“One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer” by George Thorogood

"One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer" came to George Thorogood with plenty of miles on it. Rudy Toombs wrote it for Amos Milburn, who cut it in New York in 1953 with the drinks in a different order, one of a run of booze-soaked numbers that carried him into the top ten of the R&B chart. John Lee Hooker had his go at it in 1966, and Thorogood put out his own recording in 1977.

The story never changes: a guy propped up at the bar at closing time, his girl gone missing, trying to pour enough booze down to forget her while badgering a weary bartender who only wants to lock up and go home. Thorogood plays it as blues rock, and the song turned up again on his 2017 album Party of One.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.