eat numerous shrimp. I’ve got iodine sickness.”

So just how did this Memphis hip-hop group win an Oscar for ‘It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp’ in 2006? Even pharmacists would struggle to return up with promethazine and hydrocodone rhymes.


What is a good song to take shots to?

While there are plenty of well-known drinking songs for doing shots, today we’re looking at a hidden gem that comes from video game music. Created as part of the soundtrack for Cyberpunk 2077, Pain by Le Destroy is an electronic song that perfectly captures the feeling of being in a futuristic nightclub.

The sensual accented vocals and rhythmic beats make it a great dancing song, but it’s also surprisingly good as a drinking song since the lyrics are easy to learn and fun to sing along with while partying.

The chorus also provides excellent timing for doing shots, as each segment of “We like to watch, we like to taste, we like to f***, and we like pain!” is long enough to down a shot and get the next one ready.


What are old drinking songs called?

Drinking songs were first recorded in the 11th century in a collection of 254, poems, sonnets, and songs called Carmina Burana. Indeed, some of the oldest drinking songs were sung by a group of traveling clergymen known as the Goliards. These songs were based on the double moral standards of political leaders and various other institutions.

Expert Tip: One of the oldest drinking songs, “While We Are in the Tavern”, focuses on how a night out drinking can get very costly very quickly. Such tracks were known as drinking songs then and they are still referred to by the same name today.

Historically drinking songs have been associated with working men and injustice. Songs have tended to convey deeper meanings. These days songs such as “Drunk in Love” by Beyonce show how the thinking behind drinking songs has changed. Now drinking songs are as likely to be about nostalgia as about anger.


Conclusion

The best drinking songs aren’t just found in Irish folk music or weepy country/western ballads: every genre, from pop to punk, has a brilliant homage to getting drunk. The finest drinking anthems are the ones that are upbeat and motivating.

Songs about having a good time and drinking yourself to oblivion are preferable to songs about drinking yourself to death. We hope this liquor music list has inspired you, whether it’s toast songs or chugging songs, or songs about taking shots you might require.

At the end of the day, whether you prefer a “glass with your tea” or an “entire bottle” a song about being drunk can’t be topped!

About Rencel Leyran