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TheBlackAdder

(29,593 posts)
Sun Jul 6, 2025, 10:40 PM Jul 6

Eric Burdon & War: Spill The Wine (Never knew what it really meant until now)



I thought to myself, what could that mean?
Am I going crazy, or is this just a dream?
Now wait a minute
I know I'm lying in a field of grass somewhere
So it's all in my head
And then I heard her say one more time

Spill the wine, take that pearl
Spill the wine, take that pearl
Spill the wine, take that pearl
Spill the wine, take that pearl

I could feel hot flames of fire roaring at my back
As she disappeared, but soon she returned
In her hand was a bottle of wine
In the other a glass
She poured some of the wine from the bottle into the glass
And raised it to her lips
And just before she drank it, she said

Take the wine, take that pearl
Spill the wine, take that pearl
Spill the wine, take that pearl, uh-huh, uh-huh
Spill the wine, take that pearl
Take that pearl, yeah
It's all yours
All you gotta do is spill that wine
Spill that wine, let me feel, let me feel hot, yeah, yeah, oh, uh-huh
Spill the wine, spill the wine, spill the wine, spill the wine
Spill the wine, spill the wine, spill the wine
Take that pearl
It's all yours
https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/war/spillthewine.html



Unfortunately for us wine drinkers, the lyrics actually have nothing to do with wine (or girls for that matter). The pearl referred to the pearl of the orient, i.e. heroin. Spilling the wine was a slang term for the blood that dripped when you were doing the drugs. A similar song is Mother of Pearl, by Roxy Music, where the singer says

"Oh mother of pearl
I wouldn�t trade you
For another girl"

So yes, this is a song that mentions wine, but it's definitely not *about* wine!

https://wineintro.com/quotes/songs/spillthewine.html


After 55 years, It all makes sense now.
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Eric Burdon & War: Spill The Wine (Never knew what it really meant until now) (Original Post) TheBlackAdder Jul 6 OP
hmmm always thought he said spill the wine take that girl oh well nt msongs Jul 6 #1
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