Drunk Girl

Chris Janson – Drunk Girl

The Song:  Drunk Girl

Main Point:   Maturity means putting our childish ways behind us and making the right choice, even when it’s difficult.

Vital Info Before You Get Started: The following info should help you contextualize this very popular song so you can have a great discussion about it with your kids.

• IMPORTANT NOTE TO PARENTS: We at The Source for Youth Ministry believe that certain elements in our youth culture can serve as good discussion jump starters with students. At the same time, we would never hope to introduce teens to a negative influence that they haven’t already encountered. This balance is a delicate one. In our experience most teens, churched and unchurched, keep pretty current with music and music videos like this one. Thanks to YouTube, MTV.com, Spotify, and iTunes, the most popular music videos and songs are free to access only a click away. If you decide to use this, do so by catering it to fit your family’s needs.
• Missouri born and Nashville based country singer Chris Janson rose to fame in 2015 with his hit song Buy Me a Boat. The song reached the top spot on the iTunes country chart and peaked at 41 on the Billboard Hot 100.
• Despite many writing credits that included being a co-writer on Tim McGraw’s, Truck Yeah, Janson continued to produce his own music, debuting his second album in 2017.
• Janson is a married father of four who wrote the song Drunk Girl hoping it might be a song that would touch people’s lives.
• Don’t appear as if you have a “canned” discussion in your head and rattle off questions like a teacher giving a pop quiz—your kids get enough of that in school. This is a guide, primarily—not a verbatim script. Just familiarize yourself with the content here and start a conversation in the most natural, unforced way you know how.

 Introducing the Song – You Say This:  Drunk Girl was written by Janson and fellow dads Scooter Carusoe and Tom Douglas.  Written from a dad’s perspective, the three wanted to write a song that told a story that was real and visual.  They wrote from the mindset that you can never put enough good information into the world, and they hoped it might be meaningful to both guys and girls. The video shows a young girl whose exposure to abuse as a child seemed to influence her decision to get drunk, yet she was treated with respect by the guy she had been flirting with. 

The Music Video:  The music video can be viewed for free at:

Song Lyrics:

Couple of cover charge stamps got her hand looking like a rainbow
In and out of every bar on a whim just like the wind blows
She’s either a bachelorette or coming off a breakup
Take a drunk girl home

She’s bouncing like a pinball
Singing every word she never knew
Dancing with her eyes closed like she’s the only one in the room
Her hairs a perfect mess, falling out of that dress
Take a drunk girl home

Take a drunk girl home
Let her sleep all alone
Leave her keys on the counter your number by her phone
Pick up her life she threw on the floor
Leave the hall lights on walk out and lock the door
That’s how she knows the difference between a boy and man
Take a drunk girl home

You leave her drive for a dive
You get something bad to eat
They’re singing closing time at that little bar across the street
Then two by two strangers and lovers headed for the covers hooking up
That TV in your two bedroom sounds turned off
Through the paper thin walls you can hear the neighbor’s cigarette cough
There’s a million things you could be doing, but there’s one thing you’re damn sure glad you did

Take a drunk girl home
Let her sleep all alone
Leave her keys on the counter your number by the phone
Pick up her life she threw on the floor
Leave the hall lights on walk out and lock the door
That’s how you know the difference in a boy and man
Take a drunk girl home

Took a drunk girl home
In the sober light of dawn
She left you a message she thanked you on the phone
Cause you picked up her life she threw on the floor
You left the hall lights on walked out and locked the door
That’s how she knows the difference between a boy and man
Take a drunk girl home

Three Questions to Ask in the Car (with thoughts to dive deeper with your kids):

Q:  What are some ways you think you have matured as you’ve gotten older?  A: The goal here is to better know your child by making them think about the differences between being a child and the age they are now.

Q: Why do you think people choose to get drunK?  A: This is an obvious question from the song that could spur on conversation about alcohol and reckless behavior.

Q: Why do you think the guy in the song made sure the drunk girl got home safely?  Do you think most people would make that choice?  A: The question here will hopefully start a conversation about character and integrity.

