Take this book down and pass it around

The Top 151 Drinking Songs

Rich Stewart

Craphouse Press 2004

…

The Top 151 Drinking Songs

Rich Stewart

Craphouse Press 2004

In the introduction to his book “The Top 151 Drinking Songs,” Rich Stewart ruminates on the historical importance of booze on the world and, specifically, Americans. He uses the national pastime of going to a bar in connection with another American fascination — the list — to create a compilation to help all those drinkers out there that get befuddled when they step to the jukebox at their favorite bar.

The list is an eclectic, somewhat surprising one, especially as you get to the top of the pops — or would it be hops? The songs making up the 151 top drinking songs run the gamut, from rock to pop, country to traditional folksongs. There are even a few punk and glam tracks to fill out the list.

Accompanying each song in the book is a fairly in-depth description of the song and why it’s an appropriate choice for your jukebox dollars. This is very much to Stewart’s credit. He could have just as easily listed, say, “Red, Red Wine” by UB40 — which is number 27 on the list — and had a one- or two-line explanation. “There’s wine in the title, what more do you need,” could have been such a one-liner. Instead, Stewart places facts about the song, the group and bar culture in these descriptions, making for a full experience.

Through such expansive writing, Stewart stretched what could have easily been a 25-to-30-page book into one that’s a 118-page drinking-song bible. Even better, at the end of the book are two heavy-duty appendices for those people too impatient to go through the whole book — one lists the 151-song list in reverse order (from 151 to one) and another lists the songs in chronological order.

But what about the list itself — what made it and what didn’t? To reveal much of that would be to spoil a definite conversation piece — especially because those making the top 10 aren’t what you would expect. For as nice a reference as this book is, the charm is that Stewart didn’t go with safe choices for inclusion at the top of his list. There are no Eagles, Weezer or AC/DC in the top 10 — which will surely upset numerous bar-goers set in their drinking music ways.

When looking over this list with your drinking buddies, handle with care — try not to be too inebriated when arguing about Stewart’s choices.

“The Top 151 Drinking Songs” can be purchased at www.craphousepress.com.