I drank a tall glass of Guinness a few weeks ago, and couldn't help but notice that it looked like crude oil's twin brother. I knew such a likeness would eventually find its way into song, and it has. My original idea for this song sprang from a simple question: what would happen if an Irish pub ran out of beer on St. Patrick's day' The logical answer is that they'd blame another bar for terrorizing their bar, and then wage random war on them in the name of Freedom in order to refill their kegs. I set out to write a boisterous, sway-with-your-neighbor, raise-a-ruckus type of Irish pub ballad that told this story and perhaps another story simultaneously.
Click Here to Hear "Black Oil On Tap"
Black Oil On Tap
3/12/06
It was on a St. Patty's Day, down at McMurphy's
The pub where the good old boys go to get trashed
There was boasting and hugging and toasting and chugging And the Guinness, it flowed like black oil on tap
Just 'cross the river stood O'Reilly's tavern
compared to McMurphy's 'twas a wee little shack
and the men there dressed funny, but they still prayed on Sunday
and their Guinness still flowed like black oil on tap
Chorus:
Beer, Beer, pour some more pints
Don't think of tomorrow, just think of tonight
The evening is young and we want to have fun
And like oil, our Guinness shall never run dry
Around 8 o'clock, way down at McMurphy's
As everyone sang 'long to 'Wild Irish Rose'
The bartender pulled on the Guinness tap handle
But the oil-black beverage was dry as a bone.
The bartender gasped and McMurphy near fainted
And the men with their empties screamed, 'Say it ain't so!' like a good politician, McMurphy said quickly
'I think it was terrorists, let's all go to war!'
The men all decided it must be O'Reilly
Who'd stolen all the beer from McMurphy the great
So, with God on their side and proof in their minds
They stormed old O'Reilly's on St. Patrick's day
They knocked over stools and broke the pool cues
Set fire to tables; some men even died
But O'Reilly they captured, that terrorist bastard
Who'd never set foot in McMurphy's that night
Back to McMurphy's, the men were all chirping
'We sacked and we ruined the terrorist threat'
For Liberty and Freedom, the men raised their beer and drank oil-black Guinness from O'Reilly's kegs
This ain't no story of victory & glory
It's actually a tale of deception and crime
This is the legend of what the good men'll
Resort to when oil-black Guinness runs dry
