Songfacts®:

• A song with such an alluring title has to be on somebody's favorite list, and in the 1994 publication The Book of Lists: The '90s Edition, by David Wallechinsky and Amy Wallace, it figures at #8 in Dr. Demento's 11 Worst Song Titles Of All Time.
  
  Without wishing to question Dr. Demento's judgment, this is great title for a song, and it gets even better because it really is as good as it sounds. Randy Hanzlick M.D. was a real life doctor, and this composition is pure joy.
• The good doc appears to have borrowed the title from the American wit Dorothy Parker; the original is "I'd rather have a bottle in front of me, than a pre-frontal lobotomy" - without the brackets. The song begins with a young boy asking his father what is a lobotomy, and by way of explanation the father explains by relating the story of two brothers, one who went insane, the other who took to the bottle. No prizes for guessing who was the happiest.
• The song has a C&W feel to it, and an accompaniment of a youthful chorus, and how about these immortal lines?
  
  But I'd rather have a bottle in front of me
  Than have to have a frontal lobotomy
  I might be drunk, but at least I'm not insane
  
  And
  
  Funny how the world works
  People can be real jerks
  
  The good doctor proves without a doubt that laughter is truly the best medicine. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Alexander Baron - London, England, for above 3