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Mick Harvey — “First St. Blues”

Also on the “evils of alcohol” front, this song — originally by Lee Hazlewood, although we’re particularly partial to Mick Harvey’s cover — depicts the complexity of the alcoholic’s relationship with his poison. It’s sung from the perspective of a drunk begging for change on a street corner, but takes a decidedly non-didactic tone, spending most of its lyric painting a vivid picture of the world to which alcohol transports its abuser… until the denouement, of course, where you’re snapped back into reality and the pathos of the bum’s request: “Just one drink/ And then I’ll leave.” There but for the grace of god, and all that.