Today's song is...
Drink!
Does anyone else feel the need to yell "drink, drink" even when listening to this alone in your house or is that just me? I find my brain inserts it even if I don't say it out loud.
As drinking songs go this one really hits the mark. It's got the perfect melody for a bunch of drunk guys all with their arms around each others shoulders swaying back and forth as they slur through the words. The accordion really does wonders for providing that traditional drinking song feel.
These are some of my favorite Flansburghian lyrics. "You could be a float for the Fourth of July based on your theme of Wallflowers Grown Wild" might just be my all time favorite Flansburgh penned line but I wouldn't swear to it. I find when I really listen to the words the song is quite sad which I forget when I am shouting "drink, drink" in the crowd with my fist in the air and watching Flans wave his guitar around. I have some very good memories tied to live performances of this song. From being the only ones in the crowd shouting "drink" and leading those around us to follow suit, to a very humorous exchange in Chicago debating how to divide the crowd for the participation portion. My very earliest memory of it is from Portsmouth where the crowd was divided into floor and balcony for the shouting and the audience never quite did get the timing right.
Cheers.
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Yeah! I always find myself yelling "drink drink!" when I listen to it, even in the car. My favorite memory of this song is in Boston last April, where the woman next to me was teaching her toddler son to yell "drink drink!" with us -- there was clearly some confusion about whether it was a rock show or a family show, but Flansburgh was adamant that it was a rock show. This is one of my favorite songs to hear live, partly because it's pretty and partly because it's a Flans song and partly because I love audience participation gags.
ReplyDeleteWould you like the lyrics as much if it's "Wallflowers grown wild"? Which I thought it was? And think it is? Although I may be wrong?
ReplyDeleteYes, yes. You are right of course. Typo. My bad. I fixed it.
ReplyDeleteI've only been to one live show and yet yelling "drink drink!" when I listen to this song seems to be just as ingrained into my brain as everyone's. :] It's fun and catchy and indeed a bit sad with some interesting lyrics, but not one of my favorites. I'm far too enthralled with other songs I love when I'm listening to Mink Car to pay much attention to this one.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I just read on the wiki about the sometimes-intervention-style crowd chants they do at shows, and that is hilarious. XD
The first show I heard this at I already knew the whole "Drink! Drink!"/"No wait!" thing. I can't remember which it was. But it was great.
ReplyDeleteI've always liked this song. Acoustic guitar, accordion. The lyrics are quite good as well, in my opinion. Lots of winding anti-idioms.
Mostly, I think "No Wait!" when I hear this song.
ReplyDeleteAnd I love this song an awful lot and was just thinking the other day that I haven't heard it live in a while. That makes me sad.
-Kathy
A favorite. So melancholy. But forget that; now I need to know what winding anti-idioms are. They sound a-pretty-pretty cool...
ReplyDelete