"Alcohol" is a song written and recorded by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 singer Brad Paisley

Brad Paisley

Brad Douglas Paisley is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His style crosses between traditional country music and Southern rock, and his songs are frequently laced with humor and pop culture references....

. It was released in May 2005 as the first single from Paisley's 2005 album Time Well Wasted

Time Well Wasted

-Personnel:As listed in liner notes.*Jim "Moose" Brown - piano, keyboards, Hammond organ, background vocals*Randel Currie – steel guitar*Eric Darken - percussion, vibraphone*Jerry Douglas - Dobro*Stuart Duncan - fiddle, mandolin...

, reaching number 4 on the Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs

Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...

 charts. It also peaked at number 28 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

It was nominated for two Grammys: Best Country Song and Best Country Male Vocal.

Content

The song is a mid-tempo in 3/4 time signature

Time signature

The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....

 and the key of C major

C major

C major is a musical major scale based on C, with pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature has no flats/sharps.Its relative minor is A minor, and its parallel minor is C minor....

. In the song, Paisley personifies alcoholic beverage

Alcoholic beverage

An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption...

s in general, describing the various influences that the beverages have on certain people ("Helping white people dance"), ultimately stating "You'll have some of the best times you'll never remember, with me, Alcohol".

Reception

Kevin John Coyne, reviewing the song for Country Universe, gave it a positive rating. He says that Paisley pulls the song off with "good taste and great humor."

Music video

The music video was directed by Jim Shea. It features Little Jimmy Dickens

Little Jimmy Dickens

James Cecil Dickens , better known as Little Jimmy Dickens, is an American country music singer famous for his humorous novelty songs, his small size, 4'11" , and his rhinestone-studded outfits...

, who puts a lampshade on his head. It was released in June 2005. A newer, 3D live version of the video, directed by Scott Scovill, was released in late 2010.

Chart performance

The song debuted at number 60 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week ending May 7, 2005.

Chart (2005)	Peak position