Drinking Songs

If you, the reader, grew up in the 60’s (College types), no doubt, you hoisted a glass or two of something alcoholic while singing a song.  My favorites were:

• Roll me over in the clover
• Bang bang Lulu
• She looked so fair in the midnight air

In North Carolina, where I went to college, the drinking age was 18 and I recall going to a drive-in restaurant and flashing my car lights and a young lady would soon appear from the door  and shortly be at my car to take both my food and beer order.  This behavior was totally unheard of in Virginia where I lived, especially since the drinking age there was 21. 

And, it is because of high drinking age that many of us ventured into Georgetown (right across the Potomac River) to partake of beverages on “M” street, as I recall; but still, we could not stand while drinking unless it was at the bar. 

And, what was even more fascinating during those years was the fact that when Spring Breaks took us down to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, we could drink while dancing and while walking on the beach as long as it was covered up.

However in the 80’s and with my college days way behind me, I focused on my business career and receiving the “spoils” of becoming a successful (relatively speaking) businessman.  Drinking had fallen off my prioritized “To Do” list as I now found myself trying to manage a workforce who was coming to work throughout the week with hangovers or (in some cases) under the influence of something.

When I started teaching adult classes at a local Community College, I would joke with the students (mainly to get their attention) that one of their problems “these days” was the fact that they did not have any drinking songs – that they drank without singing – and, in my opinion, was missing a vital aspect of growing up.

Now, 20 years later and coming to the end of my career, I see the devastation that drinking can cause both at home and in the workplace.  The problem is exacerbated by some of our television shows constantly showing workers in bars or drinking wine with family at a Sunday dinner.

I very, very seldom had a drink after work because for numerous years, I saw my father come home every night after work and pour Bourbon into a juice glass and drink it down in one gulp while standing at the kitchen sink, chasing it down with a glass of water.  I told myself, I would never work where I would have to do that every day to relax – and, I never did.

$161 Billion is the annual cost of lost productivity due to excessive drinking in the US.  Source:  Centers for disease control and prevention which was found in the March 2012 issue of Readers Digest.

How many jobs would that have provided?