From the recording Both Sides Of The River
GOOD TEQUILA
“As I get nearer the end of this journey, I just want to enjoy life with those I love. We think of this as a sort of Jimmy Buffett song. It’s five o’clock everywhere.”
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
Shortly before moving to Arizona permanently, I nearly lost the sight in both eyes. I’ve had a ridiculous number of eye surgeries, but the first two on each eye were by far the most traumatic and scary, including two weeks of basically being blind. Magnificent doctors and science saved my vision. During my convalescence, my equally amazing sister- and brother-in-law in Boulder took wonderful care of me, including the invention of the world’s first single-malt scotch sippy cup. When I first could actually see again and hold a guitar, I sat in their dining room, gazing at the vast jaw-dropping magnificence of the Colorado Front Range and wrote “Good Tequila” about what I’d been dreaming of and hoping for most while all alone in the painful, scary darkness.
Ed Skibbe, Cave Creek
August 2023
CREDITS
Ed Skibbe: acoustic guitar, vocal
Spencer Pyne: fretless bass
Brian McClure: drums
Donny Dark: lead guitar
Ian Maxwell: percussion
(The Bombay Beach Boys–-Glade Wilson, Kevin Causey, Tony Paiotti, Tim Brady), with Wes Bestern and Melanie Rosonina: backing vocals
NOTES
This track is the third of three “legacy” tracks that Spencer, David Sondrup and I originally recorded for the “Wood & Wires” sessions. We couldn’t use the original tracks, but we really dug the basic vibe of the original and recorded new bass and drums at ESP in Colorado. Ian Maxwell recorded percussion at ESP. Later on, Donny Dark added great electric guitar. At Coyote Tongue in Arizona, I recorded the Bombay Beach Boys, my old doppelganger Wes and Melanie Rosonina.
By the way, we kept the original reference vocal from the “Wood & Wires” session as the lead vocal track here, even though it has a little bleed from the original reference guitar track. As a result, it has a “sound.”
Thanks to genius work by Spencer, the three legacy tracks, each of which required some extraordinary rehab work and careful grafting with the new tracks , came out great. Spencer killed, both engineering and playing. The tracks never would have had the vibe that made us want them on this record without David Sondrup’s original work on them. Brian McClure played drums amazingly with these tracks. Ian Maxwell, similarly, tracking deadly accurate and tasteful percussion against our funky old grooves, just astounded us all. Spencer did a great job mixing the backing vocals too. I am so happy with this song and indeed the sequence of all three “legacy” songs and the part they play on this record.
Lyrics
GOOD TEQUILA (Skibbe)
© 2017, Coyote Tongue Music (ASCAP)
I’ve been drinking with poets, cutting life to the bone
Swallowing bitter pills, reaping every seed I’ve sown
Chasing the dragon, but that scaly beast has flown
Sleeping with strangers, waking up all alone
I never will outrun the setting sun
But I’ll drink the good tequila
Watch the day go down in flames
Coyote moonshine
Howls my secret name
Let the stars tell the story
Let the light fade from the West
I’ll drink the good tequila
With all the ones I love the best
I’ve been dancing with wisdom, lost in the great unknown
Keeping it simple, ignoring my telephone
Laughing with babies, making things real homegrown
Writing the rhymes, carving my own tombstone
I never will outrun
The setting sun
But I’ll drink the good tequila
Watch the day go down in flames
Coyote moonshine
Howls my secret name
Let the stars tell the story
Let the light fade from the West
Drink some good tequila
With all the ones I love the best
Let’s drink the good tequila Oh oh oh
Drink the good tequila Oh oh oh
Let’s drink the good tequila Oh oh oh
Let’s drink the good tequila Oh oh oh
Oh oh oh
Oh oh oh
We’ll drink the good tequila
With all the ones we love the best