Week 7 - Sup Up Your Beer

There's something about drinking songs that really inspires. I'm not necessarily on about the 'di-de-di-de-ho' type where flagons are waved and sprayed. I suppose I mean the ones that you listen to before a good night out, ones that get you 'in the mood'.

My selection is obviously personal to me, so it tends to have evolved from situations in my life. Oh, sod it - instead of explaining, I'll cut to the chase!

First up is Stand By Me by Ben E King. Picture the occasion - seven drunken late-20-year-olds in a sheep-infested field in the Peak District. They go a-wandering up the hills, down the dales and so forth. They remember a film they saw in their youths. That film was Rob Reiner's 1986 coming-of-age drama Stand By Me (how did you guess?!). In it, a group of youngsters take a walk into the wild, down the railway to see a dead body. There was a railway where we were, but we didn't see any dead bodies. It was dark.

The next song is Sally McLennane by The Pogues. It was a St Patrick's Day in about 1996, I'd just acquired some bottles of Guinness, by hook or by crook (but mainly the latter). I was in my bedroom reading Dubliners by James Joyce and listening to Pogues songs. No idea why, I haven't got a shred of Irishness in me, and thankfully I've long since stopped that lunacy! But it was a great moment and a song that's long lived in my mind - one that I quite often listen to before stepping out on the town. It fills me with a sense that the night is going to be a good one, and that fun shall be had by all. It also took on a new resonance when myself and a drunken friend tried to rewrite it - I'm sad to say, I must be Darren Day - and so forth. It ended as a tribute to former Croation footballer Davor Suker. I've no idea why, but I think drink had been consumed.

The final song is from a time similar to the first one. It's from an awesome drinking game that is sure to set you on your way...to oblivion. It's called Ring of Fire. Now, I bet you can't guess what song I associate with it?! It's become its theme tune. So much so that we cannot begin the drinking until we've parped along with the intro to Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire.

The reason that's my song of the week is because that's pretty much what I'll be doing this weekend. I thought I'd better get it out of the way in case something awful happens to me. But if it does, this blog will take on a strange meaning. God, now I really hope nothing happens! Enjoy.