Hello, ALL! Welcome to my sixth installment of Battle Of The Bands' Battle Of The Booze, which is an ongoing challenge between songs that mention a type of booze, a brand of booze, or a cocktail made with booze. (No Shirley Temples need apply!)
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On February 27th, I read an Email that I had received from one of our loyal BOTBers, Debbie the Doglady. (She can be found HERE and HERE.)
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Shortly afterwards, I found myself at my 'Goldenshadowland' YouTube playlist. (I live there a lot these days, reminiscing about people, places and events I have loved.) The video for the 1976 hit song 'Summer' by War began to play. And 12 seconds into the song, the video showed a photo of Eric Burdon and War.
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At that very moment it hit me:
Shortly afterwards, I found myself at my 'Goldenshadowland' YouTube playlist. (I live there a lot these days, reminiscing about people, places and events I have loved.) The video for the 1976 hit song 'Summer' by War began to play. And 12 seconds into the song, the video showed a photo of Eric Burdon and War.
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At that very moment it hit me:
UHP! I'M AN IDIOT!!
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I knew that Eric Burdon was one of Debbie's all-time favorites. Later that day, I sent Debbie an Email saying in part:
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It suddenly dawned on me that a song by one of your very favorite musical artists wasn't even on my song list of future BOTB's BOTB challengers! The damn list was 114-songs long, BUT it DIDN'T have this particular song on it, which was a massive favorite of mine when I was a good deal younger than I am today. So, my BOTB's BOTB song list is now up to 115, and I intend to use this mystery song (in your honor) on ... March 15th.
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Therefore, regardless of which song wins the Battle, this BOTB installment is dedicated to Debbie D'Doglady. (Gee, I wonder who Debbie gonna vote for. Hmmm....)
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Today's question is: Are you going to spill or drink the red red wine?
Fun Fact: In constructing this Battle, I learned that UB40 actually stands for Unemployment Benefits, form 40.
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I knew that Eric Burdon was one of Debbie's all-time favorites. Later that day, I sent Debbie an Email saying in part:
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It suddenly dawned on me that a song by one of your very favorite musical artists wasn't even on my song list of future BOTB's BOTB challengers! The damn list was 114-songs long, BUT it DIDN'T have this particular song on it, which was a massive favorite of mine when I was a good deal younger than I am today. So, my BOTB's BOTB song list is now up to 115, and I intend to use this mystery song (in your honor) on ... March 15th.
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Therefore, regardless of which song wins the Battle, this BOTB installment is dedicated to Debbie D'Doglady. (Gee, I wonder who Debbie gonna vote for. Hmmm....)
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Today's question is: Are you going to spill or drink the red red wine?
Fun Fact: In constructing this Battle, I learned that UB40 actually stands for Unemployment Benefits, form 40.
Guffaw-😂ut-Loud!
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In ye olde comment section, please vote for which you like better betwixt these two wino wine songs, and then please visit the other wonderful BOTBers and also drop your two cents in their comment sections.
I will return here on or about March 22nd with my own vote and the final tally.
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Alright, let's get ON this thing!
* See the BOTBer links over there --->
.I will return here on or about March 22nd with my own vote and the final tally.
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Alright, let's get ON this thing!
"See ya soon!"
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SPILL THE WINE
by Eric Burdon & War
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRtAKcyl-54
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RED RED WINE
by UB40
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_NMgwW5Ufw
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~ Dr. Stephen
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SPILL THE WINE
by Eric Burdon & War
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRtAKcyl-54
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RED RED WINE
by UB40
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_NMgwW5Ufw
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~ Dr. Stephen
Well, I'm certainly flattered to be the inspiration for your latest battle, Stephen! Thank you very much for the link love as well. 🥂 So obviously, this is no contest for me! 😄 I'll be Spillin' that Wine with Eric the Great. 🍷
ReplyDeleteAs we get older, I think most of us are spending more time in our "Golden Shadowlands". Not a bad place to be! 😊
DEBBIE ~
DeleteI am shocked - SHOCKED! - to find you are voting for Eric the Great and his Warring buddies! I sho' nuff didn't see dat one a-comin'. ;-)
I can't help wondering just how long it would have taken me to realize that 'Spill The Wine' was not on my list of future BOTB hooch songs if I hadn't just read your Email and then gone to my Goldenshadowland playlist at YouTube. UHP!...
Thanks for making this Battle possible.
~ Dr. D-FensDogG
(Psst! I'm not really a dogtor. I just play one on this blog.)
I have to go with "Spill The Wine," which has been one of my favorites for 50+ years. "Red Red Wine" was great the first 50 times I heard it, then it got really tired really fast.
