Bottle of Wine

Album: Bottle of Wine (1967)
Charted: 9
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  • Bottle of wine, fruit of the vine
    When you gonna let me get sober
    Leave me alone, let me go home
    Let me go home and start over

    Ramblin' around this dirty old town
    Singin' for nickels and dimes
    Times getting rough I ain't got enough
    To buy me a bottle of wine

    Bottle of wine, fruit of the vine
    When you gonna let me get sober
    Leave me alone, let me go home
    Let me go home and start over

    [Paxton version adds this verse]
    Little hotel, older than Hell
    Cold and as dark as a mine
    Blanket so thin, I lie there and grin
    Buy me little bottle of wine

    Aches in my head, bugs in my bed
    Pants so old that they shine
    Out on the street, tell the people I meet
    Won't cha buy me a bottle of wine?

    Bottle of wine, fruit of the vine
    When you gonna let me get sober
    Leave me alone, let me go home
    Let me go home and start over

    [Paxton version adds this verse]
    Teacher must teach, and the preacher must preach
    Miner must dig in the mine
    I ride the rods, trusting in God
    And hugging my bottle of wine

    Bottle of wine, fruit of the vine
    When you gonna let me get sober
    Leave me alone, let me go home
    Let me go home and start over Writer/s: Thomas R Paxton
    Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 6

  • Lydia from Cleveland OhioWas listening to this at 25. Am 70 now and just f ed up.
  • Steve from DelawareI always remember hearing a version of Bottle of Wine that had an extended guitar intro, but for the life of me, I come up blanks searching for it. Anyone else remember this?
  • Jeffrey from 21117Always thought the lead was sung by Barry McGuire. Jimmy has two lines at the very end of the song.
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyHere's some obscure trivia:
    On September 10th 1897, the first documented DWI occurred when London, England cab driver George Smith was arrested after he slammed his taxi into the side of a building...
    He was fined 25 shillings...
    And seventy years later on December 24th, 1967 the Fireballs' "Bottle of Wine" entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #100…
    {See next two posts below}.
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn February 25th 1968, "Bottle of Wine" by the Fireballs peaked at #9 (for 1 week) on Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; it had entered the chart on December 24th, 1967 at position #100 and spent 14 weeks on the Top 100.
    In 1967, the year it entered the Top 100, three other records with 'wine' in its title also charted; "Summer Wine" by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood (reached #49) and "Little Old Wine Drinker, Me" by Dean Martin (peaked #38) and a version by Robert Mitchum (reached #96).
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn January 16th 1919, the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified; it prohibited the sale or transportation of alcoholic beverages in the U.S.A.
    (Was repealed by the 21st Amendment in December 1933)...
    On December 24th, 1967 "Bottle of Wine" entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; and on February 25th, 1968 it peaked at #9 (for 1 week) and spent 14 weeks on the Top 100.
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