Some time ago I was gathering songs for a lesson plan about protests during the Vietnam War. The kids were to analyze the lyrics and create a report about events around the time the song was published and what the song is about in relation to them.
So along came "Spill the Wine" by Eric Burdon & War (my copy is from Rock On 1970: In The Summertime), a really great song that's easy to sing to and fun to blast in the car.
And which one is Eric?
I could never tell if it was a protest song or not, but when I get the time I'm going to try to make it into one by doing the same project I was going to assign the kids. Driving home from work today with this on the CD player thinking about what the heck the song is about. I'm close to thinking that it is not a metaphor or anything deep, but just something the lyricist came up with when stoned or drunk.
Believe it or not, I've been drunk. Once. My primary thought was People think this is fun? Why? The next day I felt bad and didn't realize I had a hangover until someone told me. Then I thought And people drink knowing that this is going to happen? Maybe if I turned out great songs like our Song of the Day I'd think it was worth it. Maybe not.
