Not every song grabs me the first time I hear it and Joshua Burnside’s “Whiskey Whiskey” is one such song. “Oh, another song about booze and the reason I want to dull the pain,” I think I thought to myself. But as it came up in the rotation more and more, it began to grow on me. I couldn’t help but feel like there was more to the song than I originally thought (judged).
So if there’s nowhere for our
Souls to go then
I don’t want to be so sober, so—Joshua Burnside
Whiskey, whiskey
No ice in my whiskey please
According to genius.com, Burnside wrote this song to deal with his anxiety about flying, and then the song became about death and nihilism. A heavy topic to be sure. Somehow he makes it work with his acoustic guitar and lo-fi influences. The nihilistic lyrics of the chorus have me wondering how people find meaning in their lives in a world that is irrational. In a universe that is meaningless. In a nutshell, I guess that’s absurdism. Did Sisyphus find meaning in pushing his rock to the top of the mountain?
Despite this song’s apparent cynicism, it lifts me up. Maybe being so soberly bleak serves as a good reminder that this life has an expiration date. We can sit on the shelf and hope against hope for mystic immortality or we can be sure we enjoy the ride.
Maybe it even reminds me that hangovers from too much drinking are a miserable way to spend your time. So do what you can about those…I think “I don’t want to be so sober” is clearly a metaphor.
