"Spill the Wine" is a 1970 song performed by Eric Burdon

Eric Burdon

Eric Victor Burdon is an English singer-songwriter best known as a founding member and vocalist of rock band The Animals, and the funk rock band War and for his aggressive stage performance...

 and War

War (band)

War is an American funk band from California, known for the hit songs "Low Rider", "Spill the Wine", "The Cisco Kid" and "Why Can't We Be Friends?". Formed in 1969, War was a musical crossover band which fused elements of rock, funk, jazz, Latin, rhythm and blues, and reggae...

. Released as a single in May 1970 (backed by the non-album track "Magic Mountain"), it was War's first chart

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 hit, peaking at number three. It was also a top three hit in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 and Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. It charted #15 in Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 and #28 in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.

In 1996, it was remixed by Junior Vasquez

Junior Vasquez

Junior Vasquez, , is an American club DJ and remixer/producer.-Career:...

 and released as a single again.

Lonnie Jordan

Lonnie Jordan

Leroy "Lonnie" Jordan was a founding member of War, an American funk band in the 1970s and 1980s. Jordan had a number of roles over the years, acting as vocalist and playing guitar, piano, synthesizer, and percussion...

 said in an 2008 interview that Eric Burdon is the first Latin rapper in pop music.

In the introduction to the live version of the song on Greatest Hits Live

Greatest Hits Live (War album)

Greatest Hits Live is a live album by War. It was recorded in 2008 and finally their first release in 14 years. Lonnie Jordan was the only original member of the band playing on this album...

, Lonnie Jordan reveals that the inspiration for the song was a time when he spilled a glass of wine on a mixing board in the recording studio. Eric Burdon found the event funny, so he and Jordan used it as the inspiration for the song.

Use in film

"Spill the Wine" was used in the popular motion pictures Boogie Nights

Boogie Nights

Boogie Nights is a 1997 drama film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Set in Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley, the script focuses on a young nightclub dishwasher who becomes a popular star of pornographic films, and chronicles his rise and fall from the Golden Age of Porn of the 1970s...

, Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo

Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo

Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo is a 1999 comedy film starring Rob Schneider. Other cast members include Eddie Griffin, Amy Poehler, Oded Fehr, Arija Bareikis, and William Forsythe....

, and Remember the Titans

Remember the Titans

Remember the Titans is a 2000 American sports film produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Boaz Yakin. Inspired by real events, the plot was conceived from a screenplay written by Gregory Allen Howard. The film starts as a new coach of the Titans, a football team previously coached by the...

.

It was also sung during The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from September 10, 1990 to May 20, 1996. The show stars Will Smith as a fictionalized version of himself, a street-smart teenager from West Philadelphia who is sent to move in with his aunt and uncle in their...

, in the episode "That's No Lady, That's My Cousin".

Cover versions

The song has been covered by The Isley Brothers

The Isley Brothers

The Isley Brothers are a highly influential, successful and long-running American music group consisting of different line-ups of six brothers, and a brother-in-law, Chris Jasper...

 for their 1971 album Givin' It All Back, as well as by The B-Side Players

B-Side Players

The B-Side Players are a San Diego based band that incorporate the sounds of Cuba, Jamaica, Mexico and Brazil with the funk, rock, jazz and hip-hop rhythms of their homeland. The band also drops a bit of Cumbia, gritty street Samba, Son Montuno and Jarocho into the mix...

, Juan Ma y su Sonido Costeño, 2NU

2NU

2NU is an American pop music group based in Seattle, Washington. Their music consists of spoken word performances accompanied by beats and sound effects. They are best known for their single "This is Ponderous", which reached 46 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1991...

 on their 1989 album Ponderous, Lalo Schifrin

Lalo Schifrin

Lalo Schifrin is an Argentine composer, pianist and conductor. He is best known for his film and TV scores, such as the "Theme from Mission: Impossible". He has received four Grammy Awards and six Oscar nominations...

, Melvin Sparks

Melvin Sparks

Melvin Sparks was an American soul jazz, hard bop and jazz blues guitarist. He recorded a number of albums for Prestige Records, later recording for Savant Records...

, Michael Hutchence

Michael Hutchence

Michael Kelland John Hutchence was an Australian musician and actor. He was the founding lead singer-songwriter of rock band :INXS from 1977 to his death in 1997, a period of twenty years. Hutchence was a member of short-lived pop rock group Max Q and recorded solo material which was released...

, The Dream Syndicate, Lighter Shade of Brown, Los Mocosos and Freaked Out Flower Children

Freaked Out Flower Children

Freaked Out Flower Children were an Australian band best known for having Sophie Lee as a member. They played 1960s-style "flower power" music. Their single "Spill the Wine" reached #31 on the Australian single charts.-Members:Gumpy Phillips - Guitar, Vocals...

.

In 2004, flautist Alexander Zonjic

Alexander Zonjic

Alexander Zonjic is a professional flutist born in Windsor, Ontario, who performs both light jazz and classical compositions. Zonjic initially played guitar at age 9, and by age 15 he was lead guitarist in a local Rhythm and blues band. At age 21, Zonjic purchased his first flute from a street...

 performed a cover for his album "Seldom Blues."

External links

• [ "Spill the Wine" Song Review] on Allmusic website