Help me name a song: Drunk driving, sick regret. Country of course.
August 28, 2011 9:44 PM

Name that tune: Father kills his son in a drunk driving accident, who makes him swear to not drink anymore.

What is this? I overheard it one day at a bike shop. Powerful. They had a penchant for country, but I'm not sure who sang it.

My next step would be to call the place and ask, but I thought I might run it down here.

I checked here but nothing similar.

In the song they talk about the Dad's drinking, and then climax with the accident. The sick regret is thick enough to make me want to cry and I only half remember it.
posted by Pontifex to Media & Arts (5 answers total)
Drunken Driver by Ferlin Husky?
posted by The Lamplighter at 10:14 PM on August 28, 2011


Was it this? Not exactly what you said, but close.

"Drunken Driver" by Ferlin Husky

Friends there's somethin' been hauntin' me and I just got to tell you bout it
I saw an accident one day that would chill the heart of any man
And teach them not to drink a drop while the steering wheel's in their hand
This awfull accident occurred on the 20th day of May
And caused two dear little children to be sleeping beneath the clay
These two little kids walked side by side along the state highway
Their poor old mother she had died and their daddy had run away
As these two little kids walked arm in arm how sad their hearts did feel
When around the curb came a speeding car with a drunk man at the wheel
The drunk man saw the two little kids and he hollered a drunken sound
Get out of the road you little fools and the car it brought them down
The bumper struck the little girl taking her life away
While the little boy in a puddle of blood in the ditch lying there did lay
The drunk man staggered from his car to see the damage that he had done
And he let out a yell you could hear for miles when he recognized his dying son
Such mourning from a drunken man I've never heard before
While kneeling at the running board he prayed to heavens door
Saying oh God please forgive me for this awful crime I've done
And his attention then was called away by the words of his dying son
And he said daddy why did you do this to us how come you run us to the ground
It was you and mommy we was talking about when the car it brought us down
And I was just telling little sister that I knew we'd see you again someday
But daddy why did it have to be like this why did it have to be this way
Why daddy why
posted by yb2006shasta at 10:14 PM on August 28, 2011


Thirding "Drunken Driver". It's just the right level of regret and ridiculousness to make it popular.

If you can find it, it's on God Less America (which is a brilliant compilation in general, oh man).
posted by Katemonkey at 4:46 AM on August 29, 2011


It might have been this version by Ricky Skaggs, from his album Bluegrass Rules.
posted by cheesegrater at 7:35 AM on August 29, 2011


This is NOT the answer to your question, but David Bazan has a similar song that makes me sad every time I hear it. It is called "Please Baby Please" and here are the lyrics:

When I woke up the next morning,
You looked right through me
Through your eyes crying,
I could finally see

They said, "please baby please"

When I called you from Atlanta,
You refused to speak
Not three days sober,
Begging for a drink

And I said, "please baby please"

Those two pairs of big blue eyes
Stare me down, watching me fall
But what makes a man realize
That he's about to lose it all?

Elevator to ICU
Now our baby's twenty-three
She'd been out late drinking,
Killed a mother of three

And she said, "please daddy please"
posted by tacodave at 2:31 PM on August 29, 2011


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