Wine Songs
If you’d like to suggest a song for this ever-expanding list, email the title, artist and your observations to: winelinesonline@gmail.com
“LOCK ALL THE DOORS” BY BLACKIE AND THE RODEO KINGS
Juno Award-winning Canadian band Blackie & the Rodeo Kings will close out the 2013 concert series at Tinhorn Creek Vineyards in Oliver, B.C., Canada, on September 7.
“Lock All the Doors” is from the group’s 2007 album, “Bark.”
There’s a long list of whys
You’re not here tonight
It’s dark outside
You couldn’t find a ride
Things were loose
Time got tight
Must’ve been an oversight
You’ll write me of where you might be
Now the candle’s burned out and the wine’s all gone
And the dogs outside are gonna howl ’til dawn
“CHANGES IN LATITUDES, CHANGES IN ATTITUDES” BY JIMMY BUFFET
A highlight of Smith-Berry Vineyard & Winery’s Dinner and Concert Series in New Castle, Ky., will be the 11th anniversary party, featuring the music of Jimmy Buffett as performed by the Lunar Beach House Band.
“Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes” is the title track from Buffett’s breakthrough 1977 album, which featured the mega-hit, “Margaritaville.”
I think about Paris when I’m high on red wine
I wish I could jump on a plane
So many nights I just dream of the ocean
God, I wish I was sailing again
“LIGHT UP” BY STYX
A band called Renegade will cover many of the songs of Styx to conclude McConnell Estates Winery’s 2013 Summer Concerts Series in Elk Grove, Calif.
“Light Up” kicks off the fifth album by Styx, called “Equinox.”
Every day’s a holiday when your lips meet mine
The music’s keepin’ time with our love
You are here, and so am I
The weather’s quite divine
So pass me round your wine, lovely one
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“LOST HIGHWAY” BY LEE ROCKER
Lee Rocker’s name appears not only on Stray Cats albums, but also on bottles of wine. Specifically: Rockabilly Red, a 100% Syrah from the Napa Valley.
Rocker will kick off Helwig Winery’s 2013 Summer Concert Series in Plymouth, Calif. “Lost Highway” is from Rocker’s “Black Cat Bone” album.
Just a deck of cards, and a jug of wine
And a woman’s laugh, makes a life like mine
On the day we met, I went astray
Started rollin’ rollin’ down, on the lost highway
“JERUSALEM TOMORROW” BY DAVID OLNEY
David Olney, who has been called “the Leonard Cohen of the Americana movement,” will be appearing with Anne McCue as part of the SLO (San Luis Obispo) Folks concert series on May 25 at Castoro Cellars in Templeton, Calif.
“Jerusalem Tomorrow” is from Olney’s album, “The Stone.”
I’m preachin’ up a storm both night and day
Everyone just turns and walks away
Well, I can see that I’m only wasting time
So I head across the road to drink some wine
“MAMALOI BY THE DOOBIE BROTHERS
Bruce Cohn is the long-time manager of the Doobie Brothers, and the Doobies have become an important part of the B.R. Cohn Charity Events Fall Music Festival at B.R. Cohn Winery in Glen Ellen, California.
“Mamaloi” is from the Doobies’ second album, “Toulouse Street,” and demonstrates that a talented rock band also can perform reggae-style.
Layin’ back and sittin’ in the sunshine
Hot wind, I drink me little wine
Straw hat down across my eyes
Lettin’ the world go by
Music, it start my toes a tappin’
Drum beat, it set my hands a clappin’
Rum wine, it get my head a spinnin’
Turnin’ around and ’round
“TODAY” BY JOHN DENVER
John Denver debuted “Today,” a song written by Randy Sparks, on his album, “An Evening With John Denver.”
On May 12, 2013, Rick Schuler will be singing the songs of John Denver at Bernhardt Winery in Plantersville, Texas. Sounds like the perfect opportunity for an obscure song request (singers really love those).
