55 Songs About Tequila

Some people can handle their tequila, but for many, tequila handles them—roughly. Which are you?

Tequila can be a truth serum in a shot glass, as it makes you lose all inhibitions and coaxes you to spill secrets. Shy people may become social butterflies and friendly folks might start fights. And with enough tequila, you could even find yourself dancing on the bar with just your boots on or waking up the next morning with a stranger, a pounding headache, and little memory of how you got there.

If you're a tequila drinker, make a playlist of pop, rock, and country songs in honor of the adult beverage. Then share your favorite tequila-related story with us in the comments section below. (Don't worry, we won't tell.)

It'll take a lot of tequila to dull this guy's perception that everyone hates him. His girlfriend cheated on him and publicly embarrassed him, and now he's left to pick up the pieces. As he enters a nightclub, he feels self-conscious and just wants to drink tequila with his friends so he can relax and forget.

The 2018 synthpop tune was an international success.

The man in this 2011 country song feels the anguish of addictive attraction. Both tequila and his poisonous lover are his favorite sins, but neither one is good for him. Concerned about his weakness for both, he alludes to a well-known Alcoholics Anonymous slogan, "One is one too many, and one more is never enough."

'Cause you and Tequila make me crazy
Run like poison in my blood
One more night could kill me, baby
One is one too many, one more is never enough.

If you know all too well what he's talking about, then why not make yourself a playlist of songs about addiction and recovery to celebrate your journey towards a better life?

In this 2007 reggae number, the narrator pounds shots of tequila as he admires a sweet, attractive señorita who sways her hips both fast and slow to the rhythm of reggae and calypso music. They flirt and dance together all night long as he drinks and she smokes.

If you've never heard of him, Collie Buddz is an American/Bermudian reggae artist.

Tonight, that lovely lady in the corner of the bar is simply sippin' white wine. She's a regular patron who is generally friendly and loves to dance. The narrator cautions you, however, to keep her away from the tequila.

When it's a straight tequila night, all bets are off, and she becomes someone completely different as she tries to forget about the man who broke her heart. On those nights, this woman becomes a hellcat, blaming her heartache on every man in sight. She'll want to fight anyone within reach. The song was a number one country hit in 1991.

Maybe it's tequila that brings the memories of your old flame flooding back. Maybe it's an old song, who knows. If you're still struggling to get over an old lover, make yourself a playlist of songs about trying to forget an ex.

His ex is gone, and for the most part, the narrator has moved on. However, one taste of tequila and all the memories and regret come flooding back for the man in this 2018 country crossover song.

Tequila reveals the unfinished business we have with old friends and lovers alike. It's the heart's truth serum:

But when I taste tequila
Baby, I still see ya
Cuttin' up the floor in a sorority T-shirt
The same one you wore when we were
Sky high in Colorado, your lips pressed against the bottle
Swearing on a Bible, baby, I'd never leave ya
I remember how bad I need ya, when I taste tequila.

Just how much tequila is flowing in this 2016 pop tune? Get a bucket because I expect somebody to hurl any moment now.

The narrator describes picking up a woman at a dance club. While she's more of a two-shot drinker, he can really throw back the tequila shots, and he describes his tequila drinking with bravado. With five shots they were making out. Add four more shots and they were naked (really? in the club?). Three shots later, and they left the bar (with someone else driving, I hope). Two shots more, and the sloppy drunk guy was whispering something barely intelligible in her ear.

He knows he has one shot to love her all night long. But at this point, is that physically possible?

The title of this 1973 rock classic is a play on words. "Tequila sunrise" refers to two things in this song:

1. a popular alcoholic beverage at the time as well as
2. the fact that the protagonist in the song has stayed up until sunrise drinking tequila.

The narrator is a hired hand in love with a girl who is out gallivanting with other men. He wants to talk to her about it so he uses tequila as his liquid courage, but he finds that the words to confront her never come.

In this fun, upbeat country song from 1983, a woman wakes up on a Sunday morning, challenged to recall what exactly she might have done last night after drinking too much tequila. Did she ...

• kiss all the cowboys?
• shoot out the lights?
• dance on the bar?
• start any fights?

Then she looks over and sees a stranger sleeping next to her while she is wearing his shirt. (Uh, oh!) Blame it on the tequila! If you ascribe your own bad decisions to tequila and external circumstances, then make a fun playlist of additional songs about one-night stands. (Eh, why take personal responsibility?)

Jealousy and distrust are sure gnawing at the boyfriend in this 2012 rock song. He has to drink tequila to calm his nerves. Even that doesn't help much.

While his girlfriend, Victoria, is in Mexico, the Mr. Nervous Nelly ruminates about what she might be up to, and none of it is good. Just because she didn't call like she was supposed to do, the possessive and imaginative guy fills his mind with lurid thoughts of what she might be doing there without him:

• groovin' to a Coldplay dance mix
• doing body shots off Italian guys and
• dancing with a vampire to bilingual disco music.

If he still cares this much he hasn't had enough tequila.

Bless the gullible. The guy in this funny country song from 2005 has bought all the excuses his partner has given him for her obvious infidelity. She's told him that tequila makes her clothes fall off.