ReplyDeleteSIR JOHN ~
DeleteI doubt I've even heard UB40's 'Red Red Wine' 40 times whole my life. I know it got played a LOT when it hit the Billboard charts in 1983(?), but I wasn't really listening to much Top 40 then. I probably "saw" the song video on MTV quite a few times, though. I *DID* watch a lot of MTV circa 1983-'85.
~ D-FensDogG
Oh, I'm spilling the wine! Not my first time either. They get my vote as I never did like the 2nd song and felt it was overplayed when it came out
ReplyDelete>>... "I'm spilling the wine! Not my first time either."
DeleteGOL! Yer a goil after my own heart, BIRGIT!
Thanks for spilling your two cents worth of wine in my BOTB contest.
~ D-FensDogG
I have the UB40 album on cassette tape. Don't know why, but I guess it was just the thing when I bought it. Don't care for it all that much though.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I've never owned any albums by Eric Burdon of any incarnation and I like him and his groups much better. Weird how that works sometimes.
I loved "Spill the Wine" when it came out and often looked at the album with thoughts of buying it. Money was scarce for me back then so I had to pick and choose carefully.
My vote goes bigtime to Eric Burdon.
Lee
BOIDMAN ~
DeleteI don't think I've ever heard any UB40 song other than 'Red Red Wine', so I have no idear how much this song sounded like all their other stuffs. (Were they exclusively a Reggae-like band? I dunno.)
Eric Burdon thanks you for NOT buying his albums and thereby contributing to his drug habit. You dun goot!
~ D-FensDogG
I am thoughtful about this contest. I suspect (WRONG AGAIN, Fishface!) that this is a rare battle where you love one song and hate the other. Typically you like both songs or you don't hold the contest.
ReplyDeleteI know you love Spill the Wine, as do I. But I THINK you prolly dislike Red Red Wine - which I also like a lot, because I have a definite reggae side to my tastes. And this is a battle between the better song (Spill) vs. "I'm in the mood for reggae" (Red.) John mentioned getting tired of UB40 after fifty listens. I get that. But try 50 listens of Spill the Wine and see how you feel. I think that Spill, a very long and unique song, would also seem tiresome after all that.
So, even though I LIKE "Spill" better, I feel in the mood today for "Red" and it gets the vote. This would not have been a shutout, but I know this saves you from one on the odd chance anyway.
Sixgun McItchyfinger
SIXGUN McFISHFACE ~
DeleteI'm sure you recall that "Wrong again, Fishface" was one of my Ma's regular sayings. And she got to say it A LOT because her kids were wrong VERY OFTEN.
>>... I suspect that this is a rare battle where you love one song and hate the other. Typically you like both songs or you don't hold the contest.
You, sir, are correct... in general. It's rare for me to use songs in BOTB that I don't personally like. (There have been some B-52s, Pete Seeger and Joan Jett episodes, but rarely have I done that.) And this is no exception. I actually DO like 'Red Red Wine' by Unemployment Benefits, form 40. I wouldn't say I love it; and I would never have gone out and bought a copy of it, but I like it fairly well.
>>... I have a definite reggae side to my tastes.
I do as well. Here's my opinion about Reggae: I enjoy occasionally hearing Reggae, but it is such a limiting musical style that it gets old for me fairly quickly. I don't think I could sit through an entire concert of it, nor listen to an entire album of it in one session anymore (as I did from time-to-time in my yout). But I *definitely* do like Reggae in smaller doses.
For me, David Lindley nailed it on his great album El Rayo-X. He's got an assortment of different styles on that collection, including a few Reggae tracks. (How about a Reggae version of 'Twist And Shout'?!) It's just enough Reggae, and separated by other tracks, to keep me interested. I highly recommend the album El Rayo-X. I've been listening to it since '81 or '82. And I know you don't drink the "Evidence" (so this will not be relevant for you), but I think El Rayo-X is one of the all-time greatest drinking albums. It's loaded with weird fun and odd humor.
Also, I *fully* understand your meaning about "better" versus "mood". I can think of countless times when I've listened to music I was in a particular mood for, even though there was objectively better music I could have selected instead. That same idea definitely applies to movies, too!! I mean, of course I know that 'Dead Poets Society', 'East Of Eden', and 'Casablanca' are "better" movies, but sometimes I really feel the need to watch 'Hollywood Shuffle', 'The Spirit Of '76', or 'This Is Spinal Tap'.
Thanks so much for bringing two ounces of punch for my bourbon bowl. Like you, I highly doubt this Battle could have ended in a shutout but, so far, it's your lone vote that's saving me from one.
~ Rupert van Dogface
I had forgotten about the El Rayo-X album. I actually own that, and I'll have to go play it when I get home. I has been many years since I listened to it.
