Bloodtoberfest Week 3: The Drinking Songs and the Beers To Drink While You Sing Them

If you had the pleasure of being at Horror Hound Weekend last March you may have gotten some video of a bunch of guys dressed up like monsters juggling fire in the courtyard of the hotel. It was an amazing sight. If you have a video of this happening you may also be in for another treat if you turn the volume way up. You may get to hear a jackass screaming Rusted Root’s "Send Me On My Way" in the background. That jackass is me, I like to sing when I get drunk. And I bet you do too so I thought it would be fun to run down some of my favorite drinking song and what beers you should be drinking while you sing them. Feel free to post your favorites in the comments section as well.

Billy Joel - Down Easter Alexa
Now some would go directly to Piano Man and they would have a valid point but if you look a little deeper into Mr. Joel's music collection you'll discover this little gem. It's just as catchy as Piano Man and dollars to donuts if you want some random nonsense to just scream at the top of your lungs you'll find nothing better than the last 40 seconds of this song. On my 27th birthday I harassed an entire bus load of people heading into NYC for a good 30 minutes and then followed it up with a private performance for a cab driver and 2 of my buddies. I wish you all could have been there.

Joe's Beer Pick: Because of the nautical theme of the song the Uber Pils from the good people at Clipper City Brewing is an obvious choice. It's a hefty pilsner that's part of their Heavy Seas releases and is surprisingly drinkable for being 7% ABV. So it'll help you get to a point where you don't care that a crowd of people want to murder you for screaming Billy Joel songs the entire night.

David Allen Coe - You Never Even Called Me by My Name
If I ever make a list of songs that are good to go neckin with your sister to this one would make the list also. When i first moved to New York City I found this really great dive bar called The Village Idiot. The jukebox there had nothing but country music and every time this song came on the place went nuts. Pretty much any time any song came on the place went nuts but that's beside the point. It'll always hold a special place in my heart for this one.

Joe's Beer Pick: The best beer you could get at The Village Idiot was Brooklyn Lager and it's probably the first beer I had that really opened my eyes to local craft beer. You can also get it in cans if you really want to play up the white trash side of this song. Maybe wear a wife beater too.

Tom Waits - Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets to the Wind in Copenhagen)
Don't let all the happy sunshine and gum drops fool you folks, alcohol is a depressant. And beer has alcohol in it so I'm 99% sure beer is a depressant. Someone look that up and let me know. Anyway I love me some Tom Waits and if forced at gunpoint to pick a favorite song this one might just be the winner. Unfortunately it is also one of the saddest most depressing songs I've ever heard. What could be better to sit in the back of a dirty bar and belt out while crying over your beer to though? Nothing, the answer is nothing is better.

Joe's Beer Pick: Tom Waits always makes me feel like I should be chain smoking and drinking whiskey but I hate the smell of cigarettes and hard liquor makes me want to vomit so that makes things difficult. But I can enjoy a nice barrel aged beer like Dogfish Head's Immort Ale. Maple syrup, peat-smoked barley, juniper berries, and vanilla are all added to this brew and then it's aged in the big oak tanks at their brewery.

Jello Biafra & Mojo Nixon - Plastic Jesus
This one is probably best know from "Cool Hand Luke" and Paul Newman's sexy ass but there's a ship load of version out there. I love the movie but for me the most fun you're going to have singing along to Plastic Jesus is going to be to Mojo Nixon and Jello Biafra's version from their 1994 duet album "Prairie Home Invasion". If you don't know it you should learn it, then get really drunk and sing it. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Joe's Beer Pick: Why not celebrate one half of the duo with a Mojo Risin Double IPA from the good people at Bolder Beer Company. It's big on hops which are in the same family as cannabis and I'm pretty sure people wore robes made of hemp back in Jesus times. Or maybe they didn't, whatever this one is 10% ABV so you're going to get drunk and you'll believe anything I tell you.