Where to Take It from Here:  Wherever it feels natural.  If these questions lead to a longer discussion on the topic, wonderful!  (There is a guide just after that paragraph that helps you do just that.)  If your kids are barely uttering grunts, don’t get discouraged – the next time it feels right, try out another song.  Keep engaging them.

For Deeper Discussion: 
(If your kids seem into diving in deeper and looking at what the Bible has to say on the subject, the following discussion guide can help take you there.)

Want help getting your teenager engaged in conversation?  CLICK HERE for a helpful article from our “Parenting Help” page providing you with 3 Essentials to Talking with Today’s Teens.

Transitional Statement – Say Something Like This:  The story told in this song is a vivid picture of a girl who went out and ended up drunk, but instead of becoming some guys conquest she was treated with respect and got home safely.  The song says, “That’s how you know the difference between a boy and man – Take a drunk girl home” which leads into our discussion.  We will talk about the idea of maturity and what it means to make the right choice in a situation, even when it’s difficult.

Discussion Questions: 

1. ASK A FEW FAMILY MEMBERS: The song says the girl was in and out of every bar on a whim just like the wind blows.  What do you think are some of the drawbacks of her choice to spend a night this way?
2. ASK A FEW FAMILY MEMBERS: What are some reasons you think people choose to get drunk?  What are some of the unintended consequences of getting drunk?
3. ASK A FEW FAMILY MEMBERS: Do you think most guys would make sure a drunk girl gets home safely?  Why or why not?
4. ASK A FEW FAMILY MEMBERS: What do you think Janson means when he sings “cause you picked up her life she threw on the floor”?

Read the following passage:

1 Corinthians 13:11
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.  When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.

1. ASK ALL FAMILY MEMBERS: What do you believe is the difference between a boy and a man?
2. ASK A FEW FAMILY MEMBERS: Why is it so hard to make the right choice in certain situations?
3. ASK A FEW FAMILY MEMBERS: How can you know which choice is the right one to make?
4. ASK A FEW FAMILY MEMBERS: What do you know about 1 Corinthians 13?  (This chapter is well known for being about love).  Looking at the chapter, why do you think this verse about growing up is right after it talks about love?
5. ASK A FEW FAMILY MEMBERS: How do children talk, think, and reason?  Who are children generally focused on?
6. ASK A FEW FAMILY MEMBERS: What are some childish ways you have put behind you as you have matured?
7. ASK A FEW FAMILY MEMBERS:Do you believe God’s Word tells us the right thing to do?  Why do you think we have a hard time believing God’s Word when it comes to making the right choice?
8. ASK A FEW FAMILY MEMBERS: In what ways do you think spending time in God’s Word would impact your ability to make mature decisions?
9. ASK A FEW FAMILY MEMBERS:Why do you think we struggle so much to spend time in God’s Word?
10. ASK ALL FAMILY MEMBERS:How do you think God wants you to take steps toward maturity?

Wrap Up – Say something like this:  During this time we looked at Chris Janson’s song Drunk Girl. We looked at a scenario where a girl goes out and gets drunk, and a respectful guy makes sure she gets home safe.  We used this to talk about maturity and how to make the right choice even when it’s hard. In light of this discussion, would you say that often we make wrong choices because we don’t know the right choice, or because of our own tendency toward sin?

(Pause and give them a quiet moment to reflect on this.)

We all come into this world as babies, but we don’t stay this way.  We eat, drink, and grow.  In the same way as followers of Jesus, we start out as spiritual children. We mature by spending time with God, knowing His Word, and learning from others who walk with Jesus.  If we don’t make intentional steps toward spiritual maturity, it won’t accidentally happen.  Take a moment to reflect on your own desire to know God.  Ask God to help you take steps to grow and mature in your knowledge of Him.

(Pause and give them a moment to pray silently.)

 Maturity means making the right choice, even when it’s difficult.  To make the right choices, we need to spend time with God and His Word.  We need to know truth while asking God to give us the strength and faith to act on this truth, even when it’s hard.  Let’s close our time by praying together and asking God to help us keep taking steps toward maturity.

CLOSE IN PRAYER