Tommy Duncan, Cindy Walker, and Bob Wills take credit for this quintessential drowning-my-sorrows-in-booze favorite. It became a standard for Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, who first recorded it in 1947, and it was subsequently recorded by dozens of other country and western-swing artists, including Hank Thompson, George Jones, Ernest Tubb, Willie Nelson, and Asleep at the Wheel. Matt mentions guitarist Whit Smith in the course of this lesson (and others in the course, too), and you can hear Smith playing a great live version with the Hot Club of Cowtown on YouTube. The song has a basic AABA structure, and Matt teaches it in the original Texas Playboys key of C. He’ll show you the melody, chords, and some harmony lines. In this video, Matt walks you through the vocal melody and then shows you some variations on the basic chord progression to give it a western-swing feel. 

Tonight in a bar alone I’m sittin’
Apart from the laughter and cheer
The scenes from the past rise before me
While watchin’ the bubbles in my beer

A vision of someone who loved me
Brings a lone silent tear to me eye
I know that my life’s been a failure
Just watchin’ the bubbles in my beer.

I’m seeing the road that I’ve traveled
A road paved with heartaches and tears
I’m seeing the past that I’ve wasted
While watching the bubbles in my beer.

I think of the hearts that I’ve broken
And of the golden chances that have passed me by
The dreams I once made now are empty
As empty as the bubbles in my beer.