In a 2001 interview in Rolling Stone, Dylan was asked about assertions in certain biographies that he had had a problem with drinking in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and that this had affected his music during that period, which had then supposedly revived concurrent with his overcoming of that problem. He answered:

That’s completely inaccurate. [Laughs] I can drink or not drink. I don’t know why people would associate drinking or not drinking with anything that I do, really. I’ve never thought about it one way or another. For some reason there’s a certain crowd — if you want to call it a crowd — that would assume certain things about me or anybody which simply aren’t true. They perceive it by appearances. They might hear rumors. They might start rumors, but it’s their own minds going to work.

He then went on to further pick apart the psychology of people who indulge in such speculations about celebrities.

Well, though it was not likely intended as such, today’s edition of XM Radio’s “Theme Time Radio Hour with your host Bob Dylan,” with its theme of “DRINK,” could be seen as a further finger in the eye of Dylan’s more nannyish critics. It pretty much qualified for a surgeon general’s warning, what with Bob passing along his favorite drink recipes (e.g. Mint Julep: “4 mint sprigs, 2 1/2 ounces of bourbon — I prefer three — a tablespoon of powdered sugar and a tablespoon of water. You put the mint leaves, powdered sugar and water in a Collins glass. You fill the glass with shaved or crushed ice, and then add bourbon. Top that off with more ice, and I like to garnish mine with a mint sprig. Serve it with a straw. Two or three of those and anything sounds good”) and lauding the demon drink variously in poetry and prose including this little rhyme he recalled, in honor of cheap wine:

What’s the word? Thunderbird.
What’s the price? Thirty twice.
What’s the reaction? Satisfaction.
What’s the flavor? Ask your neighbor.

Mind you, he followed that up with a tune from Betty Hall Jones titled “Buddy Stay Off the Wine” (gin and beer — that’s good, you can drink liquor aged in wood, but buddy stay off of that wine). And indeed the cautionary words were to be found in many of the songs, like Charles Aznavour’s ultra-dramatic “I Drink” and Loretta Lynn’s “Don’t Come Home a-Drinkin’”. Naturally, country music featured strongly in this edition, and there was one for the Irish too with Tommy Makem and the Clancy’s “Whiskey You’re the Devil.” There could have been a lot more mining of that vein, but an hour is not a long time.

However, this play-by-play seems pointless, especially when audio files of the show in a variety of formats are circulating on the web (I can’t imagine that XM isn’t going to do something about that). For me, this edition was probably the most fun yet, and of-course I’ve enjoyed them all.

I will however also note that just when you were getting used to Bob seeming to play only records from a time when “digital” meant something you do with your finger, he dropped in some highly contemporary tunes by Hank Williams Jr. (”What’s on the Bar?”) and Mary Gauthier (”I Drink” — that’s right, there were two songs titled “I Drink” in this show).

Oh, and it can’t escape mention that before playing Charlie Walker’s “Who Will Buy the Wine,” Dylan told us that Charlie “was a Freemason, and you can tell.” He then went on:

Here are some other great Freemasons that come out of the Grand Ol’ Opry: Roy Acuff, Eddie Arnold, Grandpa Jones, Pee-Wee King, Little Jimmy Jenkins, Roy Clark, Charlie Louvin, and Grand Ol’ Opry band member Joel Edwards. They’ve all committed themselves to the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man by becoming Master Masons. Preach on my brothers!

The joke that sticks out for me this week:

I once had a friend who said, “Liquor will get you through times with no money better than money will get you through times with no liquor.”

My only disappointment is that Dylan didn’t play my own favorite alcoholic melody: Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen’s “Mr. Booze,” to be found on the glorious soundtrack to the otherwise hard-to-watch Rat Pack movie “Robin and the Seven Hoods.”

Mister Booze, Mister Booze,
Mister bee double oh zee eee (chorus: that sure spells booze!)

You will wind up wearing tennis shoes
If you mess with Mister Booze
(chorus: Don’t mess with Mister Booze!
Don’t mess with Mister Booze!)

Any game you play with him you lose
So don’t mess with Mister Booze …

Well, obviously you really have to hear Bing Crosby and company sing it to get the full essence.

This week’s playlist from the XM site (not the correct order):

Ain’t Got no Money to Pay for this Drink - George Zimmerman and the Thrills
Wine, Wine, Wine - Electric Flag
Don’t Come Home A Drinkin’ - Loretta Lynn
Daddy and the Wine - Porter Waggoner
I Drink - Mary Gauthier
Sloppy Drunk - Jimmy Rogers
I Ain’t Drunk - Lonnnie The Cat
It Ain’t Far to the Bar - Johny Tyler and His Riders of the Rio Grande
Rum and Coca Cola - Andrew Sisters
1 Bourbon, 1 Scotch, 1 Beer - John Lee Hooker
Who Will Buy the Wine - Charlie Walker
Buddy Stay off the Wine - Betty Hall Jones
Whiskey You’re the Devil - Clancy Bros and Tommy Makem
I Drink - Charles Aznavour
What’s on the Bar - Hank Williams Jr.
One Mint Julep - The Clovers

Next week’s theme: BASEBALL.

Can’t wait.

Theme Time Radio Hour with your host, Bob Dylan, on XM Radio.

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