Music Notes: Thorogood’s Drinking Song, “One Bourbon, one Scotch, one Beer”

Studio Version of the Song on You Tube Here

George Thorogood’s song “One Bourbon, one Scotch, one Beer” is my favorite drinking song.  It has a lot.  It has a blues guitar with just enough distortion to make it dirty and nasty – just like good blues is supposed to be played.  And, his voice.  Damn.  You get the sense that this dude just took a good swig right before singing the song.  Hell, you can almost smell the alcohol on his breath through the music.

And, the story – yes, the story makes the song work.  A dude is down on his luck and does not have a job.  His landlady harasses him for the rent.  He explains that he has been looking but has found nothing.  He goes to a friend’s house to ask to stay, but the friend’s wife is “funny” about that arrangement, and the answer is “no.”  So he decides to tell his landlady that he finally found a job to buy him time to pack up all his stuff in his room.  He packs up all his stuff and leaves out the back door.  Then, he goes to the bar and asks his bartender for the title of the song.

Music Notes: Kansas – Point of No Return

Point of No Return Video - Kansas

Kansas had a knack for song climaxes that seemed to be yearning for some higher spiritual plane.  It is as if they wanted to ascend above the Earth into the realm of the Gods for a few minutes in a few of their songs.  Around the time stamp 1:24, it begins.  The lead singer is not bad as a tenor and can push the notes hard, but not over the top, which is good.  They sustain this climax for about 30 seconds, which is pretty long for pop music.

The lyrics are somewhat haunting for a pop song (I have highlighted the climax lyrics in red):

            Lyrics Courtesy Link Source

Point Of Know Return           

(Steve Walsh / Phil Ehart / Robby Steinhardt)

I heard the men saying something

The captains tell they pay you well

And they say they need sailing men to

Show the way, and leave today

Was it you that said, "How long, how long?"

They say the sea turns so dark that

You know it's time, you see the sign

They say the point demons guard is

An ocean grave, for all the brave,

Was it you that said, "How long, how long,

How long to the point of know return?"

Your father, he said he needs you

Your mother, she says she loves you

Your brothers, they echo your words:

"How far to the point of know return?"

"Well, how long?"

Today I found a message floating

In the sea from you to me

It said that when you could see it

You cried with fear, the Point was near

Was it you that said, "How long, how long

To the Point of Know Return?"

The writer seems to be writing about a subconscious premonition that something within him is about to change - and change drastically.  He instantiates it with lyrics about a ship approaching a danger zone, and a family wondering if they will ever get back their lost son.