Single:
Cheap Wine entered the Australian singles chart* on 26 May 1980 and peaked at #8. It was #74 on the Top 100 of 1980.
Album:
The song is on East which entered the Australian albums chart* on 9 June 1980 and peaked at #2.
Songwriter:
Don Walker
Producer:
Mark Opitz
Record label of Australian release:
WEA
Video:
A promotional video was shot by Peter Cox featuring Barnes walking around an apartment, getting dressed. It was filmed at Roger Langford’s apartment in Elizabeth Bay in April 1980, where the cover for East had been shot. Barnes wore a T-shirt depicting a woman drinking Coca Cola, with the logo “Coke – The Real Thing”.
Read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheap_Wine_(song)
*Kent Music Report / Australian Chart Book. See About.
On Countdown, ABC-TV, 1980:
Wikipedia:
Cheap Wine was Cold Chisel’s first top-ten single. It was preceded in 1979 by Choir Girl which peaked at #14*. Cheap Wine first appeared in live sets in April 1980, and was recorded in one or two takes with no demo.
Composer Don Walker said: “It’s about someone who’s on the drinks, but still having a great time. I can relate to that – in the seven years Cold Chisel have been together, we’ve only had enough money to drink the last two and a half. If you get into that lifestyle and start to enjoy it, you tend to stay that way even when the money comes in.”
Cheap Wine is on the album East, which was the biggest-selling Australian album release of 1980, and the only Cold Chisel album to chart in the USA.
Read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheap_Wine_(song)
Lyrics:
Once I smoked a Danneman cigar
I drove a foreign car
Baby that was years ago
I left it all behind
I had a friend, I heard she died
On a needle she was crucified
Baby that was years ago
I left it all behind for my
Click for full lyrics
Find more songs to enjoy: Bang a Gong song finder
New to Bang a Gong? Click HERE to learn more about us.