12 Songs About Tequila – Country to Rock Songs You’ll Love
Tequila is a kind of alcohol that everyone seems to have strong feelings about, whether they love it or hate it—and their reasoning is usually attached to a wild story. Because of this, songs about tequila can be fascinating (and even funny) to listen to and span a wide range of emotions.
So in this article, follow along as I walk you through some of my favorite songs about this very popular drink. Hopefully, you’ll find a couple songs here that resonate with you just as much as they do with me.
Country Songs About Tequila
Let’s begin this section with a Luke Bryan song.
One Margarita by Luke Bryan
This country song about tequila is about going to a tiki bar with the intention of having a nice time, no matter the consequences the next day. Bryan tells his listeners, “Don’t worry ’bout tomorrow / Leave all your sorrow out here on the floatin’ dock.”
The song never goes into detail about what that sorrow might consist of, though. Instead, the lyrics explore what leaving that sorrow behind looks and feels like. Ultimately though, not all troubles can be left behind, as the lyrics are peppered with occasional acknowledgments of the killer hangover that he knows awaits him.
Tequila ain’t so fun when it’s 7:30 AM and you have to be at work by 9, now is it?
Salt and Lime by Clare Dunn
Though upbeat and catchy, this happy-sounding song carries a bittersweet message. Dunn admits that the taste of the salt and lime that accompanies tequila shots makes her remember someone she’s no longer with. This song is addressed to that person, as she says “I think of you every time.”
Because tequila is so often a party drink, as we get older, sometimes the taste of it brings back memories of a happier and more carefree past—she also talks about drinking to escape the “real world grind and nine to five.” If your relationship with tequila has gotten more complicated as you’ve gotten older, you’ll probably relate to this song.
Jose Cuervo by Shelly West
This song is pure tequila love. Shelly sings of waking up after a night of heavy tequila-drinking, with no memories of what happened the night before, but also with no regrets. The chorus repeats “Jose Cuervo, you are a friend of mine,” while the verses show her putting the pieces together in the morning after.
This song is classic country camp: West talks about waking up next to a handsome cowboy, starting fights, and shooting out the lights in the bar. If you want a fun and empowering song about the kinds of wild nights that tequila can bring, this is a great song to listen to.
Pop Songs About Tequila
Let’s begin this section with an Adam Lambert song.
Stranger You Are by Adam Lambert
This tequila-centric carefree pop anthem comes from an album that is all about embracing who you are and learning to love life. The song opens with Lambert describing all the ways people have told him to change who he is—to toughen up and to act more masculine.
But because he doesn’t follow their advice, he finds himself living his best rockstar life. And what beverage fully encapsulates the ideal carefree rockstar life? Tequila, of course. While not everyone can be rockstars, we can all opt for a little taste of that rockstar life with the “tequila kinda day” that Lambert sings about.
Everybody Hates Me by The Chainsmokers
This classic moody Chainsmokers tune manages to be catchy, chill, and sad all at the same time. The singer just wants to drink tequila with his friends, but even inside a club, can’t escape the feeling that everybody hates him.
The heavy synth backdrop of the instrumental adds an element of unsteadiness to the song that mimics the background noise of a club, and through the song, the singer’s voice starts to feel more and more like your own self-hating internal monologue.
This song is relatable to anyone who ever went out to a club to avoid dealing with their inner demons, but found that the memories they were trying to escape followed them into the club anyway.
Sing by Ed Sheeran
The complex love (or lust?) story this song tells is initiated when a girl hands Ed “a bottle of water filled with tequila,” because that’s when he knew “she’s a keeper.” Their shared tendency toward this particular alcohol—and the casual way that she chose to store it—shows some core sameness between them that made the beginning of their relationship feel inevitable.
But it’s this shared instability that eventually tears them apart: even though the relationship was casual, when he sees her with another guy, he’s crushed.
My Favorite Kind Of Wine Is Tequila by Michael Franti & Spearhead
It’s hard to categorize Michael Franti and the Spearhead, but for the sake of simplicity, I’m going to throw them into the pop section. This song is both a pure celebration of the experience of drinking tequila and a song about what happens after you drink it. Like many songs about tequila, as the lyrics unfold, tequila becomes symbolic of the girl Michael Franti is in love with on this track.
Franti compares being with her to feeling tequila-drunk, but also sings about drinking with her. Sipping tequila like its wine is symbolic of the intensity of the relationship, but can also be taken at face value—he’s just a dude that really, really likes tequila.
On the Tequila by Alanis Morrissette
This song’s surreal instrumental combined with Morrissette’s airy vocals will make you feel like you’re already a couple shots in, even if you haven’t been drinking anything. But although the song sounds like a light, chill party song, the lyrics tell a slightly different story.
The verses detail the complex relationships Morrissette has with the people she’s drinking with, and they wrap perfectly around the repeating line in the chorus: “Bring on the tequila.”
R&B Songs About Tequila
Let’s discuss a song entitled “1942” by PARTYNEXTDOOR.
1942 by PARTYNEXTDOOR
Sometimes tequila makes us do things that we know are a bad idea, but that we also know we’ll look back on fondly. And sometimes, people drink tequila because they want to make the bad decisions that they know they’d be too scared to make otherwise.
That’s what this song is about. It’s titled after the well-known luxury brand of tequila, Don Julio 1942. And although it’s repeated throughout the song that the relationship isn’t a good idea, much like the luxury tequila brand, there’s something that feels rare and important about their dynamic. If you’re making bad choices (or if you just enjoy pricey tequila), this is the song for you.
Rock Songs About Tequila
Let’s start with a song by The Eagles.
Tequila Sunrise by The Eagles
This song is a depressing play on words.
A tequila sunrise usually refers to a drink that mixes orange juice and tequila so it has the same colors as a sunrise, but in this song, “tequila sunrise” refers to drinking tequila all night and watching the sun come up.
Yikes.
The beauty and sweetness of the mixed drink the song alludes to contrasts with the reality of drinking alone all night. Although the song’s writer, Glenn Frey, was initially hesitant to title this song after the famous drink, his band members eventually convinced him that “Tequila Sunrise” was a great title. And it’s a good thing they did—it’s hard to imagine the song being called anything else.
Bad Tequila by Yacht Rock Revue
This upbeat pop anthem by Yacht Rock Revue has a new take on the idea of making lemonade with the lemons life gives you: “When life gives you tequila, life gives you bad tequila.”
But you know what? That bad tequila can make a good margarita.
This is a song about pulling yourself out of a dark place with the power of optimism and finding the small joys in life. If you’re making the best of a night full of cheap tequila, this is the song for you.
Uber and a Fifth by Sponge and Telle Smith
This song sounds carefree on the surface, but if you dig a little deeper, the singer’s relationship with tequila gets little bit more complicated. He sings about trying to get into a club, but when he can’t get in, instead choosing to party with his friends.
His isolation, however, follows him throughout the song. It’s just him in the Uber with a fifth of tequila, trying to figure out where he can go to feel less lonely. We aren’t sure what he is running from until the middle of the song, when he says “And what’s the point of living if all we do / Is just exist.” If you’re drinking tequila to escape your loneliness and existential dread, but you also want to jam along to a song with a fun, chill beat and smooth guitar riffs, this is the song for you.
Conclusion
Although tequila is usually known as a happy, party alcohol, not everyone who drinks it is necessarily feeling happy. Sometimes cutting loose and leaving all your cares behind with a night of tequila can be a much-needed escape, but other times, it can amplify the emotional impact of the things that drove you to drink in the first place.
Whether you love tequila, hate it, or have a complicated relationship with it, one of the many songs about tequila out there probably relates to your experiences.
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