Beer for My Horses

"Beer for My Horses" is a song recorded by American country music artists Toby Keith and Willie Nelson. It was written by Keith and Scotty Emerick for Keith's seventh studio album, Unleashed. The song was released as the album's fourth and final single on April 7, 2003.

For the film based on this song, see Beer for My Horses (film).
"Beer for My Horses"
Single by Toby Keith featuring Willie Nelson
from the album Unleashed
B-side"Rock You Baby"
ReleasedApril 7, 2003
Recorded2002
GenreCountry
Length3:24
LabelDreamWorks Records 450785
Songwriter(s)Scotty Emerick
Toby Keith
Producer(s)James Stroud
Toby Keith
Toby Keith singles chronology
"Rock You Baby"
(2003)		 "Beer for My Horses"
(2003)		 "I Love This Bar"
(2003)
Willie Nelson singles chronology
"Mendocino County Line"
(2002)		 "Beer for My Horses"
(2003)		 "Please Come Home for Christmas"
(2004)

"Beer for My Horses" was extremely popular but received mixed reviews from music critics. The single reached #22 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it Keith's highest charting song of his career at the time. The song also peaked at #1 for six weeks in the US Billboard Hot Country Songs (one of two songs to stay that long at #1 for Toby Keith). Becoming Keith's 11th #1 hit and Nelson's 23rd and his first since "Nothing I Can Do About It Now" in 1989. "Beer for My Horses" was certified Platinum once by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

The accompanying music video was directed by Michael Salomon and premiered on CMT on April 9, 2003, during CMT Smash Hits of Country.[1]

"Beer for My Horses" also made Willie Nelson the oldest artist to top the country charts at age 70.

The phrase, "Whisky for me beer for my horse" is said in the 1975 film, Bite the Bullet, by Jan-Michael Vincent.

Content


The song expresses frustration at an ineffectual justice system's inability to address crimes such as theft, abuse, and "gangsters doing dirty deeds.”

Music video

The music video for the song features Toby Keith, Willie Nelson, and Corin Nemec, as detectives hunting a serial killer, played by Gregg Gilmore. The detectives eventually convince Nemec to dress up as a woman to lure the serial killer and they end up capturing him. The video, directed by Michael Salomon, was shot in downtown Los Angeles and at the nearby Golden Oak Ranch, in Newhall, California. It is also the first video in which Keith does not actually sing. On March 4, 2004, the video was nominated for Video of the Year for the Academy of Country Music Awards.

The 2008 film Beer for My Horses was based on the song, which was featured in the film. The film starred Keith and Nelson, among others. The song was also used in an episode of Lethal Weapon in 2016.[2] It won the award for Video of the Year in May later that year.[3]

In 2021, U.S. Representative Chip Roy of Texas caused controversy by unknowingly quoting a lyric from the song that seemed to invoke frontier justice while he was serving on a committee concerned about an increase in hate crimes towards Asian-Americans.[4] At the time Roy claimed the line was "an old saying in Texas" but later admitted it was from the Keith song.[5]

Critical reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic found the song to be "absurdly anthemic".[6]

Chart and sales performance

"Beer for My Horses" entered the Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts dated for the week ending August 3, 2002, spending three weeks on the charts as an album cut and peaking at #54.[7] It re-entered at #60 on the chart dated February 1, 2003. On the Billboard Hot 100, it ended up peaking at #22. Along with "Who's Your Daddy?", it was tied for his highest peaking song on the chart until "Red Solo Cup" beat it out in 2012 by peaking at #15. The song reached over a million in sales in April 2014.[8] As of January 2017, the song has sold 1,178,000 copies in the United States.[9]

Charts
Chart (2003) Peak
position
US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[10] 1
US Billboard Hot 100[11] 22

Year-end charts

Chart (2003) Position
US Country Songs (Billboard)[12] 2

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[13] 2× Platinum 2,000,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Other

A film adaptation of the song entered production in mid-2008,[14] and was released on August 8, 2008.[15]

The song is available as downloadable content for the game Rock Band.

References
  1. "CMT : Music Video : Beer for My Horses : Toby Keith". cmt.com. Retrieved 2014-03-22.
  2. "38th Annual Academy Of Country Music Awards Nominees | Billboard". billboard.com. 4 March 2003. Retrieved 2014-03-22.
  3. "Toby Keith and Willie Nelson Win Video Of The Year "Beer For My Horses" - ACM Awards 2004". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-05.
  4. Justin Baragona (March 18, 2021). "GOP Rep. Extols Lynchings During Hearing on Anti-Asian American Violence". The Daily Beast.
  5. David Covucci (March 19, 2021). "Congressman mistakes Toby Keith's 'Beer for my Horses' as ancient Texas saying". Daily Dot.
  6. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Unleashed review". Allmusic. Retrieved July 26, 2013.
  7. Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 1993-06-12. ISSN 0006-2510.
  8. Grein, Paul (April 16, 2014). "Chart Watch: "Happy" tops 4M". Yahoo! Music. Yahoo!.
  9. Bjorke, Matt (January 24, 2017). "Top 30 Digital Singles Sales Report: January 24, 2017". Roughstock.
  10. "Toby Keith Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
  11. "Toby Keith Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  12. "Best of 2003: Country Songs". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. 2003. Retrieved July 13, 2012.
  13. "American single certifications – Toby Keith – Beer For My Horses". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved August 3, 2023.
  14. "Toby Keith stars in "Beer for My Horses" movie". September 9, 2006. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
  15. "Beer for My Horses". IMDb.
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