DeleteI listen to reggae in bigger chunks than you do. IF I am in the mood - and it is not very often - I have listened to three or four albums in a row. Most of what I have is "best of" reggae stuffs with 12-20 artists, so obviously I am not a super fan. A super fan could name the artist by listening to a few notes. I maybe could identify four by sound - excluding the inauthentic but enjoyable white artists like UB40 and The Police. I have traveled to the Caribbean a number of times and I always listen a LOT there... 1) because it plays there, and 2) because it sounds right. But like most contemporary music, reggae has been influenced and corrupted by hip hop over the last 30 years and the current stuff they play is not nearly as good as the old reggae. ENOUGH with the dirty, amateurish, childish "talkie-singing" to a fake drumbeat! I will be joyful when that fad fades away! The choir invisible will SING... and not a song by Drake or CardiB.
Sixgun McPonysoldier
Sixgun McPonysoldier ~
DeleteI have one song from El Rayo-X slated to be used at some point in my BOTB's Battle Of The Booze series. (It's kind of risque but... oh, well.)
Back when I was a 17 or 18 year old pup, I owned the Reggae licorice pizza 'THE HARDER THEY COME' (movie soundtrack). How come that? Because it was listed at #26 in the 1978 book 'Rock Critics' Choice: The Top 200 Albums'. That was before I realized that Rock critics didn't really know any special doo-doo, and that particular book influenced many of my LP buying cherces back then. Today, I still have about 18 of those albums (now on compact disc).
The closest I've ever been to the Caribbean is the 'Pirates' ride in New Orleans Square. But I did hear quite a bit of Reggae played on the Venice Beach Boardwalk. That place was loaded with street musicians (or, buskers) back in the pre-Rap years, and there was almost always some band playing Reggae and/or steel drums... which I loved. The steel drum sound is just [Link> so beachin'.
>>... and not a song by Drake or CardiB
The fact that you already knew these two names, which I had to "giggle" (to see if they was real peoples) should protly concern you to some (great) degree.
~ D-FensDogG
Stephen -
ReplyDeleteI'm no stranger to either of these tunes. But there is one that I will always turn up the volume for!
Yup- I, too, am Spilling the wine.
Excellent battle. Now you see why I said it shouldn't matter if we use the same songs? We all come up with different variations of battles and it becomes interesting.
-MMQE
MMQE ~
DeleteBetween you, Birgit and I, I'll bet plenty of wine has been spilt over the decades. Ha!
I feel like this was a very natural match-up. (Two songs mentioning wine in both the titles and the lyrics, and both songs being slightly unusual - English blokes' Reggae versus English bloke's druggy dream.)
Unfortunately, though, this immediately turned into a massive blowout. (Thankfully Sixgun was in a Reggae mood!)
>>... it shouldn't matter if we use the same songs
Right, right.
Maybe you can bring Bruce Blackman's 'Doing Nothing' back and match it up against... someone other than the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band? :^D
~ D-FensDogG
ReplyDeleteAnd Stephen,
Although wine and red wine were typically frowned upon on back at Bay Street. I never really liked wine and you remember the three beers I hated: Near Beer, Root Beer and No Beer! And while I remember the listening to the War song on my sandy transistor radio I really never liked it that much it made me feel uneasy as wine typically does. Give me a Mickey's and a Half Pint of So Co to get that peaceful easy feeling we all know and love.
Long story short, I'm voting for Red, Red, Wihihine for this battle as I recall us watching that video way back when Music Television used to play music. That is all!
JW,
Pooooohoooohoooo!
This comment has been removed by the author.
Delete*TAKE TWO*
DeleteAnd, POOH, That's Not All!...
Ah, a new vote. But thank you, thank you, thank you! (I was starting to think this thing wasn't "on".)
Terrific comment, McBrother!
"Sandy transistor radio"... OH! You *ARE* a poet!!
Full disclosure: Sorry, but I will be stealing that line in the future. You can sue me... for my mobile home, and for Nappy, who comes with it!
Today I am celebrating something. No, NOT celebrating a hangoverless March 18th. I've had a whole buncha them in a row at this point. I'm celebrating the day I got fired from my last (and final) job, three years ago. (I thanks you, Doreen. And your little son, too!)
[How does one celebrate? "Don't let's be silly!" One celebrates by drinking [Link> Grand Marnier in a silver cup while listening to the song [Link> 'Stone Cold Sober' by Crawler. Everyone knows *that*! And, my thanks yet again for the 'Hangover Cure Kit' wooden box! One of the best Christmas gifts I ever received whole my life! It really showed how much you cared, Brother. ;^]
>>... "you remember the three beers I hated: Near Beer, Root Beer and No Beer!"
But yes, but yes, but yes!
>>... "Give me a Mickey's and a Half Pint of SoCo to get that peaceful easy feeling we all know and love."
Today, that drink combo is known as 'A Stumblin' Pooh'. The last time I was at the Silver Dollar Saloon, I told the bartender, "I'll have A Stumblin' Pooh" and doggone if he didn't serve me a buzz bomb O' Mickey's malt liquor & a half-pint of Janis Joplin!
