Every day is a holiday. Don’t believe me (or Katy Perry’s 2015 hit)—you can check for yourself. Just log on to your computer and ask what we commemorate today (or whenever). There’s always something being celebrated by someone somewhere. Most people know that February is the month of Valentine’s Day, Presidents’ Day, and even Groundhog Day. But did you know the second month of the year is also the home of National Dark Chocolate Day, National Missing Persons Day, and National Shower with a Friend Day? And that’s just during the first week of February!
But let’s face it, February can be a dreary month here in Iowa, with cold temperatures, gray skies, and chilly winds. We need a holiday to cheer ourselves up. So I picked one in the middle of the month and made a playlist to help celebrate it. February 18 is National Drink Wine Day. Pick up a glass, raise a toast, listen to some tunes, and sing along to properly observe that special day.
For the generalists who like wine but are not finicky about its vintage, terroir, or even its color or flavor, here are some classics to get you started. During the post-World War II period, songs about the pernicious and delicious qualities of that juiced-up juice were considered risqué and not often played on the radio. The biggest hits were on 45 RPM singles passed around like cheap dope among friends during rock and roll’s early days, when rock music itself was considered a threat to a moral society. The best of these songs include Jerry Lee Lewis’s cover of Stick McGhee’s “Drinkin’ Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee,” the Nitecaps’ “Wine, Wine, Wine” (with its catchy opening line, “You get a nickel, I’ll get a dime / We’ll go out an’ find some wine”), and the Fireballs’ take on Tom Paxton’s “Bottle of Wine.” When are you gonna let me get sober, indeed, as the lyrics ask.
But as rock rolled on, the music became a bit more sophisticated. Just as some folk’s taste moved on from Boone’s Farm Apple Wine, MD 20/20, and Thunderbird (although there are some fine songs about those unsophisticated intoxicants!), so did the types of wine referred to in the lyrics. When it came to scarlet brews, Neil Diamond’s 1967 ode to “Red Red Wine” (later a hit in the ’80s for the English reggae band UB40), Tommy James and the Shondells’ “Sweet Cherry Wine,” and many others topped the charts. White wines and rosés were largely neglected by songsters, but more mysterious concoctions were heralded. The Fifth Dimension might not want to tell you what they were drinkin’ on Laura Nyro’s 1968 “Sweet Blindness,” but it was all good. And not only is Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood’s 1967 “Summer Wine” one of the best songs about vino from the ’60s, it is among the best singles of all time!
The ’70s marked the end of the singles era in music, but there were lots of album tracks that celebrated the grape, from Billy Joel’s 1977 “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” that memorably begins, “A bottle of whites, a bottle of red / Perhaps a bottle of rosé instead” to other cuts by eminent acts such as the Rolling Stones, the Eagles, and Johnny Cash. The word “wine” may not have appeared in the song titles, but wine is a prominent element in these songs (think “Hotel California”). Wine became a symbol of other things rather than the drink in and of itself. What did Eric Burdon and War mean by “Spill the Wine?” What exactly was Emmylou Harris doing with “Two More Bottles of Wine?” And more importantly, what kind of potion was Jeremiah the bullfrog sharing in Three Dog Night’s “Joy to the World?” The answers don’t matter because it’s all wine, and that says it all.
The rest of the 20th century was chock full of wine references in song, often suggesting a more refined taste. From the Beastie Boys’ 1992 ode to the German white wine “Blue Nun” to Deana Carter’s 1996 country hit “Strawberry Wine” to Oasis’s 1992 rock anthem “Champagne Supernova,” each testimonial connected the acts to their audiences. This came to a head in the 21st century, when LastBubbles.com noted that in hip-hop releases “from 1996 to 2006 there were 264 references to Cristal,” a high-class champagne. Prominent among its promoters was Jay-Z, but when the company’s CEO Frédéric Rouzaud was asked about Cristal’s popularity among rappers, he replied, “What can we do? We can’t forbid people from buying it.” Many saw his remark as racist, including Jay-Z, who called for a boycott of Cristal in June of 2006 and removed the brand from all of his clubs. Many others followed his lead.
Songs about wine have continued to rock the charts during the past 20 years, but it does seem the drink has lost the cachet it once had. One is more likely to hear references to whiskey or other spirits in song these days. That’s why it is important to celebrate National Drink Wine Day this year with our music playing loud. We must uphold the traditions and rituals of the past, lest we get drunk on sobriety. Okay, I am joking. I know that for some, alcoholism is a serious problem, and one can hear this in songs ranging from Andy Williams’s 1962 theme for the movie Days of Wine and Roses to the oxymoronically named 2006 Amy Winehouse hit “Rehab.” So, as the ads say, enjoy responsibly—and celebrate this February holiday with wine and song.