Today, while the blossoms still cling to the vine
I’ll taste your strawberries, I’ll drink your sweet wine
A million tomorrows shall all pass away
’Ere I forget all the joy that is mine, today
“SANGRIA WINE” BY JERRY JEFF WALKER
Country music legend Jerry Jeff Walker recorded this song live in 1973 at the legendary Luckenbach Dance Hall in Texas Hill Country.
When friends come for Saturday night
It’s nice to make up some Sangria wine
It’s organic and it comes from the vine
It’s also legal and it gets you so high
Yeah I love that Sangria wine
“SUGARFOOT RAG” BY ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL
This audio clip is strictly instrumental, but it will give you an idea of why this group, fronted for more than 40 years by Ray Benson, still packs ’em in wherever they play.
Well, I got a big jug of cider and a bottle of wine
One’s for my honey and the other is mine
Sip on the cider and sip on the wine
They both sip together and have a good time
“DON’T TELL ME” BY SLAID CLEAVES
I’ve been a fan of this Austin-based singer/songwriter for years, but only recently discovered this “wine song” from a 1997 album titled, “No Angel Knows.”
If I could turn the hands of time
I’d turn ’em back ’til you were mine
But instead you’ll haunt my dreams tonight
Don’t tell me it’s all right
In a dim lit restaurant you spoke with a breaking voice
Between the wine and the after-dinner smoke
I realized I had no choice
“NOBODY’S BAR” BY BERT JANSCH
R.I.P., Bert Jansch. Perhaps you will be one of those folk singers who becomes better known in death than you were during the time you spent on Earth. Listen here.
I strolled in a bar downtown to lose my blues
Rest my weary feet, dust my shoes
Asked the bartender there, “Please,
Give me one large glass of ruby wine”
Seemed like a movie scene out of the West
Walls made of paper card false like the rest
Still the wine seemed real cheap
At one dollar a glass in nobody’s bar
“WHEN I’M SIXTY-FOUR” BY THE BEATLES
Paul McCartney did not sing this song at his July 31, 2011 concert at Wrigley Field in Chicago — probably because he’s now 69, which renders the lyrics personally irrelevant. He may also have been being polite to his hosts, the Chicago Cubs — who, in ’64, finished in eighth place in the National League standings, 17 games behind the league (and World Series) champion St. Louis Cardinals.
When I get older losing my hair
Many years from now
Will you still be sending me a valentine
Birthday greetings, bottle of wine?
If I’d been out ’til quarter to three
Would you lock the door?
Would you still need me, will you still feed me,
When I’m sixty-four?
“LETTING GO” BY PAUL McCARTNEY & WINGS
This was one of the singles from the 1975 “Venus and Mars” album by Paul McCartney & Wings. That was back in the age of vinyl records, and “Let It Go” was the sixth and final song on Side 1.
Ah, she tastes like wine
Such a human being so divine
Oh she feels like sun
Mother Nature look at what you’ve done
Oh, I feel like letting go
Oh, I feel like letting go
”VENUS AND MARS” BY PAUL McCARTNEY & WINGS
It was the “Wings Over America” tour in 1976. The lights went down at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif. (then the home of the Los Angeles Lakers). While the stage lights were still dark, the opening bars of this song came through massive overhead speakers. Once the introductory notes were completed, the stage lights came on, revealing Paul McCartney and his post-Beatles band. And as the song kicked into high gear, all of us in attendance knew that we were in for a rock-n-roll show to remember.
Sitting in the stand of the sports arena
Waiting for the show to begin
Red lights, green lights, strawberry wine
A good friend of mine follows the stars
Venus and Mars are alright tonight
“Champagne Supernova” by Oasis
Sometimes songwriting inspiration comes from unusual sources — like too much standing in front of giant concert speakers.
As the story goes, Noel Gallagher of the U.K. group Oasis came up with the title of this song when he heard the title of the Pixies’ “Bossanova” album — only he didn’t hear it quite correctly.
“Champagne Supernova” was the resulting Oasis song. It’s the final cut on the album, “(What’s the Story) Morning Glory.”
Some day you will find me caught beneath the landslide
In a Champagne supernova — a Champagne supernova in the sky
The most recently added songs appear at the top of the list.
