'Drinking Till It Does' by Morgan Wallen - Lyrics and Meaning

Since 2021's release of Dangerous: The Double Album, Morgan Wallen has been on the fast track to country music superstardom.

Bolstered by 2023's standout record, One Thing At A Time, the Tennessee native has become the biggest name in the format, even infiltrating across genre lines and landing singles atop the all-genre Billboard Hot 100.

After a little over two years, the award-winning entertainer has finally arrived with a new batch of music in the form of his 37-track opus, I'm the Problem, arriving May 16 and sprawling with his next era of record-breaking hits and beloved fan-favorites.

Towards the final third of the project, Wallen strips it all back with a lonesome, piano-led ballad called 'Drinking Till It Does,' seemingly feeling like the aftermath to his 2018 smash hit, 'Whiskey Glasses.'

Produced by Joey Moi, who shared production credits across the entire project with revered creative Charlie Handsome, 'Drinking Till It Does' finds Wallen in a forlorn place backed by a harrowing piano.

As a steel guitar floats around in the background, the slow-roller almost sounds like it could've been a vault track from his 2016 If I Know Me EP. Trading his signature trap-country beats and synthy sounds for a more organic, heartfelt take, the tune finds Wallen's nasally southern drawl front and center as he drowns his sorrows at the bottom of a bottle.

"At the bottom of a bone dry rocks glass
There’s a memory that looks like us
I keep tryin’ to lose it, and drinking doesn’t do it
But I keep drinking ‘til it does

The walls are buzzin’ like a neon freight train
And I’m a ways away from sobered up
Still going through hell and drinking doesn’t help
But I keep drinking ‘til it does"

We find our narrator a few drinks in at his local watering hole.

As he stares into the bottom of another empty glass – perhaps serving as the continuation to his breakout hit, 'Whiskey Glasses' – he's met with flashbacks of his lost love. No matter how many drinks he throws back, her memory can't seem to leave him alone.

Explaining that he's thoroughly inebriated, he underlines that he's yet to find the liquor threshold that will numb the pain he feels for losing her.

"‘Cause I’ve tried drownin’ in a whiskey river
And I ain’t found my way down to the bottom yet
I’ve tried burnin’ out the things I remember
But there’s still a lot about you I can’t forget
There was a time I was still somebody
Somebody like you could love
And I know there’s some things that drinking doesn’t change
But I keep drinking ‘til it does"

He's had his fair share of whiskey in hopes of getting over the heartbreak since their split, but nothing has worked yet.

Unable to forget all the things he loved about her and all of their memories together, he can't help but think about the person that he used to be when he was graced with her love. Yet, he'll be sat here drinking away his sorrows until his feelings finally change and he's finally over her.

"I know I’m probably lookin’ at forever
‘Til your miss me makes my phone light up
Bet you took out my number
And drinking doesn’t numb it
But I keep drinking ‘til it does"

Trying to fend off the urge to text or call her and atone for his past sins with her, he talks himself out of his by convincing himself that she probably deleted his number anyway.

As we've learned through the first half of the song, no amount of alcohol will numb the pain of that heartbreak, but he'll keep trying until he doesn't feel anything.

"‘Cause I’ve tried drownin’ in a whiskey river
But I ain’t found my way down to the bottom yet
I’ve tried burnin’ out the things I remember
But there’s still a lot about you I can’t forget
There was a time I was still somebody
Somebody like you could love
And I know there’s some things that drinking doesn’t change
But I keep drinking ‘til it does, yeah"

As is often the case of late, the ‘Thought You Should Know’ singer-songwriter has so far remained tight-lipped on how the song came about.

However, when revealing the release date for I'm the Problem, Wallen provided fans with an insight into the theme of introspection that courses through the project as a whole.

“I have been a problem, for sure, and I've got no problem admitting that. But there are other sides to me as well," he explained. "I've spent the last 11 months really trying to figure out, 'Do I still want to be the problem? Is it time to move past that phase in my life? I think it probably is, and this might be the last time I get a chance to honestly say it.”

At the bottom of a bone dry rocks glass
There’s a memory that looks like us
I keep tryin’ to lose it, and drinking doesn’t do it
But I keep drinking ‘til it does

The walls are buzzin’ like a neon freight train
And I’m a ways away from sobered up
Still going through hell and drinking doesn’t help
But I keep drinking ‘til it does

‘Cause I’ve tried drownin’ in a whiskey river
And I ain’t found my way down to the bottom yet
I’ve tried burnin’ out the things I remember
But there’s still a lot about you I can’t forget
There was a time I was still somebody
Somebody like you could love
And I know there’s some things that drinking doesn’t change
But I keep drinking ‘til it does

I know I’m probably lookin’ at forever
‘Til your miss me makes my phone light up
Bet you took out my number
And drinking doesn’t numb it
But I keep drinking ‘til it does

‘Cause I’ve tried drownin’ in a whiskey river
But I ain’t found my way down to the bottom yet
I’ve tried burnin’ out the things I remember
But there’s still a lot about you I can’t forget
There was a time I was still somebody
Somebody like you could love
And I know there’s some things that drinking doesn’t change
But I keep drinking ‘til it does, yeah

I’ve tried callin’ different blue eyes baby
But the bed is cold when I wake up
What drinking doesn’t do
Is make somebody you
But I keep drinking ‘til it does
Nah drinking don’t erase
All my damn mistakes
But I keep drinking ‘til it does

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