Songfacts®:

• This song is all about heartbreak and beer - it made Milwaukee famous, but made a loser out of the poor guy in the song. Despite her pleas, he kept returning to the bar until finally she left.
• In addition to being the home of Harley Davidson and being where the TV show Happy Days was set, Milwaukee is the world's beer capital and has at one time or another had four major breweries based there: Blatz, Pabst and Miller, but it was the fourth Company, the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company that came up with the slogan, "The beer that made Milwaukee Famous."
• Jerry Lee Lewis took the song to #94 in America in 1968, but that's the only version of the song to chart in that country. Rod Stewart's 1972 rendition was a much bigger hit in the UK, even though the song is very American in its subject matter.
  
  Jerry Lee Lewis teamed up with Rod Stewart for a duet version for his 2006 album Last Man Standing.
• This was written by Glen Sutton, who was the first husband of country singer Lynn Anderson. They married in 1968 and divorced in 1977. Anderson recorded a version on her 1971 album How Can I Unlove You.
• This song was one side of a double A-side single with "Angel," a song written by Jimi Hendrix. It entered the UK charts on November 18, 1972, had a chart life of 11 weeks. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Colin - Clacton-on-Sea, England, for above 3
• The full title is "What's Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made a Loser Out of Me)." We learn during the song that beer may have put Milwaukee on the map, but it's been the ruin of the singer.
• The Austin, Texas indie-rock band What Made Milwaukee Famous took their name from this song.