"Alcohol" music videoI attended a friend’s wedding that was at a hotel in downtown Chicago. I got a room in that hotel with a couple friends so we wouldn’t have to worry about driving in the evening. My good friend was gracious enough to have an open bar at his wedding and as a guest I felt that I should help my friend get his money’s worth out of that open bar. After all, weddings are not cheap, if you can’t lower the price, then you might as well get the best value that you can.
I don’t remember how many Gin and Tonics I drunk, but it became clear later that I had too many. I vaguely remember getting into bed and then waking up the next morning thinking “y’know I feel fine, I need to go to the bathroom badly, but I feel ok, dodged another hangover, awesome.” Then the instant I got up out of bed, I felt the headache, nausea and general of feeling wanting to die that is a hangover. So hung-over were my friends and I that we just laid in our beds and watched Bring It On Again (otherwise known as Bring It On Again 2) and at the time it didn’t seem that bad, which really shows how out of I we were.
Then there was that other time with my brother in law (not the high school senior but the one who is a senior in college) when we decided to do a whiskey tasting at my place and use shots Jagermeister to cleanse our palettes between drinks. Yeah, that next morning was um. . . yeah, not a good time.
When I think about these experiences, I can’t help be embarrassed. It’s completely my fault and it’s idiotic, but it’s also kind of funny. Why are the stupid things that people do when they are drunk that they wouldn’t do when they are sober often funny? Partially because it’s something that a person normally wouldn’t do but in some ways we laugh at these things to make ourselves and each other feel better about our mistakes.
As much as the consequences of drinking is our fault, alcohol has got to take part of the blame and Brad Paisley shows us that alcohol not only acknowledges it’s effect on our lives but that it finds the things we do when we drink it hilarious.
One of my friends in college, the same girl who taught me how to take shots with Southern Comfort, loved Brad Paisley. If you really care about someone, exploring what they love is a great way to get to know them better. Paisley’s music in this case gave me an interesting perspective in the way my friend viewed the world and introduced me to one of the most astounding artist in popular music.
Brad Paisley composes some of the most clever, interesting and overall fun music in pop music today. The concepts in his songs are unique and entertaining. His lyrics are witty and insightful and his catchy melodies and well-crafted songs reflect his optimistic viewpoint on relationships and the world. Paisley sings with a conversational quality that is both un-pretentious and honest. He is an unassuming artists who is an gracious and engaging performer who also happens to be one of the finest guitar players in music today.
Country music has a long history of writing songs about alcohol. There are songs about almost every imaginable human experience with alcohol including alcohol induced amnesia and drinking whiskey as a post-modern reinterpretations of the feminist identity (oh and you thought Toby Keith wasn’t culturally relevant? Well, he’s not the most influential mind in modern music but he does reflect an “interesting” way of thinking).
Paisley takes a unique perspective on the effect of alcohol itself as if it was a living entity. When you first listen to this song, it is not explicitly clear that this is how this song is set up. You get the idea that this is some kind of magical and wonderful being that can change our lives, but Brad puts little kickers every couple lines to clue us into what this song is really about.
When this thing says it “can make anyone pretty,” that sounds alright. “I can make you believe anyone lie,” wait that’s not good at all. “I can make you pick a fight with someone twice your size,” oh dear. Wow, this thing can help me make new friends and get me fired from work? Alcohol is like the worst best friend on the planet. It’s that family member who trouble always seems to follow but you just can’t turn you back on them for one reason or another.
Paisley’s jokes and rhymes are smooth and subtle. There is an effortless quality in the way that the lyrics work together and naturally fit with the melody. In the last part of the second verse he starts talking about alcohol influencing world leaders and Hemmingway and then flips to betting that alcohol can make you put a lampshade on your head. Paisley is able to work around these lines with not only the way he constructs the lyrics but also the understated way he sings. He makes observations, which are partially true and describes them to us in a different light that points out the ridiculousness of our behavior.
If you listen closely to the about 3 minutes in and the second part of second verse you can hear what makes Brad Paisley’s guitar playing amazing. He fills in space between the phrases to add to the momentum of the music. His guitar playing always have direction and interesting musical ideas which is enabled by his incredible technique. Like his lyrics, Paisley often underplays his guitar playing not bringing attention to itself but utilizing it as another ingredient to add to the overall song. Having an amazing guitar solo is great and Paisley often does have them in his songs but if they don’t fit the song itself and serve a musical purpose it can seems gratuitous and out of place.
“Alcohol” helps us laugh at ourselves. It really is a funny state of affairs to think about the fact alcohol really does kind of help not only white people but also all of us to dance. Getting hangovers and all the stupid things that come from booze really are more about ourselves and our silliness which makes life that much more entertaining.
We should be having fun at alcohol’s expense and not the other way around. The funny entertaining drinking stories will keep coming and we will continue to laugh at the stupidity in life. What Brad Paisley does and alcohol should do is enrich our lives and help us to not take ourselves too seriously.
Hopefully, at the end of it all, it is us not alcohol who gets the last laugh.
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