Whiskey in the Jar-o

Booze-free January has begun. This is not a New Year's resolution, a diet thing or a twelve step program thing (actually, I don't know if "booze free" is part of the 12 steps, I'm guessing it is more of a given as part of the process?) This is an allergy/skin thing. I have mild rosacea and alcohol is a trigger and lately, both beer and bread have been causing me all sorts of distress it is not polite to talk about. So I'm starting with alcohol to see what difference it makes.

Red
Itchy
Hot
Creepy Crawly
Bloated
Spinny
Nauseated
Dehydrated
Paranoid
Depressed
Head Poundy
Lazy

It's hard to believe that with a list of reactions like that I'd be reluctant to give up the fire water, but fire water has a hold. Not only on me but a whole lot of song writers. I was thinking this morning about all the songs about alcohol. In honor of booze-free January, I think I'll do some posts about those songs.

I think Whiskey in the Jar is a good place to start because I love Phil Lynott. In addition to the music, he's one of the coolest looking rock stars out there. He's got the skinny legs and big hair. Few people looked more awesome in the the leather pants. He owned the camera with his dark, soulful eyes or with mirrored glasses.



Thin Lizzy is one of those bands, like the Grateful Dead, that I knew about seemingly forever before I ever know what their music was like. And was really surprised when I heard it. For a long time Thin Lizzy was mostly just a logo patch that older, burnout boys at Macomb Mall wore on their army jackets.

A year or two ago I read a book about Thin Lizzy by Alan Byrne and apparently Phil Lynott hated singing Whiskey in the Jar and was bummed that it was so popular compared to other songs.



That video has some of the best worst squares in the audience dance moves. I also found the audience response and sing along at the very beginning of this Metallica performance in Dublin 2006 really touching.

R.I.P. Phil, wish you had had some booze free Januaries that led to liver and kidney saving life changes.

musha ring dumma do damma da
Whack for my daddy-o
Whack for my daddy-o
There's whiskey in the jar-o