Hot Beer

I was eighteen, a stone cold sober
Finishing high school, getting a little older
Heard about a party a week before grad
There's gonna be liquor, so I told my dad
He said, "come on the porch and have a drink here
'cause nobody ever likes their first sip of beer"
So we loaded the car and headed to the creek
on a hot day in July at the end of the week
Playing DJ in the passenger seat
with a twenty-four-pack tucked beneath my feet
We all knew what was going down
a show in the woods four hours from town
Yeah we were feeling mean
we were drinking that flat O16
So that first night we headed for the gate
The band already started - we were running late
They were checking bags and jackets at the front
She said, "finish your beer so we don't get caught"
I pounded it back and when she looked at me
I said, "I'm feeling lighter than I'm supposed to be"
It was convenient
we were drinking a warm Bohemian
That next day it only got hotter
A bag of ice cost twenty-two dollars
We'd been doing pretty well so far
until we left the beer in the back of the car
We dunked the case in the river to chill
there was smoke on the water from the red-hot Pil
Yeah, no filler
we were drinking them hot Pilsners
It was alright
pounding back that luke-warm, leftover, half-drank
cigarette ash-covered, faded-label falling off
dirt-lipped, discoloured, dented, shaken up
found in the arm of someone else's lawn chair
Great West Light