The trifecta may be sex, drugs, and rock & roll, but at some point you have to get from point A to point B. Against its better judgement, rock & roll has gotten behind the wheel while intoxicated several times. We are not endorsing such an activity, but the risk factor of driving while intoxicated has inspired some pretty stellar tracks. Here are the six best references to drunk driving in song. Feel free to comment on your favorites, but only if your blood alcohol content is lower than 0.08.
6. Death Cab For Cutie - "Champagne From A Paper Cup" "I think I'm drunk enough to drive you home now" In an essay Death Cab For Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard wrote for Paste Magazine in 2008. he discussed his lyrical progression: "I decided a handful of years ago that I just want to write songs that you can understand as soon as you put the record on. There's no need to veil what's happening in the song the way I used to." This explains the directness of the band's last few albums, and also why he no longer produces tracks like 1998's "Champagne From A Paper Cup," which plays its vagueness like a hook. Opening line "I think I'm drunk enough to drive you home now" sets up the cloudy imagery that makes the tune comes off like a particularly unsettling Alice In Wonderland tea party dream sequence. Gibbard has written technically better songs over the last five-ish years, but none are this interactive and open-ended.
5. Montell Jordan - "This Is How We Do It" "So I reach for my forty and I turn it up / Designated driver take the keys to my truck" In fifth grade, everything I knew about hip-hop I learned from Montell Jordan's "This Is How We Do It." This includes the following terms: hood, gang-bangers, drive-by, old-school, O.G., mack, wanna-be player, and the difference between a lower-case g and big G (The latter has the money, hundred dollar bills, y'all). His plug for designated drivers is the one nugget of responsibility amidst all the forties and tipped-up cups. Maybe "This Is How We Do It" is a PSA in disguise.
4. Billy Joel - "You May Be Right" "You told me not to drive / But I made it home alive / So you said that only proves that I'm insane" One could argue that the above lyrics refer to the "rode my motorcycle in the rain" phrase beforehand. But there's a potential DUI here, implied by the "Sunday came and trashed it out again" line in the previous verse. My guess is that Billy Joel, the piano man himself, has been told to chill on the booze more often than he's been warned about motorcycle safety.
