“Lucky Bottle” - a song about hard lessons
The Gage side of my family has a long list of troublemaking sweet-talkers who get into it and charm their way out of it.
Story Pairing
Lately a theme has been popping up as I go around, and that’s that people are carrying around stories that they are afraid will get lost. I get the pleasure of sitting down with strangers often and, perhaps because of my profession, they are quick to share some pretty personal/unique stories. It’s an honor for those stories to be something I carry with me to the next place.
Because of this recent theme, I was going through some old songs that I had tucked off to the side, and this is one that wanted to get off the bench. It’s a song that is based off a story that passes around on the Gage side of my family. I’ve heard a few people tell it, but my favorite is when my Grandma Gage shares it. Telling a story about her late husband, one that reflects his humor and his ability to make any situation or story fun, you can see her go back in time. That’s the power of a story.
The short of it is that my grandpa, Frank, (her husband) and his brother, David, were two mischievous country boys with occasionally too much time on their hands. They grew up on a farm in Rome, OH, and farming at that time was either back breaking dusk to dawn, or a lot of waiting for something to grow or break. Those in between slices are when many a farmer would take to their favorite time killer, it happens that my great grandpa liked to drink. The “family legend” has it, that this drinking was becoming a bit of problem. In response Frank took it upon himself to dispense justice with the aid of his little brother. They found their dad’s stash of whiskey and poured out half, and filled the bottle back up with their pee.
I am certain that their punishment was severe. I’m not sure if it lessened the problem. I do know that my grandpa told that story with pride, and my grandma retells it with a chuckle. I love being from a line of hardworking sarcastic fun-loving humans, and their stories are mine in more ways than one.
A tangent to this story is that I have always loved making my dad laugh. Growing up he was always looking forward to the next job and making sure that he was providing for his family. That sort of responsibility adds plenty of seriousness to one’s day to day. My earliest memories of finding joy in making others laugh was spending time with him after what was certainly a long day working outside. If I could make that hard exterior soften with a laugh, it was like gold. The stories of his dad pulling pranks are ones that I noticed early on working those laughs into existence. I hold to those stories the tightest.
Song Structure
A pretty straight 1-4-5 blues style tune. I sing the story from the perspective of my Grandpa Frank.
Key: E
Progression: E (riff on the two low strings)/ A / E / B7 / A / B7 / A / E
Voice Memos
Notebook Page
Feb 2023
Lyrics
There's a stump in a corn field covered by rocks
A hollowed out secret with wooden box
Daddy's been drinking all week long
Mama's gonna catch his anger wrong
Open that box ain't suprised to see
Three lucky bottles of homemade whiskey
Daddy can't seem to slow his hand
Mama stays stubborn, stands by her man
Me and brother sneaking out of the house
Daddy don't know what were laughing about
Bout time someone taught hime a lesson
A little bit of mischief keep a drunk man guessing
Back at it for another night
Don't know what it is but it don't taste right
Said he found Jesus, takes mamas hand
Said the whiskey turned to salt and he's a different man
Give the credit to the lord I guess that's fine
But one half's brothers the other half's mine
Give the credit to the lord I guess that's fine
But one half's brothers the other half's mine