"Little Old Wine Drinker Me" (sometimes rendered with a comma between the final two words) is a country pop song written in the 1960s by

Hank Mills Hank Mills (April 9, 1936 – November 11, 2005) was the pen name taken by country songwriter Samuel Garrett. Mills authored a number of country and western hits of the 1960s and 1970s, including 3 BMI award winners: "Girl on the Billboard" (writ ...

and Dick Jennings. The title parodied what was then a well-known catchphrase in TV commercials for

Italian Swiss Colony Italian Swiss Colony was a 19th and 20th-century American wine company and brand. Based in Asti, Sonoma County, California, Italian Swiss Colony was at one time the leading wine producer in California. Establishment and growth In 1881, Andrea Sb ...

wine company: "The little old winemaker, me!". The song is about a man trying to drink away his romantic troubles. The song was first released by Charlie Walker in 1966, on the album ''Wine, Woman & Walker''. It became a hit when it was released by

Robert Mitchum Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American actor. He rose to prominence with an Academy Award nomination for the Best Supporting Actor for ''The Story of G.I. Joe'' (1945), followed by his starring in ...

in early 1967, and by

Dean Martin Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor and comedian. One of the most popular and enduring American entertainers of the mid-20th century, Martin was nicknamed "The King of Cool". M ...

later the same year on his album '' Welcome to My World''.

Lefty Frizzell William Orville "Lefty" Frizzell (March 31, 1928 – July 19, 1975) was an American country music singer-songwriter and honky-tonk singer. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1982. Frizzell released many songs that charted ...

also recorded the song on his 1967 album Puttin 'On. Mitchum's version spent two weeks on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, peaking at No. 96, while reaching No. 9 on ''

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 ...

''s

Hot Country Singles 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 ...

chart. Martin's version spent six weeks on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, peaking at No. 38, while reaching No. 5 on ''Billboard''s

Easy Listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...

chart, and No. 4 on

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

's ''

Go-Set ''Go-Set'' was the first Australian pop music newspaper, published weekly from 2 February 1966 to 24 August 1974, and was founded in Melbourne by Phillip Frazer, Peter Raphael and Tony Schauble. NOTE: This PDF is 282 pages. Widely described as ...

'' chart. In Canada, Martin's version and Mitchum's version reached No. 32 on the ''RPM'' 100, in a tandem ranking.RPM 100
, ''

RPM Weekly ''RPM'' ( and later ) was a Canadian music-industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. ''R ...

'', Volume 8, No. 3, September 16, 1967. Accessed September 11, 2016. The Martin recording later became popular with the Scottish football club

Clydebank Clydebank ( gd, Bruach Chluaidh) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Bowling and Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Mil ...

and can often be heard being chanted on the terraces with ‘Tennessee’ being replaced with ‘Kilbowie’ in homage to the club's former ground in the town.

References

1966 songs 1967 singles Robert Mitchum songs Dean Martin songs Monument Records singles Reprise Records singles Song recordings produced by Jimmy Bowen Songs written by Hank Mills {{1960s-single-stub