Drunk and defiant song tips the charts

Every year, there's a song of summer. It's often something to argue over when conversation lags at the barbecue. In 2013, feminists attacked Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" for allegedly glamorizing sexual violence. "Blurred Lines" was a huge hit. According to Rolling Stone, "It held the whole world in its slightly skeevy grasp all summer long." This year's summer sensation is a song titled, "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" by an artist named Shaboozey. This hip-hop-meets-country song is about drinking and drinking a lot. The chorus goes: "Someone pour me up a double shot of whiskey / They know me and Jack Daniels got a history." This comes at a time when some medical researchers have given booze an absolute thumbs down, witness the headline, "Even a Little Alcohol Can Harm Your Health." Not everyone is buying that argument. "Can you please send these researchers over to Scandinavia?" a reader from Oslo wrote. "We drink tons of alcohol here and have the highest life expectancy in the world." Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. holds the view that no amount of alcohol is safe. He wants America's official dietary guidelines to lower alcohol consumption limits. That displeases states that produce beer, wine and liquor. About 100 members of Congress have called to end the work of a government panel that links any drinking to over 200 ailments. These rigid denunciations of alcohol are dredging up bad memories of Prohibition. Opponents argue that loneliness is another serious health hazard that meeting friends over a beer can lessen -- at least until the withdrawal. Alcohol is a depressant, after all. Moderate or even heavier drinking at times of celebration, however, can be a part of life (assuming the drinker is not an alcoholic or driving). In opera, the happiest number is often an upbeat drinking song. Several ads, oddly including car ads, have used the Brindisi drinking song from Verdi's "La Traviata" as the soundtrack of happiness. But anyone who has observed the curse of alcoholism can attest that those addicted shouldn't be drinking at all. It happens that many recovering alcoholics do just fine enjoying a Coke with friends at a bar. The "cup o' kindness" in "Auld Lang Syne" need not contain alcohol. Others may feel unable to sit in that environment without consuming alcohol. There are other places for camaraderie — coffee shops, for instance -- that shouldn't trigger drinking. In this year's song of summer, some may take issue with its defense of getting stupid sloshed. An unattractive line goes: "Woke up drunk at 10 a.m., we gon' do this s--- again." The part that I dislike most is the "excuse" for all that hard drinking contained in the opening verse: "My baby want a Birkin, she's been tellin' me all night long / Gasoline and groceries, the list goes on and on / This 9 to 5 ain't workin', why the hell do I work so hard?" Hermes Birkin bags price out most of the upper middle class. You don't have to be poor to suffer a daily grind or financial pressure. In either case, drinking is not going to cure it — certainly not after the temporary high. There's one group for whom "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" may actually boost incomes: bar owners. Part of the song's success surely comes from its frequent playing at these establishments. As we can see, songs of summer often rebel against The Moment. "Blurred Lines" was accused of downplaying rape. "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" raises a fist of defiance in what seems an era of pressured sobriety. How about moderate drinking, if any drinking, and leave it at that. Follow Froma Harrop on Twitter @FromaHarrop.