Thing a Week 38 – Drinking with You

By JoCo June 23, 2006

I don’t know what it is with me and the office crushes – I haven’t had a job in almost a year so you know, it hasn’t really come up. But I find them very sweet, I think because offices are a lot like high school, which is the best time to have a crush. Except when you have an office crush, you are most likely old enough to drink, and so you can go out and get drunk with your crushee, which is also the best.

I am sensitive to the fact that some might misconstrue this song to be not so much a “sweet love song” and more a “pro-date-rape” song. This is not what I mean. I’m talking about that night long after the two of you both know very well what is going on but haven’t acted on it, and you make this mutual but kind of secret decision to “go out for drinks” – and you’re playing it cool on the outside but inside you’re jumping up and down and doing a one-person conga line singing “Going out for dri-hinks! Going out for dri-hinks!”

If you aren’t old enough to drink, don’t go out for drinks with your crush. It’s really not that awesome. Stay in school kids.

Drinking with You

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Comments

Dave says

Oh, man. That brings back too many unfortunate memories of my single days. Nice song, JoCo...

Mika says

Hey man don't put down date rape. Some of us have to be drugged by women to stand a chance at ever getting within 10 feet without having a panic attack and denying women arn't fictional.

jpez says

Dude....no more free downloads?! :'(

godzuky42 says

Very cute.

Prospero says

Sweet. Really sweet. I don't know which songs I like best: The hardcore-rock-songs or your ballads. Hmm... Ah, what the frell, I like them both. ;-)
Ad Astra

Paul says

This song reenvigorates an idea I've had ever since being in New York: Jonathan Coulton the Musical. This may not be the proper forum in which to discuss the idea, but the premise, as far as I see it is 'Ultimate genius leads to total isolation.' The plot, naturally, isn't ironed out, but it ends with you sitting in your moon base, singing to yourself about how your creative intrepidity has only led to you feeling a little alone inside -the song "Better" takes on a whole new meaning when it's sung to yourself. Morose? Yes. Hilarious? Yes.

Great Song, P.S.

Paul says

Apparently invigorating is spelled with an i these days. Sorry.

Len says

Why did you think this song is a pro-date rape song? On the contrary, I think it's really beautiful. I'm excited to draw something really cool for it.

Orkendark says

The office crush is a pretty universal theme. Both the US and UK version of "The Office"(oddly enough) use it as a main thread, and are hilarious to boot.

Good song.

JoCo says

Jpez: wha? They're all free if you subscribe to the podcast, or just grab them from the original post.

cheridy says

in the lyrics:

"discretely" should be "discreetly" in this instance

also: the reason for jprez's post. start out in a new browser with a cleared cache, then click the mp3 link in the post -that you have syndicated from livejournal-

ie: http://syndicated.livejournal.com/thingaweek/14388.html

which would appear on everyone's friends page

in that circumstance, the direct mp3 link from the post redirects you to here:

http://www.jonathancoulton.com/lyrics/drinking-with-you

(which is incidentally why i had a comment on the lyrics today :)

JoCo says

Cheridy: egads, how embarrassing. Discreetly. Now, with the LiveJournal stuff, did that just start happening? I've had redirects in place for hotlinked mp3s, but haven't changed anything in a while. I'll add LiveJournal as an exception.

Vintage Daisy says

I'm with Len - what the hell does this song have to do with date rape??? Whoever thinks there's a connection is thinking a little too much about date rape.

It's a very sweet song.

El Cid says

Anyone who thinks this song is about date rape is a pervert. This is a really cool song and it does remind me of the many times I felt so unsure about letting a particular girl know I liked her.

Thank you

Dirfrops says

Ironically enough this is a description of some people's lives who work so much and never have time to get out into the real world. Love for many is so elusive, falling stars that crush so many hearts. So many levels of love - some driven by money, some by sex, by necessity, and true love, whereas mine lays at the top, on one leg...clumsy and with a heart of glass. For some it's "a crush." But when it's happening to you, it's more of "a crash."

ViolinistGuy says

Gorgeous song. Love the progressions. I assume you kapo it? Or do you enjoy paying in Db? :-)

ViolinistGuy says

Grrr. "paying" -> "playing"

ViolinistGuy says

Here's a first cut at a tab. Corrections welcome. Kapo-1.

C Em F E E7
We work late and I pretend that I don’t notice when you’re next to me
Am C7
But I do
F Fm A Dm G7
I might be mistaken, but I sometimes get the feeling that you notice too
Fm C
And I know this place that’s near here
F Fmaj7 F6 F
Quiet dark and small
G7 F C Cmaj7 A D
When we’re finished here I think that I might want a beer, how about you?
Fm G7 C
It’d be nice to go out drinking with you

M_pony says

I admit that since I've been doing more work on my master's degree that I've been spending less time playing my acoustic, and less time tabbing your songs. When I first heard this song my brain was going "what are these chords, and how the heck does he get them to all fit together so nicely?" Anything that twiggles my musical geekery button is a good thing.

Ben says

I think this is a beautiful song. Office crushes happen, even if no one ever says or does even the smallest thing about them, they are there.

Im really impressed with your ability to continue to write some incredible stuff, JoCo.

Glenn says

Does Re: Your Brains count as an office crush?

Barby says

Crushes are awesome! Being liked back is super! Boyhfriends suck!

Rob says

Today I sent this song to someone who was crushing in a serious way on some guy (and not me, alas) and it made her cry. This song really hits home.

jpez says

Oops, I clicked on the link from the syndicated LiveJournal feed, forgetting that you don't allow linking to your mp3s. Heh.

Kate says

Currently in the middle of a huge office crush. Plans for drinks have fallen through twice at no falut of either of us. Good analogy of high school and the office.

TrentU says

I'm so behind the times I doubt anyone will even see this, but this song is amazing like pretty much all other JoCo songs. (Like really its ridiculous, pretty much all of them...)

But when/where can I get the guitar tabs for this song? Playing Coulton on guitar is the best thing a person can do because it makes him or her feel good about themself and it also makes he or she more liked. Also it helps spread Coulton to all the idiots that haven't heard of him yet. (I used that accurately, I was an idiot before I heard of him and I still am an idiot so its fair.) In fact I'll feel really dumb if the tabs are already up but its well worth looking dumb, I really like this song.

Susan says

This is easily my favorite song of yours. Whenever I have your CD in my car, I always seem to want to find this song first :)