Rather than being about "songs for alcoholics," this thread seems on the whole more like "drinking songs," so I thought I'd redress the balance with this little number I wrote about my recovery from alcoholism. It's got a bluesy/country feel to it.

ALKIE'S LAMENT

1. I woke up in this hospital bed.
All I know is the pain in my head.
Don't know how I got here; don't know how I came.
I'm back in the DT ward again.
Maybe I was busted after a fight,
Or a Samaritan's kindness to me in the night.
Who really knows? Who gives a damn?
I've ended up here all the same.
The doc says I'm dyin'.
She says she's quite sure
If I don't quit the drinkin', I'll be dead for sure.
Gives me an injection then puts me right out of her mind.

[Refrain:] And Lord, I miss my mama, and I want my teddy bear.
But both were lost, long time ago. They're memories in the air;
And Lord, I feel like dyin' but I don't wanna die alone,
Yet I've never found a single place that feels like I belong.

2. My bed is awash with my blood and my sweat.
I shake with a violence that ain't over yet.
My bowels and my belly don't know they are mine,
And my eyes cannot focus no more;
But I can still see the contempt in their eyes.
I put on a brave face but I wanna cry
When I hear, "Trash from the gutter," "an alkie," "a drunk."
Truth hurts when it burns in your ears.
For God knows I've tried, ten times or more,
But when each day before me's a tedious chore,
I only pass though it by drownin' my pain
And runnin' away from the night.

[Refrain]

3. I lie here and wonder what's worth livin' for
And remember the days when I was so young and sure.
Before I found my bottle, my treacherous friend,
Who steals while he's takin' away.
Now the junkies and whores look down on me
And the hobos avoid my company,
And even this place says I've blown my last chance,
And they will not treat me again.
Dear God, one more chance! I'll try very hard
If you can forgive me all my false starts.
Lord, I don't wanna die, with all that I've done,
Still hangin' guilty on me.

[Final refrain:] And Lord I miss my mama, and I want my teddy bear.
But both were lost, long time ago. They're memories in the Air;
And Lord I feel like dyin' but I don't wanna die alone,
Yet I've never found a single place that feels like I belong.
Yet I've never found a single place that feels like I belong.

FINIS

And lest I be accused of being a downer I'll share this little ditty I learned from that great tunemaster Osmosis;

I wish I could drink like a Lady,
But I can only have two at the most.
Three puts me under the table,
And four puts me under the host!

Barbara