Tequila Little Time

Album: Heartache Medication (2019)
Charted: 60
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This flirty, uptempo song finds Jon Pardi singing of a tearful girl who catches his attention in a bar. He offers her a shot of tequila with the goofy chat-up line:

    I want tequila little time with you
    A little salt and a lime will do
    Hey bar man, will you bring us two


    If you say "tequila little time with you" out loud, it sounds like "to kill a little time."
  • Pardi wrote the song with Rhett Akins and Luke Laird on a Northern California retreat at a small studio the singer has at his mom's house. Rhett Akins hadn't come up with anything all day, when suddenly lying down on the couch, he blurped out, "Tequila little time with you."

    The three wrote the song in about an hour and a half. "It's the old-school picking up a girl when she's down, but slyly," Pardi explained to Apple Music. "Not trying to be too creepy. When we wrote it we were like, 'We can't make it creepy.'"
  • Jon Pardi released this as his third single from Heartache Medication on January 4, 2021. "I feel like this goes great on a boat, a lake or pool and just any kind of atmosphere of having a good time," the singer said in a press release. "It's about picking up a girl that's down and maybe, maybe we want to do a shot of tequila? There's no answer, but maybe. She starts feeling better, and it's fun. It's just a fun song."
  • Jon Pardi told Billboard how after they recorded this song they gave it the ultimate test - trying it out on a boat in the Bahamas. "We were blaring 'Tequila Little Time' in the docks and just dancing, having a good time," he recalled. "And all the dock guys were like, 'What's this song?' So, good boat test."
  • Jon Pardi gave the first-ever nationally televised performance of the song when he was the musical guest on the April 16, 2021 episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
  • Director Carlos Ruiz shot the music video at the Flora-Bama Yacht Club, the iconic bar in Orange Beach, Florida. The clip features Pardi as a bartender serving up some cheer. There is also a mariachi band, dancing, and the singer's actual dog, Cowboy, who portrays the lost pooch.

    Ruiz also shot the visuals for Pardi's "Heartache on the Dance Floor," "Heartache Medication" and "Ain't Always the Cowboy."

Comments: 3

  • Bryster from London, On, CanadaGreat cause of the happy feelings it brings.
  • Kim from Edmonton, Alberta, CanadaGreat song!
  • Jake VogleJohn pardi is married
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Steven Tyler of Aerosmith

Steven Tyler of AerosmithSongwriter Interviews

Tyler talks about his true love: songwriting. How he identifies the beauty in a melody and turns sorrow into art.

Graham Nash

Graham NashSongwriter Interviews

Graham Nash tells the stories behind some of his famous songs and photos, and is asked about "yacht rock" for the first time.

Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum

Dave Pirner of Soul AsylumSongwriter Interviews

Dave explains how the video appropriated the meaning of "Runaway Train," and what he thought of getting parodied by Weird Al.

Jimmy Webb

Jimmy WebbSongwriter Interviews

Webb talks about his classic songs "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," "Wichita Lineman" and "MacArthur Park."

Amy Lee of Evanescence

Amy Lee of EvanescenceSongwriter Interviews

The Evanescence frontwoman on the songs that have shifted meaning and her foray into kids' music.

Concert Disasters

Concert DisastersFact or Fiction

Ozzy biting a dove? Alice Cooper causing mayhem with a chicken? Creed so bad they were sued? See if you can spot the real concert mishaps.