Quite a few people took an interest in this one when it first showed up a year ago. It's still on our list of "ones to find."

I think it's safe to say that most variants have been searched.

Pushing the boundaries - at NMPA you can find links to "music rights organizations," and from there I've gone to the Big Three, ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC, and searched for copyright on "Open Bottle Law in Texas."

(And confirmed that "Open-Bottle" is searched as "Open Bottle" on all three, regardless of which way you enter it).

None of the three found a copyright on the title, or on any "part or parts" thereof.

That does not mean that the tune doesn't exist, or that it's not copyrighted.

The subject matter would place the song somewhere between the latter part of the "fifties," through almost the entire "sixties," - or perhaps a little later, since that's when Texas and surrounding states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, etc., had their "great spasm" of "legalizing" liquor. (When did national prohibition end? - so we're a little slow).

Laws throughout the region are still a "mishmash" of local options, county options, and state laws, with WET towns in Dry counties, DRY counties in WET states, and all imaginable comutations and permutations. And in most areas "draft beverages less than 3.2 percent alcohol by weight" are not alcoholic beverages - except on Sunday - and are usually regulated under an entirely distinct and separate set of laws.

A history of liquor laws in the region would make a great "folklore" thesis - but isn't necessary here.

Note though, the "brown bag" law cited above only makes it legal to carry a bottle, it's still probably illegal to drink out of it in most of these places.

And the Budweiser Drag Boat racing team is still (last year) required to cover their trailer if they park overnight in Wichita, Kansas, because of the laws against "billboard advertising" of intoxicating beverages.

John