Holiday Cocktail Lounge (RIP) Immortalized by Bouncing Souls

Saturday evening was the last night on earth for the Holiday Cocktail Lounge.  Well, at least in its current incarnation. It lasted at 75 St. Mark’s Place for well over four decades, having poured its first libation in 1965.  EV Grieve has photos of the farewell.  Long live the Holiday!

[Photo Credit: 1000 Bars and Beyond]

Anyway, in our haste reporting the awful news last week, we completely overlooked the song that shares its namesake by seminal 1990s punk outfit Bouncing Souls.  The New Jersey-based rockers recorded “Holiday Cocktail Lounge” for their self-titled third album (1997), forever immortalizing the East Village dive.

Thanks to Boogie reader ANIMAL for the reminder on this one.

Happy Hour’s next door
But you’ll have to brave the down poor
I’m staying here where I can get a song
Free with my drink to smooth thing’s along.

The bartender, he looks kind of sauced
But he always knows what’s going down
It’s how you carry yourself here
At the Holiday Cocktail Lounge

I didn’t talk or say much but I got to know alot
The greatest delicacies of Spain
The effects of rain on your brain.

Another free drink with my free song
The usual things, they come and move along
Here at the Holiday Cocktail Lounge.

I heard some places can change how you feel
It’s not something you can see but I think that it’s real
Words that were spoken of passing thoughts in the mind
Somebody just rolled through and they left them behind

Maybe they sat in this very stool
And didn’t make a sound
They just came and went here
At the Holiday Cocktail Lounge.

Written by: Greggory A. Attonito, Shalendar S. Khichi, Bryan T. Kienlen, Peter William Steinkopf