Drinkin' Bone

Album: The Truth About Men (2003)
Charted: 60
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This song is a lesson in honky tonk anatomy: The drinkin' bone is connected to the party bone, connected to stayin' out all night long, connected to winding up all alone. It's a play on the song "Dry Bones," a spiritual song adapted into a nursery rhyme that gives a more literal anatomy lesson:

    The toe bone's connected to the foot bone
    The foot bone's connected to the ankle bone...
  • Drinking is one of the most common themes in country music. This song is a little different because it combines whimsy and warning. It's an upbeat re-working of a children's tune, but the guy in the song is clearly headed for disaster. He knows that his first drink will lead to many more, and at some point his girl will leave him because of it, but he just can't help it.

    It's not Tracy Byrd's only drinking song: A year earlier he had a #1 hit with "Ten Rounds With Jose Cuervo."
  • This song was written by the Nashville songwriters Casey Beathard and Kerry Kurt Phillips. Beathard's songs include "I'm Gettin' Stoned" by Eric Church and "Where The Stars And Stripes And The Eagle Fly" by Aaron Tippin. Kerry Kurt Phillips worked on a lot of Joe Diffie's songs, including "Prop Me Up Beside The Jukebox (If I Die)" and "Pickup Man."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Director Mark Pellington ("Jeremy," "Best Of You")

Director Mark Pellington ("Jeremy," "Best Of You")Song Writing

Director Mark Pellington on Pearl Jam's "Jeremy," and music videos he made for U2, Jon Bon Jovi and Imagine Dragons.

Gene Simmons of Kiss

Gene Simmons of KissSongwriter Interviews

The Kiss rocker covers a lot of ground in this interview, including why there are no Kiss collaborations, and why the Rock Hall has "become a sham."

Charlie Daniels

Charlie DanielsSongwriter Interviews

Charlie discusses the songs that made him a Southern Rock icon, and settles the Devil vs. Johnny argument once and for all.

Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum

Dave Pirner of Soul AsylumSongwriter Interviews

Dave explains how the video appropriated the meaning of "Runaway Train," and what he thought of getting parodied by Weird Al.

Carol Kaye

Carol KayeSongwriter Interviews

A top session musician, Carol played on hundreds of hits by The Beach Boys, The Monkees, Frank Sinatra and many others.

Kevin Godley

Kevin GodleySongwriter Interviews

Kevin Godley talks about directing classic videos for The Police, U2 and Duran Duran, and discusses song and videos he made with 10cc and Godley & Creme.