A wise man once said that there’s no better prescription for the human condition than a jukebox and a bar. And damn do we all need both right now.
Eric Church’s “Jukebox and a Bar” was one of my favorite songs off of his 2018 album Desperate Man. This song was never a single (at least not yet), but it was made for radio because it’s so damn relatable. We’ve all been there: When you’ve had a hard day, or nothing’s going right, and you just need to go somewhere that soothes your soul, there’s nothing better than the old time-tested jukebox and a bar.
Like Chief explains it, “there’s something old-school and tried and true” about a jukebox and a bar.
“It’s about music, it’s about alcohol, it’s about getting over or getting around or getting through whatever you’ve got going on.”
And boy have we all had a lot going on lately. But what the hell are we supposed to do when that place we go to get away from tough times has been shut down?
It’s been 60 days since I’ve been to a bar. 60 long days of only leaving my house for food and futile searches for toilet paper. 60 days of working from home during the day and laying around drinking and listening to country music at night. Don’t get me wrong, I love laying around drinking and listening to country music. But damn, am I ready to get back to my bar.
Sure, I’m drinking the same thing at home that I would be at the bar (double Jack and Coke please). And sure, I control the music at my house so it’s always what I want to listen to. But there’s just something different about walking into a dimly-lit bar, pulling up a barstool and hearing some old-school music on the jukebox. It’s a place to relax, to let go, to make new friends and catch up with old ones. Or maybe you just don’t talk to anybody – because there’s a jukebox cranking out your favorite tunes.
Man, I miss that. In a new world that’s filled with Zoom happy hours and livestreamed concerts, I’m ready to get back to “the old school analog way of handling things.” I need a jukebox and a bar.
Because right now, there’s no better prescription for my broken disposition.
