Let’s start with this: St. Patrick’s Day is not a day where drinking is required. Encouraged? Yes. Condoned? Yup, especially if said drinking is what local law enforcement would call “excessive.” It is one of those few days in the calendar year where stumbling around drunk in public in broad daylight is kind of okay — totally okay if you are wearing green. But it should be noted that the original intent of St. Patrick’s Day was to celebrate Saint Patrick, a patron saint of Ireland. All of this drunken revelry came along later, as is traditionally the case with holidays.
With that bit of public service out of the way, we’d be damn fools not to at least show some love to the drinking class on St. Patrick’s Day. Hey, slainte! If you are part of this motley bunch, you will no doubt have your fill of bagged pipes, U2, “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” by Dropkick Murphys, and a handful of other Irish traditional drinking songs by the time today is over. That’s not all there has to be, though. And that’s where we want to help.
Drinking and music tend to go hand-in-hand and especially when it comes to day-drinking, you need music that is going to keep the momentum going. You need some good drinking music and not to take anything away from the soothing sounds of white, middle-aged dudes hammering away on a set of bagged pipes, you may need a break here and there. And for that reason, we put together a list of quality drinking songs. Personally, I’m of the mindset that a top notch drinking song should be able to be sung along to (exact words are 100 percent optional) and should be upbeat. They need to keep you moving, keep you going, keep you swaying to something else besides the gentle jostling of shots of Jameson. Although in all fairness, not every drinking song needs to be a barn-burner, some can be mellow. Drinking is a roller coaster of emotions and thus, drinking songs should reflect that.
Here is our list. Giddy up.
Dropkick Murphys “God Willing”
You are going to hear the band’s song “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” plenty of times, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It’s a great song. But hey, for the most part, all the Dropkick Murphys do is play killer Irish drinking tunes, so if you want to go in a different direction, you have plenty to choose from. “God Willing” just happens to be one of the best options the band has to offer. The chorus was made to howl along to with a pint in your hand.
Paranoid Social Club “Wasted”
This song checks nearly every box there is on a check list of great drinking songs: fun to sing along to, upbeat, rowdy, really fun to sing-along to, and easy to dance to no matter how drunk you might be.
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats “S.O.B.”
Sure, it might be a song about the pitfalls of drinking, but that is what we call a detail. Details have absolutely no place when it comes to judging whether a song is a good drinking song. If it did, we’d have a problem. But it doesn’t and this song is a FANTASTIC drinking song. If anything, let the lesson of the song hit you the following morning. It might not be the worst thing in the world.
Gary Clark Jr. “Bright Lights”
See, this is an example of a song that isn’t necessarily upbeat, but is still a good song to drink to. Just picture it: beer in one hand, another hand keeping time on the bar as your head bobs along with the beat. This is an early in the night drinking song, but a killer drinking song nonetheless.
Chris Stapleton “Tennessee Whiskey”
And this would be an end of the night drinking song, which is just as important as an early in the night song, or right smack in the thick of things song like “Wasted” is. Things have cleared out, people gone and the bar has started putting stools up to clean. They turned the lights on, you look like you’ve been hit by a Greyhound bus and you should really call it quits, but before you do, you just need a few more swigs of that last beer you’ve been nursing for the past hour — your anchor beer that has been holding you up for a while now. Country music is always a good move in this kind of situation. They seem to understand your mindset better than most.
Ryan Adams “Trouble”
Hey now, you’re starting to find your dancing moves a little bit. Nothing too crazy, but enough to let the world know that you aren’t some poor stoic wallflower.
Bruce Springsteen “High Hopes”
The Boss has written his fair share of drinking songs over the years, but this is one of the more recent ones and it’s a winner. You can find a way to dance to it, you can stay posted up at the bar and manage some dance-like motions. And with such a simple chorus, halfway through the first one, you’re able to sing along, each “High Hopes” getting louder and louder.
J. Roddy Walston & The Business “Take It As It Comes”
I see this song as a sneak attack. Initially it might not seem like much, but that hammering rhythm will get you before you even know it.
Houndmouth “Say It”
Hey now! Good times! Sing along! If you’re one of the rambunctious types of drunks, the chorus is right up your alley.
Rihanna, Kanye West, Paul McCartney “Fourfiveseconds”
Hear me out. This song might not seem like a drinking song at first, but I would say that it definitely is. It’s very situation-specific, though, whereas some of the other songs we’ve mentioned already are more flexible. This song is like a commercial break — a nice little pause in the action, but a needed one because taking a moment for yourself is always important, but no more so than when you’ve been drinking for six plus hours and still have two more stops on the Irish booze bus tour left. Just trust me on this one.
Elle King “Ex’s & Oh’s”
You might actually hear this song when you’re out and about today/tonight — it’s sweepin’ the nation! And for good reason, it’s a fun song with a fantastical beat and stomp to it. The chorus is a hoot to sing along to when you’re sober, and we all know if something is fun to do when you’re sober, it’s super fun to do when you’re not. That’s a scientific fact. Look it up.
J.D. McPherson “Let the Good Times Roll”
This tune is just a straight up, good-time having, sh*t-kickin’ rock song. It’s also a perfect drinking song.
Son Little “The River”
Another sneak attack song, like the J. Roddy tune.
The Mallett Brothers Band “Tip Up”
“Jingle Bells”: Christmas: “Tip Up”: Drinkin’. Some songs just go hand-in-hand with a certain holiday/activity.
And here’s a Spotify playlist, perfect to take with you along with the number of a cab company, a pack of mints and your dignity.
