Online Extra: Best drinking songs

As a well-known Pitt News columnist recently said, St. Patrick’s Day is the “mothership… As a well-known Pitt News columnist recently said, St. Patrick’s Day is the “mothership bonanza of booze.” He then went on to count down the top five drinking songs of all time.

That columnist (who happens to be my boss) did a great job of counting down the best songs to drink to, but I’d argue that they aren’t quite ‘drinking songs.’ Drinking songs are songs about boozing that are also fun to drink to.

Since college is synonymous with drinking, I think we need to look at some true drinking songs. Anyone who listens to country music knows that the country genre creates some of the best. So country fans, let’s do our own countdown of the best boozing jams.

5. “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” by Alan Jackson, featuring Jimmy Buffett. Even those who despise country music have quoted this song.

Whenever Pitt has a noon football game and tailgates that start at 9 a.m., passersby are bound to hear this famous defense mechanism: “Hey, it’s five o’clock somewhere!”

The song depicts a man who is having trouble dealing with the struggles of everyday life and hits the bar during his lunch break.

“It’s only half past twelve, but I don’t care / It’s five o’clock somewhere,” Jackson sings.

4. “Beer Thirty” by Brooks ‘ Dunn. If you listen closely, at about 9:30 on a weekend evening, approximately one half hour before parties begin, you can hear college students everywhere saying, “Hey, it’s beer thirty!”

Yes, this famous quote came from one of country music’s most famous duo, Brooks ‘ Dunn.

“Life’s too short, let’s get to livin’ it