"Beer for My Horses" is a song recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artists

Toby Keith Toby Keith Covel (born July 8, 1961), known professionally as Toby Keith, is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and record producer. He released his first four studio albums—1993's ''Toby Keith'', 1994's ''Boomtown'', 1996' ...

and

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of ''Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and '' Stardust'' (197 ...

. It was written by Keith and

Scotty Emerick Walter Scott Emerick (born July 11, 1973, in Hollywood, Florida) is an American country music artist, known primarily for his work with Toby Keith. In addition to penning several of Keith's singles, Emerick has also written for Sawyer Brown, Geo ...

for Keith's seventh studio album, ''

Unleashed Unleashed may refer to: Art and entertainment Film and television * ''Unleashed'' (2001 film), a film featuring Jeff Anderson * ''Unleashed'' (2005 film), a 2005 martial arts film starring Jet Li * ''Unleashed'' (2016 film), a film starring ...

''. The song was released as the album's fourth and final single on April 7, 2003. "Beer for My Horses" received mixed reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

. The single reached #22 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, making it Keith's highest charting song of his career at the time. The song also peaked at #1 for six weeks in the US ''Billboard''

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

(one of two songs to stay that long at #1 for Toby Keith). Becoming Keith's 11th #1 hit and Nelson's 23rd and his first since " Nothing I Can Do About It Now" in 1989. "Beer for My Horses" was certified Platinum once by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA). The accompanying music video was directed by

Michael Salomon Michael Salomon (born in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, United States) is an American music video/film director, who has directed many music videos, including many of Toby Keith's music videos. He directed the video for Metallica's " One", which was no ...

and premiered on CMT on April 9, 2003, during ''CMT Smash Hits of Country''. "Beer for My Horses" also made Willie Nelson the oldest artist to top the country charts at age 70. The phrase, "Whisky for me beer for my horse" is said in the 1975 film, ''

Bite the Bullet To "bite the bullet" is to “accept the inevitable impending hardship and endure the resulting pain with fortitude”.

'', by

Jan-Michael Vincent Jan-Michael Vincent (July 15, 1944 – February 10, 2019) was an American actor known for portraying helicopter pilot Stringfellow Hawke in the TV series ''Airwolf'' (1984–1987) and the protagonist, Matt Johnson, in the 1978 film ''Big W ...

Content

The song expresses frustration at an ineffectual justice system's inability to address crimes such as theft, abuse, and "gangsters doing dirty deeds.”

Music video

The music video for the song features

, and

Corin Nemec Joseph Charles Nemec IV (born November 5, 1971), known professionally as Corin Nemec, is an American actor, producer, and screenwriter. He was billed as Corin "Corky" Nemec or Corky Nemec until 1990. Nemec is known for playing the title characte ...

, as detectives hunting a serial killer, played by Gregg Gilmore. The detectives eventually convince Nemec to dress up as a woman to lure the serial killer and they end up capturing him. The video, directed by Michael Salomon, was shot in downtown Los Angeles and at the nearby

Golden Oak Ranch Golden Oak Ranch is an 890-acre (360 ha) movie ranch owned by the Walt Disney Studios subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company that serves as a filming location and backlot. The ranch is off of Placerita Canyon Road outside of Newhall, Santa ...

, in

Newhall, California Newhall is the southernmost and oldest community in the city of Santa Clarita, California. Prior to the 1987 consolidation of Canyon Country, Santa Clarita, California, Canyon Country, Saugus, Santa Clarita, California, Saugus, Newhall, and Val ...

. It is also the first video in which Keith does not actually sing. On March 4, 2004, the video was nominated for Video of the Year for the

Academy of Country Music Awards The Academy of Country Music Awards, also known as the ACM Awards, were first held in 1966, honoring the industry's accomplishments during the previous year. It was the first country music awards program held by a major organization. The academy ...

In popular culture

The 2008 film ''

Beer for My Horses "Beer for My Horses" is a song recorded by American country music artists Toby Keith and Willie Nelson. It was written by Keith and Scotty Emerick for Keith's seventh studio album, '' Unleashed''. The song was released as the album's fourth and f ...

'' was based on the song, which was featured in the film. The film starred Keith and Nelson, among others. The song was also used in an episode of ''

Lethal Weapon ''Lethal Weapon'' is a 1987 American buddy cop action comedy film directed and co-produced by Richard Donner, written by Shane Black, and co-produced by Joel Silver. It stars Mel Gibson and Danny Glover alongside Gary Busey, Tom Atkins, Darle ...

'' in 2016. It won the award for Video of the Year in May later that year. In 2021, U.S. Representative

Chip Roy Charles Eugene "Chip" Roy (born August 7, 1972) is an American attorney and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Texas's . A member of the Republican Party, Roy took office on January 3, 2019. Before his election to Congress, he s ...

of Texas caused controversy by unknowingly quoting a lyric from the song that seemed to invoke lynching while he was serving on a committee concerned about an increase in hate crimes towards Asian-Americans. At the time Roy claimed the line was "an old saying in Texas" but later admitted it was from the Keith song.

Critical reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

found the song to be "absurdly anthemic".

Chart and sales performance

"Beer for My Horses" entered the

Hot Country Singles & Tracks Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

charts dated for the week ending August 3, 2002, spending three weeks on the charts as an album cut and peaking at #54. It re-entered at #60 on the chart dated February 1, 2003. On the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, it ended up peaking at #22. Along with "

Who's Your Daddy? Who's Your Daddy? is an alternate capitalization of "Who's your daddy?", a phrase expressing dominance, especially of a sexual nature. Who's Your Daddy? may also refer to: Music * "Who's Your Daddy?" (Daddy Yankee song) * "Who's Your Daddy? ...

", it was tied for his highest peaking song on the chart until "

Red Solo Cup "Red Solo Cup" is a song written by Brett Warren, Brad Warren, Brett Beavers, and Jim Beavers and recorded by American country music singer Toby Keith. It was released on October 10, 2011 as the second single from Keith’s 2011 album ''Clancy's ...

" beat it out in 2012 by peaking at #15. The song reached over a million in sales in April 2014. As of January 2017, the song has sold 1,178,000 copies in the United States.

Charts and certifications

Year-end charts

Certifications

Other

film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...

of the song entered production in mid-2008, and was released on August 8, 2008. The song is available as downloadable content for the game ''Rock Band''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beer For My Horses 2003 singles 2002 songs Toby Keith songs Willie Nelson songs Male vocal duets Songs written by Scotty Emerick Music videos directed by Michael Salomon Songs written by Toby Keith Song recordings produced by James Stroud DreamWorks Records singles Songs about beer Songs about horses