The Triple Distilled Sextodecimo 

2013 Sextodecimo. Vol.4. Drink up, boys, you may never get a chance to pose comedically with alcohol again.

“The first step is admitting you have a problem. The next is to write a song about it.”

Lately, one feels as though the days of romancing addiction are coming to an end. Perhaps, but unlikely. Finding inspiration at the bottom of a bottle is such an enduring cliché, it's hard to think of any artform not touched by it. From poetry, novels, film, music to painting, there are more examples than can be named. Momentarily I thought, surely you wouldn't dance drunk, then realized that is exactly the only time many people will dance in public. So, here's to you, Addiction and some of the fine art your illness has wrought.

Download the playlist here. See the playlist below.

The Playlist

Bruces' Philosophers Song
Monty Python
Everything I know about philosophy, I learned from this song.

Libiamo Ne'Lieti Calici (Drinking Song)
Verdi
Translation: “Let's drink from the joyful cup.” See? Drinking in groups leads to singing and showing off. Getting drunk with a group is definitely more fun than getting drunk alone which is very sad and is a whole other genre of music entirely.

Clumsy Lover
The Dangleberries
Epic piping party tune. I imagine a drunken lover, is a clumsy one, but that may just be a national Scottish trait.

St. Vitus Dance
Louis Jordan
Louis Jordan knew a party when he saw one.

Front St. Belvedere
Big Rude Jake
Some may like to self-mythologize such a reputation. You might be better off without the reputation.

Bad Liver And A Broken Heart
Tom Waits
Patron saint of malfunctioning bar room organs.

Lilac Wine
Nina Simone
Fairy godmother of the dispossessed and disenfranchised.

Waitin' 'Round to Die
Townes Van Zandt
They say the first thing an addict must do is admit they have a problem. The next step is to write a song about it.

Junkie Song
Be Good Tanyas
But for the grace of God, go I. Well, not me personally.

The Kneeling Drunkard's Plea
Johnny Cash
After falling, the inclination is to get back up, unless you figure, you're on your knees anyway, so why not ask for redemption? Thus the pattern of asking for a second chance, even if it is the tenth or twelfth time you've asked for it.

I'm Waiting For The Man
The Velvet Underground
Another part of addiction commonly heard is odd self-awareness. The addict has admitted perhaps they use a substance often but still follow their misguided belief that they have it all under control, except for the stopping part.

To Some It Comes Easy
Gentleman Reg
Oh, the romance of drinking yourself into folklore. It never grows old, until it does.

Hurricane Drunk
Florence and the Machine
More of that melodramatic “romancing the bottle” stuff; drowning your sorrows has never been so melodic.

The Big Light
Elvis Costello
The morning after the night before when there is no dog with enough hair to make it go away. Before you can straighten up and fly right, you've got to face the big light, and the worst hangover of your life.

One More Cup of Coffee
The White Stripes
Not so much a song about drinking, but perhaps at least, of sobering.

Psalm for the elks lodge last call.mp3
John K. Samson (of The Weakerthans)
Do people bond over the sadness of stale, room-temperature beer? Curiously, they do. They even construct buildings where that is the only purpose of your presence; to sadly drink alone with other people. Beats drinking alone, with nobody, I guess.