The 53 Songs Project

This Saturday will be the 138th running of the Kentucky Derby. Once a year, for the highest-profile day in American racing, fans gather with a Racing Form under their arm, a fancy hat on their head, and a mint julep in their hand. For most of them, it'll be the only julep they drink all year--but according to the Clovers' 1952 classic, even that may be too much.

Men have been plying women with drinks since drinks were invented. It can be charming or creepy, depending on the man, the drinks, and the circumstances. In this week's song, the man is on the creepy side, but the drink itself, like Flanders and Swann's performance, is charming.

People have been self-medicating (and medicating others) with alcohol for centuries. This long tradition is supported both by recent medical research and by Brooklyn indie-rockers The Fiery Furnaces.

Since the 1950s, Dolly Parton has been writing and singing songs about country life. And part of country life is country liquor.

Jazz was the music of the bar, the cocktail party and the speakeasy before rock existed. So it's no surprise that one of the greatest jazz singers of all time used it to sing about wine as well as women.