Story Behind The Song

When I play this song live, I used to introduce it by saying "I'm sure you all had a friend like this in high school." I have learned, from the crowd's later reaction, that that might not be a given after all. Now, when I introduce it, I say "I used to introduce this song by saying 'I'm sure you all had a frined like this in high school..."

Song Description

Drinking; more drinking; fighting; more fighting; followed up by more drinking.

Lyrics

Friday night about half past nine Charlie and me and a bottle of wine
With nothing to do to kill the time We started drinking

We corked our way to the bottom of that Trouble woke up right where we sat
We were looking next to kill the fatted calf And just keep right on drinking

Chorus:
Charlie O'Shea could do two things well
He could drink like a sailor and he could fight like hell
And he may have stumbled but he never fell
'Til he reached the point where he should have been doing something
That didn't involve somewhere every night drunk or drinking

We drove to Sully's just for something to do
Charlie spotted someone who saw him too
We sized them up - it was three on two
And it looked like they'd been drinking

Chorus:

Bridge:

Charlie O'Shea could do two things well
Charlie O'Shea could do two things well
He could drink like a sailor and he could fight like hell

So Charlie reached over and popped the one
Tossed the second and watched the third guy run
By the time I got there it was done And we went back to drinking

Chorus:

I tracked down Charlie on the telephone
To share some news about a friend we'd known
He tried not to let on that he was all alone Or that he'd been drinking