As proof, our gullible friend attests that his sweetheart comes home from nights out on the town without one earring. She leaves jackets in restroom stalls. Even her pantyhose go missing. Tequila has quite an effect! Before she goes out tonight for margaritas with the girls, the trusting fella asks her to put another layer of clothes on just in case. It's a safety thing.

In this 2004 country song, tequila has lowered the inhibitions of these vacationers who are married but not to each other. Under the influence, they flirt, dance, and share a night of extramarital passion before returning to separate obligations back home.

The narrator, a bystander who observes the whole lurid affair, provides the following caution that may not go far enough:

Don't bite off more than you can chew,
There's things down here the devil himself wouldn't do,
Just remember when you let it all go,
What happens in Mexico,
Stays in Mexico.

The Georgia boy in this 2009 country song has worked hard enough and needs a vacation, so he plants his patootie in the Mexican sand and liquors up. The narrator enjoys the beach and the locals and he drinks plenty of tequila and other adult beverages before running out of money and having to return home. Back in Georgia, his party continues.

If you love the great state of Georgia, you probably find yourself coming back to it no matter how far you roam. Make a playlist of songs about Georgia to celebrate it.

If you've ever broken up with a dating partner and attempted thereafter to avoid them, then you'll appreciate this 1993 rock song. The narrator unexpectedly runs into an old girlfriend and the surprise is so jolting it's "like catching a sniff of tequila in the morning" — overpowering, unpleasant, and seriously out of context.

He realizes the time they spent together was brief and a long time ago. In addition to feeling awkward about their run-in, the narrator hypocritically blames her for not wanting to say much to him after all this time. She probably compares the experience to sniffing tequila in the morning as well.

Perhaps you're bummed out over a broken heart, a broken cell phone, world news, or the weather. We all have our troubles. Lucky for you, the guy in this fun 2017 country ditty has just volunteered to be your bartender. He's offering to hook you up with some Cuervo or other alcoholic beverage so that you can smile a little, get your buzz on, and forget about what's bugging you, at least for a little while.

What do you get when you combine a whole lot of Cuervo and equal amounts of bad judgment? The woman in this 2008 country ditty will tell you that it's nothing but trouble. She describes imbibing "a little bit too much of that poison" last night and hooking up with a guy on the dance floor. They ended up in Vegas, married by an Elvis impersonator (as evidenced by the wedding band she now wears). Unfortunately, she doesn't even know his last name.

If you enjoyed a little plotline mixed in with your music like the story that was told in this song, then make yourself a playlist of pop, rock, and country songs that tell a story.

Many people live paycheck to paycheck, and it can feel overwhelming buried under an ever-increasing pile of bills. The narrator in this 2005 country tune is beginning to buckle under the pressure.

Lately, she wonders if even love is enough to get them through. She thinks about the escape that a big margarita offers. An address on Easy Street might provide a nice respite, but she knows escaping is just a temporary fix.

This is a lively sh*tkicking country tune from 2002. It describes a cowboy's quest to drown the memory of his former lover in enough tequila that he could swim in it.

With two rounds of Jose Cuervo, the lousy bar band was sounding pretty darn good. By four rounds, the narrator, who claimed to have two left feet, began schooling strangers in dance moves. He bought rounds for the whole place. By round ten, he started all over again, and by the end of the night, he not only forgot about his ex but also nearly forgot his own name. Let's hear it for tequila!

In this spicy 2001 country song, country stars Sammy Kershaw and Lorrie Morgan— who were married to one another at the time—describe the wild way in which two Mexican lovers spend their "couple time." Known as the raucous king and queen of the local trailer park, the pair have certainly made a name for themselves with how they reconnect on weekends:

He drinks tequila, and she talks dirty in Spanish
Him in his sombrero, her in her purty pink jammies
They dance all night to the Mariachis
'Til there ain't nobody left standin'
He drinks tequila, and she talks dirty in Spanish.

Unfortunately, the duets between the two country superstars ended when Kershaw and Morgan divorced in 2007 after six tumultuous years. At one point they had a mutual restraining order against one another.

This 2014 international favorite strays from Ed Sheeran's traditional folk style and mirrors Justin Timberlake's R&B and pop vibe. Pharrell Williams has collaborated with both musician-superstars and was influential in getting Ed Sheeran to experiment with the change.

Sheeran's tune is based on his tequila-fueled fling with a young woman he met in Las Vegas in 2013. He encouraged her to not be shy and to ignore his fame if she liked him. His first indication that she was a keeper came when she handed him a bottle of water filled with a bottle of tequila.

We should all know our limits, and for the guy in this 2013 country song, it's tequila. He can guzzle enough beer to float out of the door. He can handle whiskey 90 proof. Throw anything else his way and he's fine. Tequila is another story.

With tequila, he knows it's possible that he could

• wind up in a Tijuana jail
• cannonball naked into a neighbor's pool or
• make a fool of himself trying to fake his expertise in español.

Good thing he stays away from the stuff. How about you? What does tequila make you do?