"Bad, Bad Whiskey" is a song by
Maxwell Davis
Thomas Maxwell Davis, Jr. (January 14, 1916 – September 18, 1970), was an American rhythm and blues saxophonist, arranger, bandleader and record producer.
Biography
Davis was born in Independence, Kansas in 1916. In 1937, he moved to Lo ...
that was released in 1950 by
Amos Milburn
Joseph Amos Milburn (April 1, 1927 – January 3, 1980) was an American rhythm-and-blues singer and pianist, popular in the 1940s and 1950s. He was born in Houston, Texas, and died there 52 years later. One commentator noted, "Milburn excel ...
. The single was the last time Milburn reached the number one position on the
US ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
''
R&B Chart
A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...
.
Song Background
The song is usually credited to
Maxwell Davis
Thomas Maxwell Davis, Jr. (January 14, 1916 – September 18, 1970), was an American rhythm and blues saxophonist, arranger, bandleader and record producer.
Biography
Davis was born in Independence, Kansas in 1916. In 1937, he moved to Lo ...
alone, but some sources say it was initially an instrumental titled ''Bristol Drive'', which Milburn adapted by blending in some alcohol-based lyrics.
Cover Versions
''Bad, Bad Whiskey'' became one of the most enduring “blues in a bottle” songs. The song has been covered many times, most recently by
Colin James
Colin James (born Colin James Munn, August 17, 1964) is a Canadian rock and blues singer and songwriter.
Biography Early years
James was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. His grandpa was Serbian. He got his break opening for Stevie Ray V ...
in October 2016 on his album ''Blue Highways''.
Other uses
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
played the song in the episode “Spring Cleaning” (Episode 50) of his series ''
Theme Time Radio Hour
''Theme Time Radio Hour'' (''TTRH'') was a weekly one-hour satellite radio show hosted by Bob Dylan that originally aired from May 2006 to April 2009. Each episode had a freeform mix of music, centered on a theme (such as "Weather", "Money" or "F ...
'' in April 2007.
References
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1950 songs
1950 singles
Songs about alcohol