Drunk & Crazy

How did Bobby Bare follow up 1979's rowdy, bawdy "live" Down & Dirty? By getting Drunk & Crazy, of course. From its title to its collection of cheerfully vulgar Shel Silverstein tunes, 1980's Drunk & Crazy is a cousin of Down & Dirty, revving up the loose, boozy, roguish charm of that 1979 platter's "Numbers" and "Tequila" until things almost get boorish. Almost, but not quite: the nasty black humor of "If That Ain't Love" — where Silverstein ponders "I slapped your face and I stepped on his/And if that ain't love, what is" — is saved from meanness thanks to Bare's sly delivery, which also keeps Edward Lee Pangborn's "Bathroom Tissue Paper Letter" from descending down the toilet. These are hardly the only dirty jokes here — there's also Royal C. Bannon's timeless "I've Never Gone to Bed with an Ugly Woman," with its punchline "but I sure woke up with a few," along with a host of other Shel songs, the best of which are the title track, "Food Blues," the positively debauched "Drinkin' and Druggin' and Watchin' TV" (complete with an offhand dig at Jim Bakker's PTL ministry), and the blues boogie "Gotta Get Rid of This Band," all songs Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show could have sung at their dirty hippie peak but are better suited to Bare's easy swagger. All these puns and quips overshadow the numerous times things slow down just a tad, as Bare sings Ray Willis' slow honky tonk ballad "I Can Almost See Houston from Here," the myth-making "Song of the South," which is bettered by the picturesque, galloping "Appaloosa Rider," and a fairly sublime version of Guy Clark's "Desperados Waiting for the Train." Such songs not only give Drunk & Crazy a bit of variety, but they also are reminders that no night of heavy drinking is without its bouts of maudlin sentiment, which is why the album is such a perfect soundtrack to getting drunk and crazy: it feels like a wild night out at the bar, right down to how the raucous moments ultimately overshadow the times everybody tries to sober up and get a bit serious.