"What Good Can Drinkin' Do" is a blues song by Janis Joplin, considered the first song she ever recorded.
The song has six verses, in a 12-bar blues pattern. Lyrics in the first and last verse are almost identical: "What good can drinkin' do ?" is sung twice, then answered with "Lord, I drink all night but the next day I still feel blue."
Recordings of Joplin performing the song can be heard on the 1975 compilation album Janis,[1] and on the 1993 box set Janis.[1] Record Collector cites her intro to the song: Up steps a feisty young woman, one month short of her twentieth birthday. "Uh, this is a song called 'What Good Can Drinkin' Do', that I wrote one night after drinkin' myself into a stupor." ...
Austin musician Carolyn Wonderland began featuring the song in live performances after appearing in the November 2009 tribute concert "Kozmic Blues: The Life and Music of Janis Joplin," part of the American Music Masters series presented by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.[2] Wonderland later included the song on her 2011 album Peace Meal.[3]