Gary Stewart - “She’s Actin’ Single (I’m Drinkin’ Doubles)”
1975
Another downside to such a dry summer is that there were too few rainy afternoons to say: Fuck it, I’m gonna sit here all afternoon, drink beer, and listen to country music. Then you dig out your Waylon, Willie, Jerry Lee, Merle, etc.; crack a few cold ones, and sit in dimness of your living room and mind and take it all in. I know others use rainy afternoons to organize scrapbooks, go through family photos, or catch up on correspondence; but some us take such weather as opportunities to Think Big/Think Stupid and go for broke.
Always on the playlist these afternoons is “She’s Actin’ Single (I’m Drinkin’ Doubles)”. Perpetual contender always for Greatest Song Title Ever and perhaps the finest in Stewart’s pantheon of drinking/cheating/honky-tonking classics from the mid-seventies. That list?
“Drinking Thing”
“Honky-Tonkin’”
“Out Of Hand”
“Quits”
“Single Again”
“Whiskey Trip”’
“Your Place Or Mine”
Okay, you’re thinking, what a bummer. Day drinking and a song cycle of divorce/alcoholism/adultery/bars. Here’s the bright spot: Stewart had a road band called “The Honky Tonk Liberation Army.”