The Office has become one of my favorite television shows. I didn’t even watch it the first couple seasons. Thought it looked really stupid. Then they started airing reruns five nights a week, and Paul talked me into taking a look. I got hooked. Now Paul and I record them for when we can’t find anything else of interest to watch. Or we cap off a night of television with one of the reruns. (Fascinating life…no?)
There’s no particular order that I can discern in the sequence of episodes that air. So I don’t even know when last night’s show was originally broadcast…but the Andy Bernard character starts talking about his college days and how he drank copious quantities of Southern Comfort. Suffice to say, that his nickname, as a result, was “Puke.” (I have to admit, I had a similar youthful experience with the spirit.)
But Southern Comfort has a dear place in my heart. Not as a drink, but as a song. When Beverly and I revamped our radio show two years ago, we used “food and booze” songs as our musical bumpers going in and out of commercials. We encouraged independent songwriters to send us their mp3s. We’d play the songs and talk about the writers and the performers (sometimes the same person). We got some GREAT tunes with really funny and creative lyrics…
Champagne in a Paper Cup by Brent Burns, A Cold One by Gigi Swanson, Drunk on One Corona by Judy Klass, I Ate the Whole Damn Hog by Jim Silvers, Workin’ at the Beefaroo by Jeff Walter, Tastes Like Chicken by Paul Neilsen, Wash Your Face in Orange Juice by Peter Combe, Tequila by Sam Cooper. Well, you get the idea.
Southern Comfort has made an appearance in lots of songs, but the best – in my opinion – is the one written by Paul Nowak. The same Paul who first sat me down on the couch with him to watch The Office. “She’s my Dixie Cup full of pure, sweet love.” I’d like to tell you that I was his inspiration for the lyrics. More likely, it was some liquid refreshment. You can check out his recording of Southern Comfort right here on this page.
By Saucy Sis1