>>... "I recall us watching that video way back when Music Television used to play music."
Damn! We HAS been alive a long time, hasn't we?
~ And Stephen
I don't dislike red wine, but it's not my favorite. I feel like the same could be applied to Reggae and UB40 (I must have missed that form in my brief stint as an unemployed). I know you said you haven't heard that song even 40 times in your life; meanwhile, if I heard it any less than 400 times I'd be shocked. The local rock radio station here STILL plays it daily (they have been since I was in high school), and every time I hear it, I change the channel.
ReplyDeleteLike the kind of red wine that's so dry it could strip paint, I gave the song a chance, but I still just can't bring myself to finish it. I changed the 'channel' about a minute in, having gotten so bored of it, and then listened to Eric Burdon a second time. One more bote for Spill the Wine.
JULIO (abajo junto a los viñedos de California) ~
Delete>>... "I don't dislike red wine, but it's not my favorite."
Perhaps you haven't been drinking the "proper" red wine.
First of all, it ain't wine if it ain't from Modesto, CA.
Secondly, red wine "ain't been the same since Buddy Holly died". So, you needs to find some really old red wine. If you has any trouble with that, check with Steve Bolander. He still works as a real estate agent in Modesto and knows EVERYBODY there! Tell him that Cheech... or Chong ...sent you!
>>... "The local rock radio station here STILL plays it daily (they have been since I was in high school)..."
I know that you and I are from two different generations. For my generation, the (probably) 3-most overplayed songs were: 'Stairway To Heaven', 'Black Water', and 'Hotel California'. I almost never - EVER - listen to music radio stations today ("today" = 40 years, the time it took for Moses to lead his peoples to 'The Promised Land'. Suddenly - *just NOW* - I realize how long 40 years really, truly be!)
Because you are a younger "boter", I kind of had you figgered as a UB40 voter. However, as an old guy with grey hair, I now remember how... how... Uhm... how... OH, YEAH! ...how wrong I can be.
Thanks for spilling your wine here.
(Just make sure you never spill any valuable wine from Modesto that was bottled before Buddy Holly died! "Am I gettin' through to ya, fella?")
~ D-FensDogG
Al Bondigas here. I agree with the mighty Pooh on this one. " Spill the Wine" always gave me that creepy feeling, and I realize that it was meant to do that for the listener, but, as a 9 or 10 year old kid, it didn't sit well with me. I like it much more now as a pseudo adult, especially the beat and musicianship, but I'm done gonna have to make a rulin' fer UB40 and "Red Red Wine". I really dig the band War and am not a big reggae fan, but, in this instance I'm doin a switcharoo. Rulin' fer "Red Red Wine"!! That's it, that's muh rulin'.
ReplyDeleteJUDGE AL ~
DeleteOne rarely goes wrong when agreeing with The Mighty Pooh. (Not to be confused with the one who's stuffed with fluff.)
As I recall, Unemployment Benefits, form 40 was the last Evidence you ever dra--- er... check that! Red Red Wine was the last Evidence you done did drink, and I'll bet you didn't spill a drop of it. So your rulin' in this contest makes poifect sense.
Thanks for providing your judgment, Judge.
~ D-FensDogG
Cool battle, Stephen! When it comes to red wine I try not spill when I'm cooking. However, I'm voting to spill the wine here as it sounds more fun the other song; the tempo of which seems to have already been over-served ;-)
ReplyDeletedIEDRE ~
DeleteThanks for stopping by with your two cents for the BOTB kitty!
Your comment reminded me of a funny sign I saw yesterday. I was in Virginia City (or "1876", as I often refer to it), and in a gift shop was a sign showing a bunch of grapes above this message: "I love to cook with wine! Sometimes I even put it in the food."
I'm still chuckling about that. I didn't buy the sign because I don't cook with wine. However, I do occasionally drink with it. ;^D
Thanks for contributing to this blowout. (I'm not w(h)ining about it, though.)
~ D-FensDogG
VOTE = Eric Burdon & WAR
ReplyDeleteI truly like UB40, and their cover of Red, Red Wine is excellent and fun. But I just like the quirkiness and catchiness of Spill the Wine. Eric Burdon's voice, and his spoken narration, and the dream aspect, and the whole wine, women, and song... Yes. My vote goes to Eric Burdon & WAR.
~Ed.
Eduardo ~
DeleteI thanks you for your BOTB bote. Eric & his guys thanks you, too! While this Battle wasn't worthy of the word "battle", at least it has left no doubt that 'Spill The Wine' deserves to be included in the future Playoff rounds of BOTB's BOTB. I can't help wondering how it'll do against stiffer competition (such as The Doors & The Eagles), but we'll find out when we reach that bridge.
~ D-FensDogG